Will Meryl star in a 2024 Black List script?

Every December, the Black List is revealed of the "most-liked" unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. I enjoy perusing the list to see if there seems to be anything Meryl might be a fit for. Let's not forget that her last Oscar nomination was for 2017's The Post, from a screenplay that landed Liz Hannah on the list in 2016. 

Fast forward to 2024 and I noticed a handful of projects that seem plausible from the taglines. I'll start with which ones seem most likely or enticing. For reference, the top metion-getter received 60. 

MILDRED by Josh Corbin (9 mentions)

Years after being banished from her family, an aging matriarch returns to the family business to save her estranged children from a deadly criminal syndicate.

DIANA DESTROYS A WEDDING by Elizabeth Evans (18 mentions)

When her youngest son proposes to a middle-class farmer, New York business icon DIANA IVY incentivizes her dysfunctional children to protect the family name the only way she knows how… by creating a competition: whoever can break up the couple during their luxurious seven-day destination wedding will inherit The Ivy’s Lake Como Estate. 

    *Not sure if the age would be appropriate (could be more a Nicole Kidman-type role). 

OLD SOULS by Hannah Stoddard, Jenny Ulmer (13 mentions)

A trio of sassy, elderly women receive a unique offer from Death for a week of youth in exchange for their lives.

    *Might be a bit too 80 for Brady. 

MOTHERBOY by Tess Brewer (13 mentions)

When a woman becomes trapped in a snowstorm with her overbearing mother-in-law and husband over the Thanksgiving holiday, she begins to suspect that their relationship is not as maternal as it seems. BARBARIAN by way of an erotic, Hallmark holiday movie.

    *Seems like it might be age appropriate, but the Hallmark comparison gives me major pause.

IS THIS YOU? by Kaitlin Fontana (11 mentions)

Maura and her mother Jeanne have always had a tricky relationship. But when Jeanne starts publishing essays about her troubled daughter’s teenage years, those versions of her appear like hormone-fueled poltergeists hell-bent on ruining the real Maura’s tenuous adult stability.

   *Again no idea of the ages of the characters here so could be a no-go from day on.

But perhaps the most interesting news related to this year's Black List, however, is the fact that for the first time, they also released (a day later) an "Adaptation List" that highlights 61 novels "primed to be made into big screen and small screen projects." When I saw that headline, I immediately scrolled down the list to see if there was one particular novel included. Lo and behold, Ann Patchett's State of Wonder is on the list. If you don't know the background on my obsession interest in this novel being adapted with Meryl starring as Dr. Swenson, feel free to familiarize yourself here and here. 

I haven't had the feeling of "OK this so has to happen now" since I wrote about The Post back very early 2017. Four months later they were shooting. So Meryl you just gotta do this! Regardless, there are still interesting/complicated roles out there if Meryl wants them (and if they can get funded, I guess)!

I'd be interested to read others' thoughts on any of the Black List scripts that stuck out to them. Happy speculating. 

Streep "snubbed" at Golden Globes

I used quotation marks for "snubbed" because I don't really consider her missing out on a Golden Globe nomination this morning to be that big of a deal.  Only Murders in the Building received four nominations (Best Comedy Series and for its three leads Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez), and some thought Meryl would receive another nod for her supporting role in the series. 

I, for one, wasn't surprised in the least. In fact, it didn't even occur to me that she would be in the running. While the Emmys have rules about screen time or number of episodes/percentage of episodes to designate acting categorizations, I don't think the Golden Globes has such rules. Meryl's role in season four was rather minor, and she didn't have much of a character arc. I don't rule out the possibility of a guest actor Emmy nod, but no sane person should really have been thinking she was likely to get recognized for this latest season. 

The full list of nominations can be seen here. 

Still hoping that we get some more confirmation on when filming is set to get underway for The Devil Wears Prada 2. And I'm even more interested to get some (any) casting news for The Corrections. Alas, silence.