Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Trailer for "The Laundromat" revealed

A trailer for The Laundromat has finally been released:



My first impression is that it's even quirkier than I'd expected. When the film's festival schedule was announced, I was surprised that it was described as a comedy. Based on the story, I had expected this to be a very serious picture. But it looks like it's going to be much more along the lines of Soderbergh's other films like the Ocean trilogy and The Informant!, as the trailer notes.

It's definitely not a glamorous role for Meryl, and I'm sure we'll see some deeper scenes than the trailer suggests. It looks fun and colorful, but maybe too campy for the Academy?

It'll be very interesting when reactions come out after the Venice premiere this weekend.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Netflix nails down release dates for "The Laundromat"

Ahead of its world premiere next week at the Venice Film Festival, Netflix has solidified the theatrical and streaming release dates for the The Laundromat and other films:


I had been under the impression that the film wasn't set for release until late October or early November. Excited to learn that we can see Meryl in theaters again in just one month!

Now can we get a friggin' trailer?

Monday, August 26, 2019

Martin Scorsese film likely not a thing

Last fall, I had posted news of an interview that had come out in Marie Claire magazine, where Sharon Stone discussed an upcoming project she was doing with director Martin Scorsese and Meryl. At the time, it was a bit confusing and difficult to get a sense of whether this was actually a thing. IMDb continues to list it as an upcoming project.

Well, when we found out that Sharon Stone is also in The Laundromat, someone on Awards Watch pointed out that the project Sharon Stone was talking about with Meryl was most likely The Laundromat, while the project with Scorsese was a Bob Dylan documentary, which came out this summer.

Here's is the original quote:

Stone began by talking about her latest project, a create-your-own-murder-mystery called Mosaic with Steven Soderbergh, as well as her new secret Netflix project with Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese. Literally, it's so secret all we know is that it's a docu-drama that's not about Stone, but not not about Stone, as she's a character. "I'm gonna blow it if I keep talking. It is about one of my favorite people, and someone who is one of your favorite people, so it's gonna be good." I have a lot of favorite people, Sharon! Give me a hint or two.

After reading this again, and knowing that Stone was indeed involved in the Dylan project with Scorsese, it seems so obvious that it was just a reporting error, and no such project with Streep, Stone, and Scorsese was or is planned. 

Not that we'd be against there being one in the future, however. 

Monday, August 19, 2019

"Let Them All Talk" lands at HBO Max

Just a few days after it was announced that Meryl was already in the filming process of another Steven Soderbergh film, multiple sources are reporting today that the yet-to-debut streaming platform HBO Max has landed distribution rights to the film.

Let Them All Talk (which is apparently a working title) centers on a celebrated author (Streep) who goes on a trip with two girlfriends (Dianne Wiest and Candace Bergin) to have some fun and heal old wounds. Lucas Hedges apparently plays Meryl's nephew, who strikes up a relationship with Gemma Chen's character, a literary agent.

This too is listed as a comedy. My understanding is that although it is on a television streaming device, it is a feature film that would likely go the way of Netflix original films--meaning they'll have a limited release in theaters and be eligible for Academy Award consideration. Although I don't know if that is set in stone.

Filming is currently underway in New York and will then reportedly move to the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, and then the United Kingdom. 

No release dates have yet been mentioned. 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Streep to team with Soderbergh (again) on "Let Them All Talk"

According to The Playlist, Meryl is in the process of filming a "secret" movie with director Steven Soderbergh entitled Let Them All Talk. Very little is known as of yet, other than that the one other actor is Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians), and the film is shooting for a few days in New York before setting off to a remote overseas location.

Wow, this info seems so unexpected and obscure. By the way it's reported, it sounds like it's a feature narrative film, and they're shooting it on some brand new type of digital camera called the RED Komodo Dragon. It's hard to get too excited when we don't have any idea of what type of character Meryl is playing, nor what the story is about.

Evidently they're expecting a bidding war for which studio or platform will land distribution rights.

Meryl just keeps on truckin' along.

                  

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

First trailer for "Little Women"

Sony has released the first trailer for Greta Gerwig's upcoming adaptation of Little Women:



At first gander, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the performances seem like they're going to be strong. It's definitely got a timely bent, with a focus on the vitality and viability of women as individuals.

Meryl is featured more prominently as Aunt March than I expected, and her line "That's because I'm rich," I'm sure will have fans buzzing.

Some early reports from screenings have suggested that Timothée Chalamet's interpretation of Laurie seems too contemporary. But from what I've seen in the trailer, he didn't seem to negatively stand out in that way.

The film opens nationwide on Christmas Day.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Eight years of Word on the Streep

Hard to believe it's been eight years since my first post! As I do each year on the anniversary of the start of this blog, I'd like to give a great big thank-you to any and all readers. I hope everyone enjoys reading half as much as I enjoy the writing.

It's a been a great year to be a Meryl fan! Big Little Lies recently finished, and we have both The Laundromat and Little Women coming out in just a few months (the trailer for Little Women happens to come out tomorrow by the way). And then Meryl will begin filming The Prom around December. She's looking to be in the conversation for awards attention for both The Laundromat and Big Little Lies. It'll be a fun winter!

Thanks again, everyone!


Wednesday, August 7, 2019

David Holmes to score "The Laundromat"

It was reported yesterday that composer David Holmes will provide the score for Steven Soderbergh's upcoming Panama Papers dark comedy, The Laundromat. Holmes previously worked on Soderbergh's "Ocean Trilogy" (Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen).  He also currently scores the hit BBC thriller, Killing Eve.

The Laundromat is set for its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in just a few short weeks, where it will be shown in competition.


Thursday, August 1, 2019

Streep to go supporting for "The Laundromat" after all?

Awards prognosticator Clayton Davis from Awards Circuit tweeted this yesterday regarding Meryl's category placement for The Laundromat:


While historically Davis isn't necessarily super reliable with info such as this, some at Awards Watch are suggesting that he's correct, in that he may be privy to Netflix's official submission plans.

Supporting seems the more likely category for Meryl, considering what we've heard so far of her screen time and the overall length of the film. This placement also makes it more likely that she'll actually be nominated.

Might we see Meryl up against Laura Dern for both TV and movie awards next year (both for their work in Big Little Lies and Dern for her supporting role in Noah Baumbach's upcoming Marriage Story)?