Meryl Streep j4has oined Elton John, Sting and James Taylor for their own special version of The Wizard of Oz at a benefit concert to raise funds for rainforest communities in Central and South America, yesterday. Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, produced the all-star fund-raiser with the theme Songs from the Silver Screen for The Rainforest Foundation US at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sting had a surprise hit with the dark theme from comedy series M*A*S*H, Suicide is Painless, while Streep sang When You Wish Upon A Star. Over 100 pictures from the concert have been added to the image library.

Also, there is some speculation at this time that Meryl is in talks to join Stephen Sondheim’s production of “Into the Woods”, playing the Delacorte this summer. Not long ago, a British newspaper interview with Sondheim mentioned that Meryl was a rumored possibility to portray the Witch in the revival. Sondheim didn’t confirm or deny the buzz, but interestingly said, “We will see. I think she’d be great.” That set excited little heads spinning all around town. Meanwhile, a good friend of Meryl was just cast. Amy Adams – who costarred with the multi-Oscar winner in Doubt and Julie and Julia – is going to play the Baker’s Wife. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up!

Here comes the first production still for “Great Hope Springs”, featuring its stars Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep. Full version can be found in the image library.

This week’s spotlight movie is “One True Thing”, the 1998 adaptation of Anna Quindlen’s novel. Meryl Streep and Renee Zellweger play mother and daughter who have to face loss and family secrets when the mother is diagnosed with cancer. It’s a small, well acted film, one for the heart. Full review and production notes can be found after the cut. The image library has been upaded with new screencaptures and promotional stills from the film. Edit: Video clips from the film – scenes, making of, theatrical trailer in better quality – have been added to the video archive. As always, tell me what you think of “One True Thing” in the comments.

Cast your votes for the leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes that you think are the most influential people in the world. Official voting ends on Friday, April 6, and the poll winner will be included in the TIME 100 issue. The complete TIME 100 list will be chosen by our editors and revealed on TIME.com on Tuesday, April 17. Cast your vote here. Thanks to Mary and Zaw for the heads-up! Below is what TIME Magazine wrote about Meryl:

Streep received a record 17th Oscar nomination and her third win in 2012 for her performance in The Iron Lady. In her acceptance speech, she joked, “When they called my name … I could hear half of America going, ‘Oh, no — her again?’ But whatever.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Sure, she’s the go-to dramatic actress of our time. But as a screen chameleon who only gets better with age, Streep continues to dazzle and inspire.

Here’s the second part of today’s magazine update. For more information on what has been added, please check the previous update.

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Chi Magazine (Italy, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Der Spiegel (Germany, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Aera Magazine (Japan, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Time Magazine (USA, February 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – The Hollywood Reporter (USA, February 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Primero (Netherlands, February 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Attitude Magazine (USA, February 2012)

Lots of additional scans from fifteen magazines have been added to the image library, all ranging from January to March 2012 and coming from the USA, the UK, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Japan, so there should be something for everyone :-) My dearest thanks to those who have contributed – Alvaro, Simona, Katrin and Asako. Have fun reading!

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Le Point (France, February 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Little White Lies (United Kingdom, January 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Time Out London (United Kingdom, January 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – The Lady (United Kingdom, January 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Film Comment (USA, January/February 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Time Magazine (USA, January 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – People Magazine (USA, January 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Entertainment Weekly (USA, January 2012)

I’ve found a rare picture that deserves a spotlight in the updates. In this 1981 photo, Meryl Streep and Don Gummer greet Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy at the Kennedy Center Honors’ Green Room. This picture is worth a mention for some reason – first it’s been 30 years between this picture and Meryl becoming an Honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors herself. It’s also one in a list of pictures with Meryl and presidents and politicians, she’s been posing with Bill Clinton at the Save the Music concert in 1999 and, of course, with President Obama during the Kennedy Center Honors. Oh, and with the Queen at the Royal premiere of “Kramer vs. Kramer” in 1980.

The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival revealed its panel series as well as six new titles that will world premiere at the upcoming event. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Judd Apatow will take part in the tribute panel “Tribeca Talks: 100 Years of Universal” on April 19, 2012, to celebrate the anniversary of Universal Pictures, and to share their favorite moments and memories from Universal’s extraordinary history. The panel will be moderated by Mike Fleming. Additional panels include conversations with Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore; director Jim Sheridan and his daughter Naomi Sheridan; as well as Rob Lowe and Christian Slater. The Tribeca Talks panel series is open to the public and will take place throughout the festival, which runs April 18-29 at locations around New York City.

This time’s Movie of the Week is a classic of the seventees, with Meryl in a supporting role that is brief but has cemented her image as the rising star of her time – the cool blonde with the icy look. It’s Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”, in which she plays his ex-wife who’s just about to release a tell-all about their marriage. As always, production notes and review below, new DVD screencaptures have been added to the image library – and three new video clips can be found in the video archive. Please tell me your thoughts on “Manhattan” in the comments.

As previously reported, Meryl has attended the New York screening of “Bully”, yesterday. Pictures from the event have been added to the image library.

Here’s what Forbes wrote about the event: Meryl Streep has three Oscars and is considered the best of all American actresses. But she was bulled in school. She talked about it on Monday night after she was introduced by actress Regency Boies at the Weinstein Company screeening of “Bully” at the Paley Center in New York. The screening was part of the campaign to get the MPAA to change the rating to PG-13 before the film opens next Friday in New York and Los Angeles. Here’s what she said: “I watched this with my four college roommates. We get together every year. A child psychologist, a woman who’s a lawyer, a columnist, and a businesswoman–we were all stunned. It brought me back to New Jersey in nineteen fifty…–a long time ago. I was eight year old and up a tree. And my nemesis, this one bully, was hitting my legs with a stick until they bled. It was very ‘Lord of the Flies’. It was a very nice Republican community, I might add. [Ed note–Meryl said this a with a smile, knowing a lot of the audience were bankers from similar towns. The remark got laughs.] Seeing this, you realize it’s been around, bullying. But I hope this film will give encouragement to the kids who are being bullied. My dad had a little statue on his desk of three little monkeys, a carved Chinese statuette– doing this, this and this. [She demonstrated See No Evil, Say No Evil, Hear No Evil]. I thought maybe this will encourage all those little monkeys to stand up and open their eyes and take the earbuds out of their ears and say something. Because a team is stronger than a bully. I hope you really like it, and tell absolutely everybody at the MPAA that it should have a rating of PG-13.”

And from the New York Daily News: Meryl Streep learned something new about her daughter Tuesday. At a special screening of “Bully” that the Oscar winner hosted at the Paley Center for Media, actress Regency Boies recalled the times her classmate, Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer, came to the aid of fellow students who were being tormented. “I saw her on more than a few occasions come to the rescue of some of our classmates that were being ridiculed when none of the rest of us were brave enough to confront them,” Boies said, adding that she knew Gummer’s actions were a product of “the integrity and the kindness that Meryl instilled.” After listening to Boies remarks, an emotional Streep said it was the first time she’d heard this and needed a moment “to recover, because that’s just so great to hear.” Other guests called “Bully” great, adding that they could not understand why the MPAA would give such a powerful documentary an R rating.

In other news, director Ulu Grosbard, who directed Meryl in the 1984 love story Falling in Love, has died. Grosbard was nominated for his first Tony Award in 1965 for The Subject Was Roses, Frank D. Gilroy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a soldier (Martin Sheen) returning from war to his parents in the Bronx. His second nom came in 1977 for the original Broadway production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, the junk shop-set drama that starred Robert Duvall. Grosbard directed Dustin Hoffman in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) and Straight Time (1978) and helmed the 1968 screen adaptation of The Subject Was Roses, his feature debut. Other credits include Georgia (1995), with Jennifer Jason Leigh and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), starring Michelle Pfeiffer.