“Into the Woods” could become even more familiar territory for Meryl, as two previous co-stars have been recently announced to be possible additions. According to Variety, Emily Blunt is finalizing a deal to join the Disney’s musical playing the Baker’s wife, while The Wrap reports that Christine Baranski could be joining the cast as well. Baranski participated in a reading of the script back in October where she played Cinderella’s mean-spirited and demanding stepmother. As with Chris Pine and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are circling the princely roles of Cinderella and Rapunzel’s self-absorbed love interests, Baranski has not received an offer yet. However, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap she’s in talks to join the cast, though a scheduling conflict with “The Good Wife” is one obstacle that must be overcome. Thanks to Frank and Glenn for the heads-up!

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is currently making the rounds to talk about “Star Trek Into Darkness,” and has mentioned working with Meryl Streep on the upcoming “August: Osage County” in an interview with New York Magazine. The complete interview can be read here with his quote being snipped out below.

Cumberbatch prefers the hows to the whys of acting, and he found a kindred spirit in Meryl Streep, his co-star in this fall’s August: Osage County. “I asked her how she approached the multiple layers of her part,” says Cumberbatch. “And she said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t have a process. It changes with every job, doesn’t it?’ And I thought, Oh, thank God, to hear her say it. This whole thing about technique or method? It’s bullshit. People say, ‘Oh, you’re so precise.’ But within that I work very hard to give every part a heartbeat. I learned a lot from just watching Meryl in repose. It was a bit like a Sherlock deduction actually.”

Since the announcement of Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp leading Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”, more famous names have surfaced for parts in the film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine are in talks to join the Disney musical. Deal-making hasn’t quite begun but the two actors met and even sang for director Rob Marshall for their respective parts and are expected to receive offers to join the star-studded cast. If deals close, Gyllenhaal and Pine would play their first on-screen singing roles. And according to BroadwayWorld, singer Jewel is about to audition as well. She has taken to Twitter to muse on a particularly intriguing topic – singing the music of Stephen Sondheim, specifically the tricky “On The Steps Of The Palace” and followed with “Been working hard all weekend on an audition for a movie. Fingers crossed.” Why exactly is Jewel singing Sondheim’s “On The Steps Of The Palace”? What movie could she be auditioning for soon? She is not necessarily known for her musical theatre covers done in concert, after all. Indeed, the singer and sometimes actress has not been announced to be taking part in any upcoming production of “Into the Woods”, nor even scheduled to be a guest at a concert of Sondheim’s material as of this writing, so could she possibly be participating in the forthcoming feature film adaptation? Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to BroadwayWorld, a new casting notice for Disney confirms the commitment of Streep and Depp in the film’s pivotal roles, along with the addition of James Corden playing the Baker: “Starring in “Into The Woods” is three-time Academy Award nominee and Disney favorite Johnny Depp, who is playing a hungry and sexy vicissitude of the fairy tale Wolf. Also starring as the vain and charismatic Witch is three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Rounding out the first three roles Disney has cast is Tony Award winner James Corden playing the role of The Baker. Corden, who is hugely popular in England, recently played the role of “Britain’s Got Talent” sensation Paul Potts in the film “One Chance”.” The casting notice is available here. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

The buzz for the November releasing “August: Osage County” starts earlier than expected. Today, ABC News has launched the film’s theatrical trailer, which you can watch below. Hopefully a HD version will follow the next couple of days.

The trailer’s release comes with a nice summary by Entertainment Weekly. August: Osage County (out Nov. 8) may well become the year’s fanciest movie about a trashy family. It’s based on Tracy Letts’ hours-long, Pulitizer prize-winning play (which we said was, “horrifyingly, deliciously mesmerizing”) and is directed by John Wells from Letts’ adaptation. The cast is stuffed from every angles with talent: Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Roberts (as the favorite daughter), and Meryl Streep (as the hated mother). As the film’s first trailer makes clear, Osage County is a Jenga-like drama of family dysfunction, with funerals and divorces piling atop dinner-table conflicts. Roberts is weary. Streep, with a frizz of black hair, has the juiciest role in the play. Edward Sharpe plays in the background.

The public appearances have been sorted a bit and new pictures have been added, including television appearances that Meryl did in the late 1980s, including Entertainment Tonight and ABC’s The Home Show. Additionally, some already added pictures have been identified for the correct events, such as this one or this one. All last added pictures can be launched by clicking below. And while we’re at it, some additional early work pictures from The Deadliest Season, The Cherry Orchard and Taken in Marriage have been added as well. Enjoy.

Misery loves family! The Weinstein Company has released a first poster for “August: Osage County” today via Yahoo Movies, giving a first glance at the November releasing family drama starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Julianne Nicholson, Abigail Breslin and Sam Shepard. When the family patriarch vanishes, the Westons return to rural Oklahoma to care for their afflicted, manipulative mother Violet. Armed with prescription drugs and paranoid mood swings, Violet reigns over the home as family secrets unfold.

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.

And another event update. On April 22, Meryl Streep and husband Don Gummer have attended the the 50th anniversary gala of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, an organization founded in the early 1960s on the model of artists supporting one another’s creative efforts. It started as visual artists supporting performing artists, but since 1993 artists working in just about any medium have been eligible for a grant. More information can be found here. A picture from the anniversary gala has been added to the image library with many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep was a surprise guest at Indiana University’s dedication and demonstration of Big Red II, the first one petaFLOPS supercomputer in the state and the fastest university-owned system in the nation. Indiana University continues to lead the state, nation, and world in using high-speed computation to expand the frontiers of research. But in an age where each day brings a life-changing discovery, staying at the forefront means working at the speed of innovation. While there’s little coverage on the event, one picture has been added to the image library.