BroadwayWorld has a few more bits on the upcoming “Into the Woods” adaptation. According to a recent casting notice, Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical is set to begin shooting this September in England. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Meryl Streep is set to play ‘The Witch’ in the film by Warner Bros/Disney, with Johnny Depp in negotiations to join. According to Variety, Depp will play ‘The Baker’ – while The Hollywood Reporter claims that he will play “a hungry and sexy variation of the fairy tale wolf character.” At the very least, Depp is all but confirmed for the film, Deadline announced. James Lapine, the original book writer of “Into the Woods”, is reworking the script for the screenplay, while Sondheim is expected to contribute some new songs.

Here’s an update on “Into the Woods” courtesy Deadline: Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep filming together and singing. Who can resist? Not Disney any longer. It’s taken 16 months to get off the ground – ever since January 2012, when the studio sent out a press release announcing Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine) would be directing Stephen Sondheim’s iconic 1987 Broadway musical Into The Woods as a feature film for Disney. A table read was held in NYC this past October featuring Donna Murphy, Megan Hilty, Christine Baranski, Allison Janney and quite a few other Broadway stars. Buzz of Streep’s interest first surfaced last summer and this past week Marshall confirmed in an interview to Playbill that she was “in” to the play the witch. Today Variety reported Depp’s interest. Now I’ve confirmed that Johnny and Meryl “almost have their deals wrapped up for the film,” according to sources. Marshall directed 2011’s Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 (which might have been more palatable as a musical because it stunk as the franchise’s fourquel) so he’s already Mouse friendly. The original musical with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by James Lapine is about a childless baker and his wife who attempt to lift a family curse by journeying into the woods to confront the witch that put the spell on them. Along the way, they encounter classic fairy tale characters. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to Deadline, Steinfeld joins Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, James Spader, John Lithgow, and Tim Blake Nelson in the pic, about a man (Jones) who teams up with a pioneer woman (Swank) to escort three insane women across the prairie back to civilization. The 16-year-old will play a poor, simple, and barefooted teenager named Tabitha Hutchinson. Jones co-scripted with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver. Producing alongside Jones and his Javelina Film Company are Michael Fitzgerald for Ithaca Pictures, Peter Brant, and Luc Besson for EuropaCorp. Steinfeld is experienced in the genre, having received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the Coen Brothers’ masterful “True Grit”.

Margaret Thatcher, the first woman ever to serve as prime minister of Great Britain and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, has died at age 87. Thatcher had significant health problems in her later years, suffering several small strokes and, according to her daughter, struggling with dementia. But during her long career on the political stage, Thatcher was known as the Iron Lady. She led Great Britain as prime minister from 1979 to 1990, a champion of free-market policies and adversary of the Soviet Union. Many scenes of her political career, shown today in news reports all over the world, not only highlight her impact in politics for decades, but also recall Meryl’s powerful performance as Thatcher in her Oscar-winning performance in 2011’s “The Iron Lady”.

Today, Meryl Streep’s management has released a statement by Meryl on Margaret Thatcher’s death:

Margaret Thatcher was a pioneer, willingly or unwillingly, for the role of women in politics. It is hard to imagine a part of our current history that has not been affected by measures she put forward in the UK at the end of the 20th century.

Her hard-nosed fiscal measures took a toll on the poor and her hands-off approach to financial regulation led to great wealth for others. There is an argument that her steadfast, almost emotional loyalty to the pound sterling has helped the UK weather the storms of European monetary uncertainty.

But to me she was a figure of awe for her personal strength and grit. To have come up, legitimately, through the ranks of the British political system, class bound and gender phobic as it was, in the time that she did and the way that she did, was a formidable achievement. To have won it, not because she inherited position as the daughter of a great man, or the widow of an important man, but by dint of her own striving.

To have withstood the special hatred and ridicule, unprecedented in my opinion, leveled in our time at a public figure who was not a mass murderer; and to have managed to keep her convictions attached to fervent ideals and ideas — wrongheaded or misguided as we might see them now — without corruption — I see that as evidence of some kind of greatness, worthy for the argument of history to settle.

To have given women and girls around the world reason to supplant fantasies of being princesses with a different dream: the real-life option of leading their nation; this was groundbreaking and admirable.

I was honored to try to imagine her late life journey, after power; but I have only a glancing understanding of what her many struggles were, and how she managed to sail through to the other side. I wish to convey my respectful condolences to her family and many friends.

While updating the career pages, I was once again surprised by the amount of narration work that Meryl has done so far and continues to do. For 2013 and 2014 there are six documentaries narrated by Meryl, some have been aired already earlier this year, some are coming up, leading to the recently announced PBS “The Roosevelts” documentary. Meryl is also participating in a new documentary on Clint Easwtood by Richard Schickel, which will premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. To learn more about her new off-camera projects, have a look at the list of newly added projects below.

2014 The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2013 Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (documentary)
2013 Out of Print
2013 Girl Rising
2013 Wings of Life
2013 Makers: Women Who Make America
2013 Pioneers of THIRTEEN: The ’70’s – Bold and Fearless

The cast for “The Homesman” is getting more crowded. According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Spader and John Lithgow have joined the Tommy Lee Jones film. Jones co-wrote the script and is directing the movie, assembling a cast that includes Hilary Swank, Tim Blake Nelson and Meryl Streep. Set in 1855 Nebraska, the story tells of a frontier woman and a claim jumper who ferry a wagonload of women, driven insane by the harsh world of the frontier, eastward to Iowa and back to the civilized world. While details of Spader’s role are being played close to the vest, it is known he will play a swindler. The movie, being financed and co-produced by EuropaCorp, is due to shoot this spring in New Mexico. Lithgow and Streep has been frequent collaborators on the stage in the 1970s, starring in “Trelawny of the Wells”, “Secret Service” and “A Memory of Two Mondays”, but “The Homesman” will mark their first film project together.

Frequent readers will remember previous news on two new projects for Meryl – Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Homesman” and the screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”. The reason why there hasn’t been more information on both projects is because they haven’t been officially announced and the statements as of now didn’t sound very reliable. Today, BroadwayWorld has translated a recent interview that Meryl gave to a Chinese newspaper about “The Iron Lady” in which she seems to confirm both films. If you wonder why there is a promotional interview for a film that’s been released two years ago, BWW gives you a clue – it’s only been released in Beijing last month. “Streep tells the newspaper that following the wrap of shooting the stage-to-screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tracy Letts drama August: Osage County she will then film the Tommy Lee Jones-directed The Homesman. Following finishing those two films, in October, she steps in front of cameras in the central featured role of The Witch in director Rob Marshall’s highly-anticipated new feature film version of the beloved adult fairy tale-themed musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.” Another article on the Homesman yesterday as well. According to the New Mexico Film Office, principal photography is scheduled for the end of March through mid-May at various locations in the Las Vegas, N.M., and Santa Fe areas”. I couldn’t find this original press release as it was only stated in this article. But since “the end of March” is just around the corner, they might be some confirmation on the film in form of set pictures soon.

Meryl Streep narrates Wings of Life, an eye-popping, hi-def nature documentary from Disney that zooms in to examine the pollination partnerships between flowers and the butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, and bats that make our quality of life possible. Using amazing high-speed camera equipment that can shoot up to 1,500 frames per second, Wings of Life will open your eyes to the majestic beauty and mystery of nature, both exotic and familiar. “Wings of Life” becomes available on Blu-ray, Digital and On Demand on April 16, just in time for Earth Day. Click on the left to watch the trailer.

According to GoldDerby, John Wells’ screen version of “August: Osage County” just had its first test screening and reaction was overwhelmingly positive. “Our forum posters have been busy parsing the tweets of those in attendance. Almost all agree Streep is the one to beat for Best Actress at the Oscars”. The Broadway run of the play reaped wins for Deanna Dunagan as the vile Violet and Rondi Reed as her long-suffering sister Mattie. Margo Martindale (“Justified”) now plays that part and those who saw the film say she is likely to reap a supporting Oscar nod. The complete article with more information and reactions can be read here.

There’s one reason I’m posting this, rather speculative, news: The last time Meryl was mentioned to appear in a cameo, I thought, yes sure, that never happens. But since it was “Stuck on You” and really happened, I’ve kind of learned from it. So here we go: In a recent interview with Shortlist, Steve Carell dished on the upcoming sequel of “Anchorman” and mentioned he could imagine Meryl having a cameo in it. “Meryl Streep told me she was a huge Anchorman fan and she’d love to have a cameo in the sequel. That could be really funny. There are going to be plenty of great cameos in this movie.” “Anchorman 2” already boasts big names: in addition to original cast members Carell, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Christina Applegate, “The Legend Continues” will also feature appearances from Kristen Wiig, James Marsden and Harrison Ford. So, if “Anchorman 2” happens with Streep, I’ll have my fingers crossed she’ll share the screen with Kristen Wiig, which would be worth its ticket alone.

Update: Well it has taken just one day for Carell to deny his words again :-) He told Access Hollywood that Meryl won’t be able to fit the film into her schedule. “When I did ‘Hope Springs,’ [Meryl] mentioned she was a fan and she said, ‘Oh, I’d love to be in it,'” Steve told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Friday’s Access Hollywood Live. “But that’s not gonna [happen] – that’s not a thing. “She’s actually busy – she can’t do it,” he added, with a laugh.”