Excerpt and stunning outtakes from Vogue magazine: Never one to shirk a challenge, Meryl Streep takes on the iconic British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her latest screen incarnation. She talks to Vicki Woods about women, power, and the view from the top.

“Oooh, they have oysters,” says Meryl Streep, perusing the menu with intent. “Would you like to get some oysters? Wouldn’t oysters be great to eat right now?” It’s 4:20 in the afternoon. We are the only people in the restaurant on the mezzanine at Union Station, Washington, D.C. I pass, but Streep says, “I think I’ll have some oysters. And a glass of Chardonnay.” The waitress, who is fizzing with efficiency and controlled celebrity-awareness, makes to whisk off, but Streep calls her back on a sudden thought: “Do you have fresh oysters?” Her face has the look of a woman who has spent the day Being Meryl Streep in order to publicize her upcoming movie, The Iron Lady, and now is yearning to slurp down oyster after leisurely oyster, raw and briny on the half-shell, mmm, maybe with lemon, maybe not. The waitress says firmly that all of their oysters are fresh. Streep says, “I know. But. Um…. Don’t worry about it.” And with a tiny sigh, she awaits them fried in bread crumbs. The complete article can be read on Vogue’s website and in the magazines archive.

This week’s pick is “The Seduction of Joe Tynan”, a 1979 political drama comedy in which Alan Alda, as a rising Senator candidate, falls in love with a woman from his election team, played by Meryl Streep. The image library has been updated with better quality captures from the film and three video clips have been added to the video archive. After the cut, find a review on the film. And as always, share your thoughts and memories :-) Enjoy!

Meryl Streep will be a guest on “The View”, December 23, 2011, to promote “The Iron Lady”. More talkshow appearances will be posted as they’re announced – also have a look at the calendar on the left for all latest key dates. Thanks to everybody for the heads-up!

In a recent interview with The Inquirer, which was conducted at the New York press conference of “The Iron Lady”, Meryl Streep talks about the new film and how much portraying Margaret Thatcher has changed her opinion. She has also confirmed that “Mommy & Me” is indeed going to happen, as Tina Fey is currently writing the script. An excerpt of the interview can be read below, the full piece is here. “Margaret Thatcher was the head of the United Kingdom for 11 and a half years and she did not have a cook. I have a cook. The last movie that I stopped making dinner was “Sophie’s Choice.” That was a long ago. Now I’m back cooking because everybody’s grown up. I imagine that Margaret Thatcher wanted to make dinner for Denis every night. Even when it was take-out from Marks & Spencer, they would sit down and have it together. She forgot to eat a lot. That’s something I have never done. She had prodigious amounts of energy and worked late into the night. She required all the cabinet ministers to be up there in the apartment with her. She’d work and work and Denis would come in and say, “Woman, you got to feed these men.” She’d go in and whip up some horrible rarebit or something and give it to them. All that surprised me”.

Empire has exclusively posted the making of featurette of “The Iron Lady”, which can be seen below. Thanks to Simona for the heads-up! Edit: The featurette has been added to the video archive, alongside a new production still and promotional still in the image library.

On December 05, Meryl has participated in a press concerence for “The Iron Lady” in New York. A couple of pictures have been added to the image library.

When people say Meryl Streep is a great actress, they mean grand actress — one who calculates her moves, her makeup and her accent, and then turns up the thespic volume until her character risks becoming caricature. The tactic works when she plays Dragon Lady roles like the fashion doyenne in The Devil Wears Prada, less so in the more naturalistic settings of Mamma Mia! and Doubt. But given a famous woman to play, Streep eerily locates the voice, face and soul: of Julia Child in Julie & Julia and, with startling acuity, of Margaret Thatcher in this biopic. Smartly written by Abi Morgan (who co-wrote Shame) and directed by Mamma Mia!’s Phyllida Lloyd, the film spans nearly the complete life of Britain’s first female Prime Minister, from her youth as a greengrocer’s daughter through Oxford and her early years in the Conservative Party (when she is played by Alexandra Roach). Streep takes over in Maggie’s middle age and escorts the PM into a restless retirement, both haunted and warmed by the specter of her late husband Dennis (a marvelous Jim Broadbent). Her performance is a miracle of inhabiting, not editorializing; it turns the boss of 10 Downing Street into a woman meriting our sympathy and sadness. This time, grand is great. Full list and more articles on the Time website.

Many of the production stills of “The Iron Lady” have been replaced with better-quality versions and a couple of new stills and on-set pictures have been added as well.

A second theatrical trailer for “The Iron Lady” has been released – technically the first US trailer since the previous one was for the United Kingdom. Lots of new scenes in here, have a look.