On September 18, 1981, United Artists released “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, in which a 32-year-old Meryl Streep played her first leading role in a motion picture. Two leading roles to be fair, since the story depicts John Fowles’ novel not only as a straight-forward adaptation, but as an embedded film within a film that portrays the lead actors’ laissez faire fling on a movie while performing the tightlipped Victorian romance between a palaeontologist and a social outcast – a contrast on how social perception or acceptance on infidelity has changed over the years, at least 40 years ago. “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” is a curious film, a drama for grown-ups, and a very odd choice for Streep’s first leading role. After her breakthrough years and an Academy Award in 1980, an All-American role like “Silkwood” would have seemed a more logical fit to hone a movie star image. But Streep, giving us a first taste of her transformative craft that would stun audiences in the many years to come, immersed herself into the British landscape and created two very unique performances in one film.

Instead of writing a long essay on the film’s anniversary I’ll rather guide you through the extensive collection of information, pictures and articles we have amassed over the last years. Have a look at the box on the left for shortcuts. I’ll give you my top takeaways anyway: The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving 11 BAFTA nominations with three wins, inlcuding Best Actress for Streep. She also won the Golden Globe as Best Actress Drama and received her third Academy Award nomination in four years, the first as Best Actress, which was awarded to Katharine Hepburn. Streep was not the first choice for the part – Fowles’ personal choice was Helen Mirren. But the studio deemed her unsuitable, thanks to the recent release of the notorious “Caligula”. Even more surprisingly, this was Jeremy Irons’ first leading role as well, and only his second motion picture.

If you want to treat yourself with an anniverary viewing today and don’t own the DVD, you can check out if it’s available to stream in your region. If you want to share your thoughts on the film, head over to Twitter for comments and selected pictures.

In the first official look at the Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up, starring DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, the teaser trailer centers its story around DiCaprio’s character having a panic attack ahead of an Oval Office meeting after uncovering an Armageddon-like revelation. Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers, played by DiCaprio and Lawrence, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth. The star-studded movie is written and directed by Adam McKay, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated movies Vice and The Big Short. Mark Rylance, Ron Perlman, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi), Himesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey, Michael Chiklis and Tomer Sisley round out the cast. The teaser trailer only runs for one minute and 18 seconds, but prompts several chuckles as Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) set an infuriating White House meeting with a room of indifferent government officials, including those played by Hill and Meryl Streep, to explain their dire discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. Don’t Look Up hits select theaters Dec. 10 and releases on Netflix on Dec. 24. With the release of the trailer, three brand new production stills featuring Meryl have been published as well.

Over the last weeks, I have worked behind the scenes on the career pages to make them more functional and easier to browse. Meryl Streep’s career is a massive task to cover, and yet it’s one of my favorite parts of the site, since it’s not only films, but heaps of documentaries, television specials and narration work. Plus, we have been able to source pretty much all of her 50 plus theatre performances since her time at Vassar College with lots of rare pictures and posters. So, let me introduce some nifty new functions: Each career site has been updated with full cast and crew information and shortcuts to the photo gallery, video archive and related reviews (there have been a lot with the ongoing magazine updates). You can check each project’s availablity on a wide array of streaming services in your country. Each page also comes with tags – so if you’re looking for similar work, you’ll find shortcuts like, for example, drama, based on a true story, and many more. Lastly, all career pages are connected with the chronology pages, so you can find all productions from a specific year listed by release. You can start by browsing the career main page with 12 subcategories and then lose yourself for a couple of days with over 330 productions to (re)discover :-). Enjoy browsing and check back tomorrow for a new Scan Sunday.

I wasn’t interested in doing a biopic on Anna; I was interested in her position in her company. I wanted to take on the burdens she had to carry, along with having to look nice every day. Absolute power corrupts absolutely…. I liked that there wasn’t any backing away from the horrible parts of her, and the real scary parts of her had to do with the fact that she didn’t try to ingratiate, which is always the female emollient in any situation where you want your way – what my friend Carrie Fisher used to call “the squeezy and tilty” of it all. [Miranda] didn’t do any of that. (Meryl Streep, Entertainment Weekly)

If looks could kill, then for 15 years The Devil Wears Prada has been a serial threat. Director David Frankel’s adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s Faustian yarn – inspired by the author’s time working under Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour – emerged as a modern classic through its mélange of impossibly chic clothes, scorching dialogue, and pointed portrayal of women in power. In time, the movie has become a beacon for gender parity, too, with its ice-queen Runway editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) occupying a delectably unapologetic position of power in a male-dominated world and, as a Hollywood antihero, a rare kind of leading lady. The film struck a chord with its feminist-tinged, broadly appealing story, and has endured largely thanks to the spectacular chemistry among Streep, Anne Hathaway (who plays Miranda’s assistant-turned protegée Andy Sachs), and scene-stealers Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Adrian Grenier. For the first time since the film’s release in June 2006, EW has gathered those stars (and more) for a fierce reunion as they dig their heels into Devil’s legacy. You can watch the full 30 minutes reunion exclusively on Entertainment Weekly’s website.

Update: Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline will perform “Dear Elizabeth” at the Spotlight on Plays virtual benefit series from June 17 to June 21, 2021. Based on the compiled letters between poets Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, Dear Elizabeth maps the relationship of the two poets from first meeting to an abbreviated affair – and the turmoil of their lives in between. Directed by Kate Whoriskey. Here’s the original press release from March: According to Deadline, Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker and Carla Gugino have joined the line-up of actors taking part in this year’s virtual Spotlight on Plays series benefitting The Actors Fund, with Streep reuniting with her Sophie’s Choice co-star Kevin Kline on Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth. Parker is set to perform in Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz. Gugino will be teamed with the previously announced Ellen Burstyn in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine. Others previously announced, in addition to Kline and Burstyn, are Kathryn Hahn, Keanu Reeves, Debbie Allen, Bobby Cannavale, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Heidi Schreck, Alia Shawkat, Heather Alicia Simms and Alicia Stith. The Spotlight on Plays series, launched last year on the Broadway’s Best Shows website, features actors performing the works remotely, with the readings pre-recorded and edited. The series, which begins Thursday, benefits The Actors Fund. The series begins Thursday, March 25, with Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play at 8pm ET/5pm PT, and continues wit Pearl Cleage’s Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous on Thursday, April 8 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Additional casting and dates will be announced soon. The Spotlight on Plays events are livestreamed on Stellar and available for a strictly limited amount of time. Season subscriptions and individual ticket information is available on the Broadway’s Best Shows website. Many thanks to Glenn and Alvaro for the heads-up.

We can count ourselves quite blessed when it comes to Meryl Streep’s recent appearances – with her fourth and fifth tribute video within four weeks – even though they are “just” online. On Monday, she opened the Physicians for Human Rights Virtual Celebration Gala in honor of health and human rights heroes on May 16. And yesterday, the Virtual Night of Covenant House Stars took place, as previously reported. As they write for the tribute segment, “our young people at Covenant House have incredible star power. And their light shines even more brightly when their stories are shared by Hollywood’s finest: Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, and Jon Hamm. Listen in as these great actors share letters from Elijah, Stephanie, and Allan in New Orleans, Georgia, and Missouri, respectively, youth who are taking the next steps in their lives toward becoming an artist, a parent, and a computer tech expert”. This segment is introduced by the iconic Dionne Warwick and performed by Broadway superstar Stephanie J. Block. Both videos, as well as screencaptures have been added to the archives.

Two more virtual appearances have been added to the archive – and the ever-growing collection of benefit readings we have been blessed with since the start of the Pandemic. Thanks a lot mostly to this great Youtube channel for always sourcing and posting Meryl’s online appearances we would be otherwise unable to watch :-) The first appearance comes from the April 19 Writers Guild Initiative 2021 Virtual Benefit Gala in which celebrity guests recited poems written by healthcare workers. Meryl’s poem by Lenka Varekovka is titled “Thank you for the Shower”. Then, on May 01, Meryl participated in the Inaugural Misty Upham Award for Young Native Actors, created by the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program to encourage and honor Native Actors Under 25, by offering them a cash prize, physical award, performance opportunities and platform. The award was created in memory of actress Misty Upham, who played Johnna the maid opposite Streep’s Violet Weston in 2013’s “August: Osage County”, and who died only a year later under tragic circumstances. In her honor, Meryl reads the poem “The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee” by N. Scott Momaday. Both videos can be watched in the video archive, screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Meryl Streep has been featured among the many celebrity guests of Michelle Obama’s “Girl Talk: Knowledge is Our Superpower”: The future of our world is as bright as our girls—and this Thursday, we hope you’ll join Michelle Obama and the Girls Opportunity Alliance as we celebrate young women across the globe. “Girl Talk: Knowledge is Our Superpower” is a one-hour virtual event hosted by POPSUGAR in support of adolescent girls’ education and empowerment. The night is guaranteed to be inspirational, educational, and fun, with interactive Q&As, a musical performance by Kelly Clarkson, and other great guests along the way. Other special guests include: Alicia Keys, Amy Poehler, Andra Day, Angélique Kidjo, Becky G, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Demi Lovato, Dove Cameron, Ego Nwodim, Julia Roberts, Kristen Bell, Lana Condor, Madison Reyes, Meryl Streep, Millie Bobby Brown, Milo Ventimiglia, Naomi Osaka, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Shaun Robinson, Shonda Rimes, and Storm Reid. You can watch the full special below – Meryl appears around the 36 minutes mark. Screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery as well.

“Don’t Look Up” is coming to Netflix sooner than you might think. Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the rest of the star-studded cast are still filming “Don’t Look Up” in Boston and other nearby towns, but the Adam McKay comedy will make its debut later this year, and Netflix has already released the first official footage from the movie. A trailer posted by Netflix highlighting all of the original movies it will release in 2021 features a short scene from “Don’t Look Up,” which stars DiCaprio and Lawrence as two low-level astronomers who must embark on a massive media tour to warn the world about an approaching comet that will destroy the planet. In the brief, dialogue-free footage, DiCaprio and Lawrence step off of a carrier plane onto an airport tarmac as uniformed personnel stroll by in the background. So far, “Don’t Look Up” has filmed scenes in Boston, Canton, Chicopee, Fall River, Norton, Salisbury, Weymouth, and Worcester. Filmmakers shot scenes at Union Point in Weymouth, the former site of South Weymouth Naval Air Station, in December. The streaming giant has not announced a specific release date for “Don’t Look Up.” Along with DiCaprio and Lawrence, “Don’t Look Up” features Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Chris Evans, Himesh Patel, Timothée Chalamet, Matthew Perry, Tyler Perry, Melanie Lynskey, Ron Perlman Tomer Sisley, singer Ariana Grande, and rapper Kid Cudi (text courtesy boston.com).

We’re getting the full Streep treatment for the past week with dual (virtual) promotional tours for both “Let Them All Talk” (releasing today) and “The Prom” (releasing tomorrow). On Tuesday, Meryl Streep was a guest on her co-star’s talkshow “The Late Late Show with James Corden” while yesterday she was joined by Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen on “The Today Show” to promote “Let Them All Talk”. Both appearances can be watched in the video archive, with screencaptures being added to the photo gallery.