Predicting the Emmys

The Primetime Emmys are tomorrow night, and Meryl is of course nominated for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for work in season 3 of Only Murders in the Building. I saw a pic of Meryl's face in a seating chart for the show, so it appears that she'll be attending! I wonder if we'll see her hand-in-hand with co-star Martin Short. 

I had the chance to watch the Robin Roberts Emmy special on ABC and it was interesting to hear Meryl talk about the sort of genesis of her joining the show. She basically shared that she was getting sort of down due to world events and needed to experience something happy. It makes me wonder if it's possible that she held back on participating in other projects that may have been 'heavier' because she just wasn't in a good frame of mind. Places, Please (or The Great Lillian Hall as it came to be) was not exactly a ball of laughs, for example. I know I've been clear about how ambivalent I am about Meryl possibly being sequels for The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia!. But if it provides her a sort of reset to be able to possibly dig into things a bit more meaty, then I'm all for it. 

To the Emmys. Meryl has a decent shot to take this. But the odds are on Hannah Einbinder for Hacks. I wouldn't be bummed at all if she took the trophy, because I'm a huge fan of that show. Only thing that bugs me is that she's totally not supporting. She and Jean Smart are absolutely co-leads. But that's how things go these days when there are two people of the same gender too close to cancelling each other out in the same category. 

Other categories I'm interested in seeing are for Limited Series (Baby Reindeer is the front-runner and I really enjoyed the show), and how The Bear does. I love that show, but it's complete category fraud, in my opinion that it's in comedy. Shogun is going to win in a lot of top categories from drama. I'm also kind of pulling for Juno Temple in Fargo and Andrew Scott in Ripley. 

The show airs at 7 p.m. central time on ABC Sunday night. I'll leave y'all with this little nugget of Carol Burnett getting a little message from Meryl. 

Episode one of "Only Murders in the Building"--season 4

She's back! The first episode of the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building premiered on Hulu last night, and we got to see a bit of Meryl. My expectation is that she's not going to feature very prominently this season, but it's nice that we got to see her at all. 

In her scene with Martin Short (could there be more rumors about them as a real-life couple, btw?), I couldn't help but notice how great she looked (sort of West Coast-ified). Her character, Loretta, has moved to Los Angeles to do a silly TV show, and the gang is out there to be pitched the idea of their podcast being turned into a major motion picture. The scene between Streep and Short is cute, but I get the sense that there may not really be much more of a character arc that they're going to explore with Loretta, not that she's finally got her big break. Molly Shannon's character happened to stand out to me as particularly funny and well-played. 

Regardless, like I said, I wasn't expecting Meryl to be in this season a lot. But who knows? I'm still looking forward to more info on developments for the Devil Wears Prada sequel. The farther out we go from the news of the potential Joni Mitchell biopic, the more it seems like it may be mostly made up, or at least extremely obliquely a possibility. I certainly wouldn't mind news of something more concrete for her to do in the likely year she has before Prada films (assuming it does indeed get off the ground). And then there's always the Emmys, which are coming up on September 15. Meryl is of course nominated for her supporting performance in season 3 of Only Murders.

Until then, I'll enjoy the bits we get of her in this latest season. I'll leave you with a snippet where she talks about the appeal of her participation in the show, and of portraying this character.

Full trailer for season 4 of "Only Murders in the Building"

 Hulu has unveiled a full trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Only Murders in the Building.

I had sort of forgotten that several of the new faces (Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy) are actually playing themselves, as they will portray members of the show in a film version of the main characters' podcast. As we know, there are many new cast members in this season. The trailer was fine, nothing particularly funny that I found, mostly pretty low-brow humor. But it's cute and fun and "feel-good." 

Meryl is in about four seconds of the trailer, so I don't expect to see her much this season. But I'll still watch. 

The new season debuts on August 27!

Streep Center for the Performing Arts opens on 13th anniversary of Word on the Streep!

I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but the SAG-AFTRA Foundation has officially opened its Meryl Streep Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and it just happens to be on the 13th anniversary of Word on the Streep. It's a nice commemoration. As a "most philanthropic" donor in Foundation's history, Meryl was chosen for the honor of having it named after her. 

As I like to do every year, a big thank-you to any and all readers of this blog. I realize that the posts have been much fewer and farther between over this past year. I'm mostly posting when there's actual news, doing fewer speculative projects. Not that I'll never post some "what ifs" ever again, but I wanted to take a bit of a break from it. With Meryl having been in so few projects in the past couple years, there's obviously been less to say (at least what I haven't already said in the thirteen years since I started this blog)! But we're sure to have plenty to talk about as things (hopefully) get underway with the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, and there's always the chance that she'll sneak in a new project before then. Looking forward to season 4 of Only Murders in the Building on August 27!

Cheers to you all!

Streep to narrate documentary "Escape from Extinction: Rewilding"

Multiple sources are reporting that Meryl will narrate the upcoming documentary feature, Escape from Extinction: Rewilding. The film is the follow up to the 2020 doc Escape from Extinction (incidentally narrated by Helen Mirren). 

Per Variety:

Directed and produced by Matthew Brady through MRB Productions, the film will explore how “rewilding” — a conservation approach that aims to restore natural processes and increase biodiversity by reducing human influence on ecosystems — will ensure that conservation efforts are effective and sustainable.

Meryl seems to be picking up a little steam with bits of work announced (and rumored) over the past two weeks. Good to see. Here's hoping the Joni Mitchell project comes to fruition. 

Rewilding will be in select theaters on September 27. 

Streep earns Emmy nomination and is rumored for Joni Mitchell biopic?

This morning, Meryl was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her supporting work in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. Many awards pundits have predicted her name for months, so while the nomination is of course delightful to hear, it was far from unexpected. This is Meryls sixth Emmy nomination (fifth for acting), and her first for a comedy. Were she to win, it would be her fourth trophy. Streep's fellow nominees in the Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy:

Carol Burnett (Palm Royale)  

Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear) 

Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) 

Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) 

Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary)

It's kind of exciting to see Meryl nominated alongside Carol Burnett, who recently commented on her interested in some day collaborating with Meryl on something. My money is on Einbinder to win this. 

Only Murders sort of cleaned up at the nominations. Along with Streep's nomination, there were six other acting nominations for the series:

Steven Martin and Martin Short (Lead Actor)

Selena Gomez (Lead Actress)

Paul Rudd (Supporting Actor)

Matthew Broderick (Guest Actor)

Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Guest Actress)

In other, perhaps more interesting news, there is a rumor that Meryl is "being eyed" to portray Joni Mitchell in an upcoming biopic, directed by Cameron Crowe. I believe Jeff Sneider was the first to report last year on Crowe's involvement in developing a script for the film. The news of Meryl's possible participation came out last night and was reposted by World of Reel this morning. World of Reel was the site that suggested Meryl was possibly going to star in The Thursday Murders Club alongside Viola Davis and directed by Steven Spielberg. That quickly revealed itself to not be the case. It's not impossible that if Spielberg had indeed directed it that Streep and Davis were circling that project, but it makes me take this Mitchell news with a major grain of salt. I was just thinking a couple day ago how nice it would be if we had news of Meryl doing something this fall to be released next year, considering the Devil Wears Prada sequel doesn't seem likely to film until next year at the earliest. The rumored Mitchell biopic is apparently slated for filming later this summer and fall. Stay tuned on this one. 

Regardless of whether or not this turns out to be true, it's fun to imagine Streep being involved in a pic about her friend Joni. Crowe's an accomplished director to boot (Almost Famous), despite having a fairly quiet career in recent years. 

"The Devil Wears Prada" sequel in the works at Disney

Multiple sources are reporting today that Disney is in early development of a Devil Wears Prada sequel, with Streep reprising her role as Miranda Priestly. Screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna has once again been tapped to write the script, with original David Frankel rumored to be in talks to helm this as well. The news of the film's production came with the following logline for the film's plot:

Miranda’s (Streep) career goes into decline, which forces her to go face to face with Emily (Blunt), now a major exec at a luxury group, whose advertising dollars Miranda desperately needs.

So, we know that Emily Blunt will be reprising her role. No word on Anne Hathway, but it doesn't seem likely that there'd be a role for her. The story of the sequel also does not sound like Laura Weisberger's 2013 follow-up novel, Revenge Wears Prada. Seems like this might be a completely original script. 

When I first saw the news for this, I had mixed feelings. I, like many other Streepers, have been impatiently waiting for news of a new lead project for Meryl (or just anything juicy). I'm just not a huge fan of the idea of sequels for Meryl. This likely stems from my desire to see her inhabit new roles, which is of course what makes me a huge fan of hers in the first place--she's always doing new and fresh things. 

But thinking a bit on it, I wonder if this might end up being a very shrewd career move for Meryl. While it's certainly possible that the film will turn out to be pure crap, it's hard to imagine it not making a decent amount of money. And if it makes a shit ton of money like the original did, the result (like it was after the original's release), could be an inundation with film offers for Meryl in the aftermath. The options for roles are likely far fewer these days, but if this turns out to be a money-maker, it's a recipe for green-lighting things that otherwise may never have seen the light of day. Maybe Meryl would even contend for some awards. 

Considering that the sequel will take place about twenty years after the original, and Miranda is sort of in dire straits, the character may be far enough removed from the more mysterious 2006 version we all know and love. That's a bit closer to a new character than say a sequel that happens one to three years later. Twenty years is a long time, and people can go through plenty of things that markedly alter their beliefs, motivations, and behaviors. It will be exciting to see how Meryl makes this fresh. That's one key spot of opportunity for her to shine. 

With the script apparently not even complete, it seems unlikely that filming will get underway anytime sooner than 2025. Which then means we're likely looking at a 2026 release (twenty years exactly after the original). I like tidy timelines like that. It would make it more of an event, and possibly be helpful with the marketing. I'd be surprised if this were not released in the summer. And I really hope they come up with a title more interesting than The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks about this news, it's wonderful to have something to look forward to for Meryl's career again! Now what if we also get news that she's going to film something else new this fall?!