There are news on Mike Nichols’ planned “Great Hope Springs”. After Jeff Bridges’ department from the project, sources are now reporting on James Gandolfini joining Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the drama. Streep and Gandolfini would play a married couple who undergo intense couples therapy to see if they want to continue their 30-year-marriage. Hoffman would play the therapist. According to Vulture, no deals have been signed, but all parties are highly interested, and recently even did a table read.

While there haven’t been any news on the reported Meryl Streep/Tina Fey collaboration in the Stanley Tucci directed “Mommy & Me” since the original announcement back in June (read here), Stanley Tucci has now talked a bit about the current development of the project in an interview with Collider. As of now, now script has been written. The part can be read below and after the cut.

ST: This movie I’m going to do next year if we get a script and get everything together with Tina Fey and Meryl Streep will be the first time I’ve ever directed a studio picture. So obviously there are going to have to be some adjustments on my part. But still, for the most part, it’s an intimate comedy.

The Daily Mail has posted a report on the ongoing controversy on how Margaret Thatcher will be portrayed in the upcoming film. Meryl is headlined by most sources at this time to be playing Thatcher. So far, as mentioned by the Daily Mail – she is “expected” to play Miss Thatcher. The complete article can be read here.

There’s still no official confirmation of Meryl’s participation, but this is a step towards the official direction. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony has picked up “Mommy & Me,” the comedy package featuring Meryl Streep and Tina Fey as a mother-and-daughter duo to be directed by Stanley Tucci. CAA circulated the project around town earlier in July and signs pointed to Sony, which made last year’s Streep comedy “Julie & Julia,” as a strong contender. Storylines are under wraps, although it spotlights the thorny and funny sides of mother-daughter relationships. Joby Harold wrote the treatment that went with the package and is exec producing with Tucci, Steve Buscemi and Joshua Astrachan. Wren Arthur, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Tory Tunnell are producing. Streep and Tucci have worked together on-screen in “Devil Wears Prada” and “Julie & Julia.” It’s unclear at this time if Tucci would appear in the movie or just stick to directing.

No final word so far if Meryl is indeed going to play Margaret Thatcher, although it sounds pretty much a done deal according to this article from the Telegraph: Although the prospect of Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher may have pleased some admirers of the Conservative former prime minister, her children have been horrified to discover more about the film. Mandrake hears that the screenplay of The Iron Lady depicts Baroness Thatcher as an elderly dementia-sufferer looking back on her career with sadness. She is shown talking to herself and unaware that her husband, Sir Denis Thatcher, has died.

“Sir Mark and Carol are appalled at what they have learnt about the film,” says a friend of the family. “They think it sounds like some Left-wing fantasy. They feel strongly about it, but will not speak publicly for fear of giving it more publicity.” Cameron McCracken, the managing director of the film-maker Pathé, confirms: “It is true that the film is set in the recent past and that Baroness Thatcher does look back on both the triumphs and the lows of her extraordinary career. “It is a film about power and the price that is paid for power. In that sense, it is the story of every person who has ever had to balance their private life with their public career.” He says Lady Thatcher’s health will be featured, but insists that it will be “treated with appropriate sensitivity”. He adds of the film: “Although fictional, it will be fair and accurate.”

Prepare for a longer post :-) Here come some news that I didn’t pay much attention to at first. The Los Angeles Times has reported today about a new comedy “being shopped around Hollywood” called “Mommy & Me”, starring Meryl Streep and Tina Fey, and to be directed by Stanley Tucci. Doesn’t sound all to bad (sans the title probably), but if you read between the lines, there actually isn’t a project.

There’s no script and no writers yet on the film, which is obviously at the shopping/development stage, but the central idea is that of a mother-daughter comedy that will give the two actresses a chance to flash their comedic and dramatic chops.

As previously said, I didn’t give much to it, given the fact of not a single written word for a script, and because it’s the third unconfirmed role for Meryl within two weeks. But – give the internet some hours – every source from Entertainment Weekly to New York Magazine to People is reporting on this new project – fairly quoting its current status. Then, according to the Wrap, there’s even confirmation by CAA (the agency that represents both Streep and Tucci) that such project is currently being shopped. If this idea of a film is really being made into a feature, it very well might be the first project of Meryl we knew about before it was even written! Most certainly, it adds a new level to the fast paced community of online movie news. Let’s wait and see.

I’m not sure how reliable these news are – but in terms of unofficial movie news, I guess nothing is :-) According to Cinema Blend, in quoting Deadline New York, Streep and Nichols are very much involved, but Bridges isn’t attached to “Great Hope Springs” anymore.

Continuted from Cinema Blend: It’s a bummer not just because it would have been awesome to see The Dude and Julia Child team up as an age-appropriate couple, but because it’s pretty hard to find an actor in Streep’s age range who’s remotely up to her challenge. She and Stanley Tucci made a great team both in Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia but Tucci is actually 11 years her junior. At 60 Streep is seven years older than Tom Hanks but more than a decade younger than Robert Redford, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman – all the actors who were her contemporaries in the 70s. Bridges and Streep are nearly exactly the same age, which is just another reason they would have been perfect together.

While still unofficial, according to the Wrap, Mike Nichols is in talks to direct Mandate Pictures’ “Great Hope Springs,” an individual familiar with the project told TheWrap. Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges are currently close to finalizing deals to star in the dramedy. CAA, which represents Nichols, Streep and Bridges, would not confirm the negotiations. This would be the fifth project for Nichols and Streep after “Silkwood” (1983), “Heartburn” (1986), “Postcards from the Edge” (1990) and “Angels in America” (2003).

According to Coming Soon, Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges are in talks to star in Escape Artists’ “Great Hope Springs”. Philip Seymour Hoffman is also circling the project but may not be able to join in due to schedule conflicts. The film, written by Vanessa Taylor Writer, is about a couple who have been married for thirty years and attend an intense counseling weekend to decide the fate of their marriage. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Guymon Casady and Steve Tisch are producing the dramedy.

“In talks” basically means that the two are considered, or wanted for this projects, so I wouldn’t count it as an official project for now. Be sure I keep you posted on further information.

With many thanks to the great Tina, over 1000 DVD screencaptures of “It’s Complicated” have been added to the Image Library. The romantic comedy, co-starring Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, has been released on DVD in the United States on April 27, so be sure to grab your copy and enjoy Meryl’s latest film.