Results of poll #4

I know that the current poll has a few days remaining but since the voting has sort of leveled off I thought I'd comment on it now.  With 35 total votes in, I'm pleasantly surprised that Diana Nyad is the person whom people would most like to see Meryl portray in a biopic.  My surprise comes from not even expecting most people to know who she is.  I had never heard of her until I saw that one of the black list scripts was about her.

This could still be a viable role for Meryl.  A physical transformation in an inspiring story.  As I mentioned in one of my comments, it would be cool if she chose to film this just after turning 70 in 2019, sort of a fun physical achievement to prepare herself for all the swimming she'd likely have to do.  Plus, with already having completed The Papers, were she to do Nyad, I'd be two-for-two in the last two years in predicting which black list script she chose!

Make it happen, movie world.

Casting update for "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again"

Multiple sources have reported that Jeremy Irvine and Alexa Davies have joined the cast of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.  Irvine, best known for playing the lead role in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, will portray the younger version of Pierce Brosnan's character, while Davies will play Rosie, the younger version of Julie Walters's character in the original.

I have to admit I've never seen War Horse, but like the idea of Irvine and Meryl swapping stories on set of working with Steven.  The last I heard, filming was to start in late summer or early fall, so I suppose Meryl will be hightailing it to Croatia fairly soon.

The next year will be an unexpectedly full one for Meryl in the filming department.  Shooting just wrapped on The Papers, so I imagine that as soon as she's finished up with shooting Mamma Mia she'll be on a promotional blitz for the film back in the U.S.  Hopefully she'll be a factor in awards season.  Then we get Mamma Mia in the summer and Mary Poppins Returns next December.  Still crossing my fingers that The Nix finally gets greenlit for production as well.  If it does, I expect it to film next spring and/or summer.

It's a fun time to be a Meryl fan!

Poll #4: Whom would you most like to see Meryl portray in a biopic?

You guys have given me a great list of options for what the next poll should be.  As I said in an earlier post comment, I'm going to make polls of all the questions, but of course can only chose one at at time.

For poll number four, I've chosen the question of whom we'd like to see Meryl portray in a biopic.  We all know that she's already given us an incredible package of portayals, from Karen Silkwood, Karen Blixen and Lindy Chamberlain, to Roberta Guaspari, Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher.  But there are several more women out there that could make incredible subjects, with Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham her latest incarnation.

I've made the list longer this time around, as there are so many names I can think of that I'd love to see Meryl play.  As usual, chose one of the names in the poll.  I'm asking that if you chose "other", that you please comment your choice below.  And even if you happen to chose a name from the list but happen to think of another, I'd love to hear your suggestion.

The poll will be open for two weeks.  Let's do this.

New pics from the set of "The Papers"

Some eager fans evidently had their phones at the ready on the set of The Papers today, as a few new shots of Meryl were tweeted:

📷 @tomhanks & #MerylStreep filming Steven Spielberg's "The Papers" in New York [July 24, 2017] pic.twitter.com/Hf63iVeyrs

— Tom Hanks Network (@Tom_HanksNet) July 26, 2017

OMG LILY GOT PICS !!!! pic.twitter.com/eApU9pMV5K

— judgemental vegan (@jdgmntvegan) July 26, 2017

Meryl Streep y Tom Hanks en los sets de su nueva pelicula The Papers en ... https://t.co/ZxJ0QHtvKb pic.twitter.com/NL1BERcEoD

— clasos (@clasos) July 26, 2017

Filming will be entering its third month next week.  I imagine they'll be wrapping by the third week in August which will leave just four months for completion before it hits theaters in a limited release.  Spielberg will probably need to have it ready even sooner, as they'll have to get screeners to SAG members and the Hollywood Foreign Press, as the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award nominations are usually announced in early December.  We know Spielberg has done it before in a short time.  He'll do it again.  

Results of poll #3

Jeeze I almost forgot to comment on the results of poll #3: Which film would you remove from Meryl's biography?  I personally selected The House of the Spirits.  The main reason of course is that it's just an awful film.  In fact, my friend Scooter and I tried to re-watch it a few years back and had to stop after about twenty minutes because it was so bad.  Secondly, the film is a whitewashed version of a book that supposed to take place in South America.  The characters are supposed to be Chilean, but half of them are just super white Anglo-Saxon.  We could debate for hours the multiple questions and problems that involves, but I tend to be someone who prefers realism in narrative films such as this, and the casting drew me out of the story immediately.

Just as many people chose Before and After as did The House of the Spirits, and with good reason.  Before and After is arguably a worse film, but House of the Spirits was supposed to be a slam dunk of assembled talent and story.  Considering that House had the potential to be a great film and fell so far from that, I had to give it the edge over Before and After, which probably had fewer major problems overall.

What should we do for the next poll?

More new pics of Streep on set of "The Papers"

Filming of The Papers continues in New York with a few new snapshots of Meryl in character released online today:

Probably just a few more weeks of filming, then they'll have to hit the editing room hard to get this out by the end of the year. 

Disney teases Emily Blunt in "Mary Poppins Returns"

Earlier today, Disney tweeted a brief video of Emily Blunt in character in the title role as Mary Poppins for the upcoming sequel to the 1964 classic:

Emily Blunt is Mary Poppins in the upcoming sequel, #MaryPoppinsReturns. The brand new film opens in theatres December 2018. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/egxozrpRbr

— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) July 15, 2017

I realize that this is basically a tease of a tease, in that we don't see any actual footage of the film, but apparently a snippet was unveiled this weekend at the Disney Fan Club Expo (D23), and the audience freaked out.

Of course Meryl has a supporting role in the picture, playing Poppins's cousin, Topsy Turvey.  The film opens nationwide on Christmas Day, 2018.