A new US featurette for “The Iron Lady”, featuring a bunch of new and extended scenes from the film, has been added to the video archive. And a couple of new pictures from the set have been added as well. Check back later today for coverage on the London premiere.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “The Iron Lady” proved her mettle this weekend. The biopic opened to a remarkable $280,409 at four theaters — a per-screen average of $70,102. That’s the third-highest specialty opening of the year, after “Midnight in Paris,” “The Tree of Life” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” The movie will expand to more theaters January 13. “We couldn’t be happier with the results,” Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company’s distribution chief, told TheWrap on Monday. “Obviously it’s the number one screen average by a mile for the weekend.”

Great news from Germany. The Berlin Film Festival said Monday it would award Meryl Streep an honorary Golden Bear next month in recognition of her decades-long career. “Meryl Streep is a brilliant, versatile performer who moves with ease between dramatic and comedic roles,” the festival’s director Dieter Kosslick said in a written statement. The award will be presented on February 14 at the screening of “The Iron Lady”, while audiences at the Berlinale, as the festival is known, will also be able to see five of Streep’s other films under its Homage section. In 2003, Meryl Streep shared the Berlinale’s Silver Bear award for best actresses with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman for their performances in “The Hours”. Thanks to Sandra for the heads-up!

While picking a Movie of the Week for the holidays, I felt reminded that Meryl never did a Christmas themed film (good for her), so I chose the one that comes closest. In 1984’s “Falling in Love”, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, happily married to others, meet accidentally while Christmas shopping and fall in love. Read the production notes and review below. Quality screencaptures and three video clips from the film have been added to the archives. As always, share your thoughts on the film in the comments.

When this first-time screenplay by Michael Cristofer came along in the early 1980s, actor Robert De Niro had exhausted himself making twenty movies in fifteen years. Most of De Niro’s roles had been extremely demanding both physically and emotionally. By consistently tackling edgy and wildly different parts, he had become known as one of the world’s greatest actors. Falling in Love gave De Niro a chance to take a refreshing detour from his usual mean streets onscreen. This simple story about two married suburbanites, Frank and Molly, who fall in love on the train, allowed De Niro to play a regular guy and explore his more romantic side for a change. De Niro had been looking for another opportunity to work with actress Meryl Streep, with whom he had co-starred in The Deer Hunter (1978). “I was always thinking of something I could do with Meryl,” said De Niro at the time, “a play, a film, anything. We had a reading and began to see possibilities in it.” The desire to work together was mutual, and the role of Molly seemed like the right choice at the right time for Streep. “We wanted something real,” she said, “something awkward and crumpled.” Even though the part of Frank Raftis was without the dark intensity of most of his other roles, De Niro found playing Frank every bit as challenging. “It only appeared to be easier,” he said of his character. “You always have to worry. You always have to concentrate. It’s just more deceptive when you are working on the surface.” For simple scenes that had De Niro holding a telephone conversation with his wife, he showed his attention to detail and authenticity by asking writer Cristofer to pen dialogue for his wife’s end of the conversation, even though you don’t see or hear her in the scenes. He also reportedly had business cards printed up with his character’s name and business on them, which never appear in the movie.

It’s that time of the year again when I think, “haven’t I just written a year in review?” Where has the year gone? Looking back there was plenty to report on Meryl’s career, although it hasn’t been a particularly busy year. Most of the new things happened in November and December – for the rest of 2011, Meryl was busy shooting films and being a spokesperson for the National Women’s History Museum. Much of the year felt like waiting for December, when not only “The Iron Lady” would release – her first film in two years – but also when Meryl would receive the highest honor for artists in America – the Kennedy Center Honors. So, let’s have a look at what 2011 brought us, Meryl-wise.

I hope you’ve all had wonderful Christmas holidays and look forward to celebrating New Year’s Eve. The past week had lots of new appearances which have been all added to the archives. First and foremost, the Kennedy Center Honors were broadcast on December 27, and Meryl’s complete segment can be found in the video archive.

It was a wonderful tribute by her colleagues and the introduction clip featured an array of unseen images of her early stage work. Still, I found that the segment was badly cut and much was left out. If you read the articles that were written after the ceremony took place December 05, you wonder why Nora Ephron’s speech was cut out completely, as well as parts of the fantastic speeches by Tracey Ullman and Robert De Niro. Still, the musical tribute by Kevin Kline, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Anne Hathaway – revising Meryl’s interpretation of “He’s me Pal” from “Ironweed” is worth a watch! A fantastic show. HD screencaptures from the ceremony have been added to the image library as well.

Then, also on December 27, CBS’ The Early Show aired a previously taped interview with Meryl, in which she talks about being a Kennedy Center Honoree and “The Iron Lady”. Also added to the video archive are two additional clips from the White House Dinner as well as an interview compilation for “The Iron Lady”.

Last but not least, lots of additional pictures from 2011 public appearances have been added to the image library. Click the previews below to launch all recently added event pictures.

This will be the last update for this year (with the exception of the “Year in Review 2011”, coming next week) and I’ve made sure you’ll have plenty to watch, read and listen to for the Holidays. First, Meryl’s appearance on “The View” can be watched in the video archive.

She attended the show yesterday alongside director Phyllida Lloyd, dishing on “The Iron Lady”, her early years at Dartmouth college and visiting the White House for the Kennedy Center Honors. Additionally to the video, HD captures have been added to the gallery.

Then, new magazine scans have been added to the gallery, with many thanks to Alvaro. Transcripts can be found in the magazines archive as well, including articles from Sunday Times Culture, The Inquirer, MacLeans’, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. A list of all new scans can be found below the previews.

Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2012 > Empire Magazine (UK, February 2012)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > New York Magazine (USA, December 12, 2011)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > Sunday Times Culture (UK, December 11, 2011) (transcript)

Finally, I would like to wish all visitors of Simply Streep a Merry Christmas and some wonderful Holidays with your family, friends and beloved ones. It’s been a great year to keep Simply Streep updated and I’m looking forward to all the news and things to happen in 2012. Have a great time and take care everybody! Frederik.

A B-roll video from the set of “The Iron Lady” has been released, showing lots of footage from behind the scenes. Also, two additional clips have been added to the video archive. Enjoy!

A batch of new magazine scans have been added to the gallery. First, scans from the most recent cover stories in Newsweek and the Spanish XL Semanal (as previously reported). Then, with thanks to Elmira, scans from the December issue of the Italian TU Style Magazine as well as from the July 2011 issue of Story Magazine (looks like a Russian version of Biography). And with thanks to Simona a 1986 article from the Italian La Domenica Magazine, covering the release of “Out of Africa”. Thanks everybody for contributing, enjoy reading!

Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > Newsweek (USA, December 2011)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > XL Semanal (Spain, December 2011)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > TU Style (Italy, December 2011)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 2011 > Story (Russia, July 2011)
Image Library > Magazine Scans > 1986 > La Domenica (Italy, March 1986)