A great cover and in-depth article on “Into the Woods” by The Hollywood Reporter: When Stephen Sondheim summons, you answer the call. And so it was that in the spring of 2013, Meryl Streep found herself arriving at the 84-year-old composer’s five-story Manhattan townhouse. She’d just been cast as the Witch in the big-screen version of Into the Woods, Sondheim’s darkly twisted musical about fractured fairy tales. Rob Marshall, who would direct Streep in the film — opening Christmas Day — also was called to the town house, as was James Lapine, who wrote the book for the play. But none of them had any idea why they had been bidden.

It turned out Sondheim had a new tune he wanted to run by them. It was called “She’ll Be Back,” and the composer thought the Witch could sing it at the point in the story when Rapunzel (played by MacKenzie Mauzy) escapes from the tower to run off with a handsome prince (Billy Magnussen). “I was in his living room and I had the sheet music in front of me and I was gasping because I didn’t know where to look,” recalls Streep. “I thought, ‘Is he going to ask me to sing it for him?’ Because I could never do that.” The complete article can be read here.

With many thanks to my friend Alvaro, new scans from magazines – all published this year – have been added to the image library. Besides some earlier articles in the French Femina magazine, there are scans from the British Total Film, Empire and The Lady magazines. Find the complete list below and enjoy reading.

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.

A couple of magazine scans have been added to the image library, some of them from earlier this year during the “August: Osage County” promotion and two new ones. The People Magazine edition of August has a first look at “Into the Woods”. And Empire Magazine’s September issue has a feature on the Blu-Ray release of “Sophie’s Choice”. Many thanks to Simona, Claudia and Ali for the scans. Also, with thanks to Lindsey, the “Into the Woods” production stills have been replaced with HQ versions.

The magazines archive has been re-organized these past days to make it easier to access and browse. Over the years, hundreds of magazines have been obtained – some have been transcripted, other can be found in the image library. Now, both collections have been merged to give a comprehensive list of articles. Also, since many visitors come from around the world and many articles have been posted in foreign languages, there’s a new compilation of international magazines. Simply click the country of your destiny to find all articles available in your language. You will be surprised how much has been collected. My most sincere thanks to all the visitors who have contributed their collections and rare finds, most especially Alvaro, who has sent in most of the scans you’re able to read on Simply Streep. If you have collected articles that are not featured yet, why not drop me a line and help make this list even more comprehensible.

Additionally to the new magazines archive, some 100 new scans have been added to the image library. Some are re-added, because I’m sure they had been posted on here before. Simply browse the last updated albums for a complete list. Enjoy reading.

Three new magazines have been added to the image library – Ciak (Italy, February 2014), Madame Figaro (France, February 14, 2014) and MyWay Magazine (Germany, April 2014). Many thanks to Alvaro for scanning the first two magazines and to myself for the German one :-) Enjoy reading.

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – MyWay Magazine (Germany, April 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Madame Figaro (France, February 14, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Ciak (Italy, February 2014)

Scans from two French magazines have been added to the gallery, with many thanks to Alvaro. There’s a great pictorial and article in the February 20 issue of Paris Match, and another article in the February 20 issue of Le Point. Click the previews below to launch the scans.

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Paris Match (France, February 20, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Le Point (France, February 20, 2014)

Two new magazine scans have been added to the gallery. Many thanks to Luciana for sending in scans from the March issue of Vanity Fair, boasting some fantastic celebrity portraits, including this 1981 shot by Annie Leibovitz (which I haven’t seen in this pose before). Then, with many thanks to Simona, scans from the Italian Cosi Magazine (January 2014) have been added as well. Enjoy.

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Vanity Fair (USA, March 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Cosi Magazine (Italy, January 2014)

Here comes another fantastic addition to the archives with many thanks to Simona. The Italian Il Venerdi di Repubblica featured a cover story and nine page article on Meryl in January 1989 to promote the release of “A Cry in the Dark”, featuring some great full page images. Have a look at the scans in the image library.

Many thanks to Claudia for sending in Meryl’s Best Actress bit from the latest Entertainment Weekly. “Working with Streep can be intense. Julianne Nicholson recalls a small scene where she sits in the backseat of a car beside Streep and Julia Roberts. “We’re sort of chatting a little bit, and all of a sudden we’re rolling and Meryl starts acting,” says Nicholson. “The whole car just felt full of feeling, and it was suffocating in the best way. It was so real. If you were sitting in that car, I would dare you not to cry.”