Actress Jean Smart has been cast as Meryl’s best friend in the upcoming “Great Hope Springs”, according to an interview with this source. Smart has won praise during her lengthy career, mostly for her television roles on “Designing Women”, “24” and “Samantha Who?”, the latter winning her an Emmy Award in 2008. “Great Hope Springs” is currently shooting.

In its 19/26 issue, Entertainment Weekly has previewed the highlights of the 2011 movie season, and of course, “The Iron Lady” is featured. The scan can be found in the gallery with many thanks to Alvaro!

As mentioned and explained by visitors from the UK before, British newspapers are pro and contra Thatcher, so this might be a reason for such diverse press coverage on “The Iron Lady”, as summarized by the Los Angeles Times: If controversy equals box office, then “The Iron Lady,” Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher biopic, is off to a promising start across the pond. According to a report in the British newspaper the Daily Mail, friends of Thatcher who attended an early screening of the film Saturday were outraged by its portrayal of their former prime minister as power-hungry leading up to and during her administration in the 1980s and conflicted and confused in her senescence. “I didn’t come here to see a film about granny going mad,” one anonymous viewer said of the movie, which is directed by Phyllida Lloyd (“Mamma Mia”) and stars Streep as the Conservative leader and Jim Broadbent as her husband, Denis Thatcher. According to the report, “The Iron Lady” contains scenes of Thatcher suffering nightmares over some of the major victories of her tenure — including the 1984-85 coal miners’ strike that lead to a weakened labor movement in Britain and the 1982 Falklands War — and sacrificing family for ambition. Viewers took particular offense at the depiction of the Thatcher marriage, including a scene in which a pink-turbaned Denis appears in a dream sequence to rail at his wife for her selfishness. Conservative MP Conor Burns told the paper: “Any portrayal of Margaret Thatcher that does not show her as one of the titans of British politics in the 20th Century will be a travesty. The idea that Denis would ever have been cruel to her is twisted and untrue. They were devoted.” Their article continues here.

According to The Daily Fairfield,A certain property on Wilson Avenue is beginning to look like a movie set — and with good reason. “Great Hope Springs” will begin shooting there Monday. The movie stars Connecticut resident Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell. Carell plays a marriage counselor trying to help Streep and Jones in the comedy. A Norwalk resident noticed Tuesday that trailers were being set up along the waterfront behind 300-310 Wilson Ave., a huge warehouse formerly used by ShowMotion, Inc. He saw equipment being carried in and recognized it as movie equipment. Norwalk Police Lt. Paul Resnick, who said he serves as Norwalk’s liaison to the film industry when they are in town, confirmed that “Great Hope Springs” will begin shooting at the spot Monday. Workers, who said they were from New York, gave the same information, adding that sets were being built inside the warehouse.

This coming November, Meryl Streep will be special guest at a gala honoring women from the past and present who have shaped history. Streep will be attending the National Women’s History Museum’s de Pizan Honors in November in Washington DC. The Museum’s mission is to educate the public about the women who have significantly shaped our world; the National Women’s History Museum will honor history-makers to ensure that their legacy remains alive. Each year, NWHM will pay tribute posthumously to selected women with an award in their name presented to a contemporary counterpart. The lives and contributions of the recipients of the de Pizan Honors will have a permanent presence, exhibited within the soon-to-be-constructed world- class National Women’s History Museum, at the National Mall in Washington, DC, which will ensure that these women have a permanent place in history. Streep is National Spokesperson for the National Women’s History Museum, and hosts their annual gala every year. At last year’s event, she donated $1 million to the cause. She has also participated in numerous high profile events for the Museum, including Shine On at Radio City Music Hall for two consecutive years. The Museum is a very important cause near to Meryl’s heart. The de Pizan Honors take place on November 16, at the Ronald Reagan Building Amphitheater, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC. More information will be released over the coming weeks. For more information about the National Women’s History Museum, click here. Article courtesy Look at the Stars.

Article courtesy Publisher’s Weekly: On August 16th, HighBridge Audio will release the audio version of Paul Farmer’s Haiti After The Earthquake — narrated by Meryl Streep. Farmer, the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was at work on a development plan in Haiti when the earthquake of 2010 hit the country. Suddenly, his project was transformed into a massive international rescue and relief effort — which Farmer and his colleagues chronicle in Haiti After The Earthquake. In addition to Streep, the audiobook is narrated by an ensemble cast that includes Edoardo Ballerini, Eric Conger, and author-narrators Edwidge Danticat, Nancy Dorsinville, and Michèle Montas-Dominique. The audio book can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com.

More insight on Meryl Streep’s preparation to play “The Iron Lady” comes courtesy The Telegraph: Bell Pottinger, the PR company founded by Tim Bell, coached Rebekah Brooks for her appearance before the House of Commons Committee for Culture, Media and Sport last week. But Brooks’s unconvincing performance was not in the same league as Lord Bell’s first PR triumph – Margaret Thatcher. With the late Sir Gordon Reece, he moulded Baroness Thatcher’s public persona – down to the bouffant hairdo and pearls. This is why the producers of The Iron Lady, scheduled for release next January, signed up Stephen Sherbourne, until recently Lord Bell’s right-hand man, to help Meryl Streep with her portrayal of Lady T. Sherbourne said there was little to add to the actress’s extraordinary insight into her subject: Miss Streep had read a great deal about the former PM, knew about the workings of Parliament and was in superb command of her brief. If only the same could be said of Rebekah Brooks.

Many thanks to Tina for providing scans from three issues of the French Elle magazine, ranging from 1982 to 1991 and featuring some fantastic new (old) pictures :-) Enjoy!

The Arts Initiative at Ohio State has posted additional pictures from the Margo Jones Award. While in NYC for the July 12th OSU/RSC Gala event members of The Arts Initiative team attended the 2011 Margo Jones Award ceremony at Lincoln Center. The 2011 Margo Jones Award winner is Anne Cattaneo, Dramaturg of Lincoln Center. Among those attending the award ceremony were actresses Meryl Streep and Blair Brown. The Award is given annually by OSU’s Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute. Also there to honor Cattaneo were actresses Mamie Gummer, Blair Brown, Deborah Rush and Lois Smith.

According to The Day Connecticut, “Great Hope Springs” has found its locations in Mystique to start filming most probably in late September and early October. The full article has more information courtesy the film’s location manager. “Great Hope Springs” centers around a middle-aged couple, played by Jones and Streep, who attend an intense counseling weekend to decide the fate of their 30-year-old marriage. Carell plays the relationship guru who counsels them. The Sony Pictures film, which is slated for a late 2012 release, is being directed by David Frankel of “The Devil Wears Prada.”