A new trailer for “Into the Woods” has been released today. The latest peek at the big-screen take on Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical opens with a shot of Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, leading newcomers Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood and Daniel Huttlestone as Jack, and finally Emily Blunt as The Baker’s Wife with her husband The Baker, played by James Corden, as they sing “I Wish.” Streep makes her grand entrance as The Witch who raised Rapunzel, bargaining with the Baker and his wife to remove a curse in exchange for a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. She then steals the show, singing her big number, “Stay With Me.” You can watch the new trailer in the video archive.

Check out the first featurette for “Into the Woods” to get a taste of snippets from the prologue, Meryl Streep’s “Stay With Me” and more! Also look out for James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim and Rob Marshall gushing about the cast, and the cast gushing about Lapine, Sondheim and Marshall. There’s a lot of love. Cast interview include Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, James Corden and Emily Blunt. The featurette features lots of new scenes and more insight into the characters, including Johnny Depp’s Wolf, Rapunzel and, of course, the Witch.

In this week’s Entertainment Weekly – which features four exclusive covers of the fairy tale epic’s all-star cast – they dive headfirst into the design of the dark, sprawling world of “Into the Woods”, the musical tale about a childless Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) who attempt to lift a witch’s curse by venturing into an enchanted forest filled with classic characters like Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy). Edit: Scans from the magazine have been added to the image library, with many thanks to Claudia for sending them in. Additionally, a new production still and a costume sketch of Meryl’s character have been added as well.

After a few weeks’ worth of rumors, Pathé International has announced that Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant will officially be teaming up for Stephen Frears’ biopic, “Florence”. Florence stars Streep as the real-life New York heiress Florence Foster Jenkins, whose dreams of becoming a renowned opera singer are stymied by her laughable lack of talent. Grant will play her live-in partner and manager, the English actor St. Clair Bayfield, who guides Jenkins away from the real truth, which proves challenging when Jenkins decides to perform live at Carnegie Hall. The film is currently in pre-production. Michael Kuhn and Tracey Seaward will produce, and Nicholas Martin will write the script. Here’s Pathé’s official synopsis:

The true story of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep), the legendary New York heiress and socialite who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great opera singer. The voice she heard in her head was beautiful, but to everyone else it was hilariously awful. Her “husband” and manager, St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) an aristocratic English actor, was determined to protect his beloved Florence from the truth. But when Florence decided to give a public concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944, St Clair knew he faced his greatest challenge.

Sad news today. A spokeswoman for the family of Misty Upham has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that actress Misty Upham, who was first reported missing on Oct. 6, has been found dead. The Hollywood Reporter has obtained a comment from Meryl Streep, who co-starred with Upham in “August”: “So so sad to hear this news — all our thoughts are with her family and with her beautiful spirit.” Melissa Leo, whose character collaborated with Upham’s to smuggle illegal immigrants from Canada into America in Frozen River, wrote, “Such a loss… so sad, so so sad. I hope to that her talent is remembered more than any troubles we surely will never understand. She was a smart, delightful actor, a spirit wild and hungry. I know I and others are honored to have had Misty in our lives.”

According to the Daily Mail, Meryl Streep is in negotiations to star in a film about an opera singer who couldn’t hit a note. American-born Florence Foster Jenkins had legions of fans who filled her concerts, but it was never clear whether they genuinely enjoyed her piercing screeches — or were just going along for a laugh. Streep, who can carry a tune, has been talking to director Stephen Frears about making the movie about the lady with the variable tempo and less than perfect pitch. Maureen Lipman appeared in a play several years ago about Jenkins called Glorious, and there was a line in it about what the great Caruso said when he heard her sing. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it!’ he apparently told her, though she took it as a compliment. Hugh Grant is also in talks to play Jenkins’s manager, who may well have been more to her than that. Frears works well with women. Look at The Queen with Helen Mirren, or the movies he’s made with Judi Dench (the recent Philomena is a particular stand-out). His work is being celebrated during the BFI London Film Festival, when he will be awarded a BFI Fellowship. At least Meryl won’t need any singing lessons for this latest role. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

According to Awardsdaily, Meryl Streep will be run in Supporting, not lead, while Emily Blunt will be the lead actress contender for Into the Woods, a rep from Disney confirmed. In this case, both Meryl Streep and Anna Kendrick will be in supporting for Into the Woods, which could also be in line for a SAG ensemble nod given the talent involved. The complete article can be read over at Awardsdaily.

As previously mentioned, “The Homesman” has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray in France, yesterday. The Western drama, directed by Tommy Lee Jones and starring Jones, Hilary Swank, James Spader, John Lithgow and Meryl Streep in a cameo performance, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this Spring and released French theaters shortly after – hence the early home media release. You can order both the DVD and Blu-Ray at Amazon in France (if you’re living outside of Europe, please inform yourself about region codes). The Blu-Ray includes a lengthy featurette, but sadly no footage with Meryl. Screencaptures from the film have been added to the image library.

Walt Disney Studios has released the first theatrical poster from their upcoming Broadway adaptation, “Into The Woods”, putting Meryl Streep’s witch front and centre. The film, which is a modern twist on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales, boasts quite an impressive cast highlighted by Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Christine Baranski, Tracey Ullman and Johnny Depp. The film will hit theaters everywhere Christmas Day. Check out the high resolution poster in the image library.

The US theatrical trailer for “The Homesman” has been released, showing lots of new footage, especially on Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, whose performance received quite some positive buzz after the film’s festival premieres. The rest, however, remains mysterious to me. While “The Homesman” has already received a theatrical release in some European countries back in May, this trailer states the US release as “Coming Soon”, while the IMDb lists a limited theatrical release for November 14, 2014. Let’s see…