Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Audio clip of Streep singing 'Lament' from "Into the Woods"

So, an audio clip has apparently been leaked of Meryl singing the Witch's "Lament" from the upcoming Into the Woods.  It was  posted on a Stephen Sondheim blog and you can check it out here.

It sounds very much like Meryl so I'm inclined to assume it's legit.  If so, that's likely MacKenzie Mauzy (Rapunzel) speaking at the beginning of the clip.  I don't know if it will somehow be removed due to a Disney copyright infringement.  Regardless, Meryl's voice, despite the poor quality of the audio, sounded wonderfully light and clear.  SO excited for this movie.   Into the Woods is set for a Christmas Day release in cinemas.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Filming underway for "Suffragette"

Kent News is reporting that Meryl is on set this week to begin filming Suffragette.  As I suggested last week, it sounds like her role will be a cameo, with her character Emmeline Pankhurst delivering one rousing speech near Chatham's Historic Dockyard.  A few set pics are already online, including several of lead Carey Mulligan:




Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Streep joins "Suffragette"

Holy shit.  If this turns out to be legit (which it seems to be), Meryl will be in four feature films released this calendar year.  Several sources are now reporting that she is in final negotiations to star alongside Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette.  IMDb description reads "the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State."  Meryl is set to play British activist Emmeline Pankhurst, directed by Sarah Gavron with a script by Iron Lady writer Abi Morgan. 

From what I've read thus far, it seems Meryl's role will be small, but she'll deliver a powerful speech about women's rights.  For her this film seems much like that of The Giver and The Homesman, in that it may be close to a cameo performance.  Meryl may only have to spend a week or two on set.  If nothing else this role continues to demonstrate her interest in being involved in projects that depict strong, independent women and important social issues.  Now that she'll be portraying someone fighting for women's voting rights, I hope it wouldn't deter her from being involved in a film about Susan B. Anthony in a leading role should the right script come along.  Still crossing my fingers for something being ready for 2016!  Until then, I'll look forward to her big speech in Suffragette.   


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Cate Blanchett charges along with BAFTA win

Cate Blanchett all but assured her Oscar victory today with her BAFTA Award for Blue Jasmine.  I didn't make any predictions as Meryl wasn't nominated, but I figured I'd mention Blanchett's win here considering this is sort of the nail in the coffin for anyone other than her in regard to the possibility of an Oscar win, including Meryl.  Cate of course won the Golden Globe and SAG, among numerous other critics' wins.  The Academy Awards will be televised on Sunday, March 2nd.  Two weeks from today!


Friday, February 14, 2014

Streep attends Paris première of "August: Osage County"

Yesterday, Meryl joined director John Wells in Paris for the French première of her film August: Osage County .  The article from the Daily Mail also reported that Julia Roberts was not present and cancelled other engagements earlier in the week due to the death of her sister last weekend.  Despite Julia's terrible loss, Meryl was looking mighty fine on the Parisian red carpet.


The film has currently grossed just over $18 million at the foreign box office.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Meryl on hand for Academy Award nominees luncheon

Joe and I just got back from theater weekend in New York City and sadly, no Meryl sightings.  This afternoon she was on the west coast to attend the Academy Award nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills.  Normally I wouldn't consider this news a "postable" event, but it's been a slow week and I found a few pics of her on the red carpet.


Lookin' good, Meryl.  It's also been reported that Meryl will be joining director John Wells this upcoming weekend in Paris for the French premiere of August: Osage County.  Currently the film has grossed just shy of $50 million worldwide. 

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Shoulda Coulda Wouldas #11: "Mary Stuart"

As early as 1997, several sources reported that Meryl was set to produce and star in a screen version of Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart with her friend Glenn Close.  Streep would portray Mary Queen of Scots, the cousin of English Queen Elizabeth I (Close).   Not only did Streep and Close ultimately not star in this production, but the film never ended up getting made at all.  This is therefore the only Shoulda Coulda Woulda I've posted which covers a project that never made it to the big screen.  It also would've been the first film Meryl co-produced (if we don't count her made for TV movie ...First Do No Harm in 1997).

So what happened?  Evidently while filming The House of the Spirits with Glenn Close in 1993, the two came up with the idea of starring together in a film version of Schiller's play.  They even approached Brit Richard Eyre to direct the project with a screenplay by Charles Wood.  Filming was set to begin in late summer 1998.  As so often happens, funding took a while to come together, and by the time it looked like it was going to happen, Meryl dropped out, being replaced by French actress Isabelle Huppert.  The only reasoning behind Streep's departure that I could find was from a Guardian article which stated that Meryl's heart was no longer in the project.  This obviously would've put the funding for the project in jeopardy, possibly resulting in its ultimate demise.

Mary Stuart potentially could've provided both Streep and Close with fantastic roles.  Although Mary of Scotts and Queen Elizabeth never actually met in real life, the play was a dramatic vehicle for the two main characters, as Elizabeth struggles with the prospect of having her cousin and rival for the throne executed for treason.  Previous film depictions of these two women starring Katharine Hepburn/Florence Eldridge and Vanessa Redgrave/Glenda Jackson also had the pair meet and interact.

For Meryl it would've been another nice buddy project, which we know she has an affinity for after her collaborations with Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton.   The character of Mary Stuart of course provides the opportunity for yet another accent.  I believe Stuart grew up speaking French, so perhaps Meryl would've spoken English with a French-Scottish accent (whatever that would sound like).  How nice it would've been to see Meryl's choices in the portrayal of a woman who's essentially on death row in the late 16th century.   

As previously mentioned, had Streep stuck with the project filming would've started in 1998, which means a likely late 1999 release.  I wonder if Meryl still would've done Music of the Heart, which filmed around the same time.  We know she spent a lot of time prior to that film learning and practicing the violin, a preparation that may not have been available had she done Stuart.  If getting the financials in order took longer than expected, perhaps they simply could've bumped it back a year and film in 1999.  We know she didn't have a ton going on around that time, and it would've given her a film release in 2000...and no doubt another year filled with Oscar buzz.