Streep to join cast of "The Giver"

Mere hours after we learned of Meryl being linked to The Good House, Deadline is now reporting that she has also signed on to join Jeff Bridges in the upcoming film adaptation of Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal-winning children's book The Giver.  Holy hell!  Evidently Bridges, who will play the title role, has owned the movie rights for like 20 years.  A bit on the story from Wikipedia:

The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. When Jonas meets the previous receiver—The "Giver"—he is confused in many ways. Additionally, the Giver is able to break some rules, such as turning off the speaker and lying to people of the community. As Jonas receives the memories from the Giver, he discovers the power of knowledge. The people in his community are happy because they do not know of a better life, and the knowledge of what they are missing out on could create major chaos. He faces a dilemma: Should he stay with the community and the safe, consistent but shallow life it offers, or should he run away in pursuit of a life full of love, color, choices, and knowledge, but also potentially full of danger?

Meryl would play the Chief Elder, "an authoritarian in charge of keeping control in a society that seems utopian."  This should be a rather small role, and reminds of Meryl's participation in 2004's Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events.  She has remarked that her children enjoyed that series of books, so I venture a guess that The Giver was also circulated material in the Gummer household.

Produced by The Weinstein Company, the film is set to begin shooting in South Africa in October with Australian director Phil Noyce at the helm.  Don't worry about this getting in the way of Into the Woods, y'all.  Meryl's work in The Giver is not likely to require and extensive amount of time.  Regardless, she's really going for it these days.  After yesterday's news, we can likely expect a total of five film releases involving Meryl between now and 2015 (August: Osage County, The Homesman, Into the Woods, The Giver, The Good House).  

Considering Joe was the one who wanted to see the play August: Osage County three years ago, and that he has long been a huge fan of both Into the Woods and The Giver, it makes me wonder if my boyfriend isn't secretly Harvey Weinstein.  Turns out he's probably just a far more interesting person than I am.  Either way, I'm thrilled with Meryl's upcoming participation in these rich projects.  And just when I thought it was a slow time for Meryl news...