Pathe Productions Ltd. has released a brand new production still from “The Iron Lady” – it’s stunning how much Meryl resembles Margaret Thatcher. Check it out in the image library.

According to this source, in just a few months locals may run into Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones or Steve Carell around the streets of Mystic. The three are the stars of a movie that could begin filming in Mystic at the end August or September. Mandate Pictures is considering Mystic for some of the filming of the feature film Great Hope Springs. On Friday, Mandate Pictures, which is based out of Santa Monica, California said they did not have anything definitive on where the filming would take place. First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr., said he expected a decision to made on the film within the next week or so. According to Haberek studio representatives had looked at locations in Mystic several weeks ago. Great Hope Springs, according to a press release from Mandate Pictures follows Streep who plays a woman named Maeve seeking to spice her marriage up. Maeve and her husband (Jones) go to the town of Great Hope Springs to meet relationship guru (Carell) for “an intense week of marriage and sex therapy.”

Since it’s June 22, no post would be possible without sending some birthday wishes to Meryl Streep, who turns 62 today! Regarding today’s update, a batch of rare pictures from various public appearances throughout the 1980s have been added to the image library. Previews and list below. Enjoy the new additions!

Appearances > 1986 > Project Vote 1986
Appearances > 1986 > AmeriCares Gala
Appearances > 1988 > “A Cry in the Dark” New York Premiere
Appearances > 1989 > “Great Balls of Fire” Premiere
Appearances > 1989 > Golden Globe Awards
Appearances > 1989 > Academy Awards
Appearances > 1989 > New York Film Critics Circle Awards

The Weinstein Company has released its list of releases for their upcoming films. “The Iron Lady” will release US theaters on December 16, 2011 – just in time to compete for the 2012 awards season. Other international dates so far are January 06 in the UK and January 12 in Germany.

Additional on-set pictures from “The Iron Lady”, taken in March 2011, have been added to the gallery. Enjoy!

Article courtesy the Daily Mail: Ever since I was the first to see footage of Meryl Streep’s incredible portrait of Margaret Thatcher, I’ve been wondering how she pulled off the voice match. It’s uncanny. Initially, for about 20 seconds, I thought the trailer was using the real former Prime Minister’s voice. But, no, it’s all Meryl. ‘You’re talking about the best actress in the world,’ explained Damian Jones, who produced The Iron Lady. ‘She did it herself. She went deep inside Mrs Thatcher to do it. And you have to remember that the real Mrs Thatcher’s voice was different before Gordon Reece did his makeover when she became leader. Her clothes, her look and her voice changed.’ Jones added: ‘Meryl had to learn the speech pattern she had and then master how the voice became. She went on YouTube and found every bit of footage that featured Thatcher speaking. ‘And the production team found archive audio and visual footage from the late Seventies through to when she resigned from Downing Street. We gave it all to Meryl and she went to work on it.’ As I noted last week, Streep doesn’t mimic Thatcher. By observing how she stood and sat, she was able to assume Thatcher’s sensibilities.

‘Meryl does a scene in the House of Commons, and it’s so uncanny she had the cast and crew eating out of her hands,’ Jones continued. ‘The only thing she wouldn’t do was work with a dialect consultant. She finds it inhibiting. However, she did check in with the voice coach Jill McCullough, who was working with Alexandra Roach, who portrays Thatcher when she was younger. The two actresses had to be on the same page.’ The Iron Lady is tentatively due to be released on January 6 next year. Certainly, it may be shown at one or two film festivals, but the festival policy has to be decided between Pathe and Film4, the movie’s UK backers, and Weinstein Co, the U.S. distributor.

Whilte it has been reported before, The Hollywood Reporter is again spreading the news that Tommy Lee Jones will be Meryl’s leading man in the upcoming “Great Hope Springs”. Maybe it’s more of a sum up since the film has been picked by Mandate Pictures at the Cannes Film Festival. Here’s the article: Tommy Lee Jones will star alongside Meryl Streep and Steve Carell in Great Hope Springs, the Mandate comedy being directed by David Frankel. The project, written by Vanessa Taylor, centers on a middle-aged couple (Streep and Jones) who after 30 years of marriage attend an intense counseling weekend to examine the marriage and sex issues that are threatening their marriage. Carell plays the famed relationship guru who tries to help the couple out once they arrive in the town of Great Hope Springs. The movie is eying an August start. Sony Pictures will release the movie domestically in fourth quarter 2012. Guymon Casady of Film 360 and Todd Black of Escape Artists are producing. Mandate president Nathan Kahane, Escape Artists’ Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch will executive produce. Mandate’s Lawrence Grey will co-produce. Escape Artists’ Chris Coggins and Lance Johnson will serve as associate producers. The movie was a hot seller in Cannes, with dozens of territories already sown up. Among the sales were Alliance taking the U.K. and Spain, Wild Bunch picking up Germany and Italy, and Metropolitan taking France.

Bad news for everyone who was anticipating Meryl’s stage reading of Alan Alda’s “Marie Curie” play. According to Entertainment Weekly, Maggie Gyllenhaal will play Nobel-winning scientist Marie Curie in a special reading of Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, taking over for Meryl Streep, who had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict. Streep’s spokesperson said in a statement that the two-time Oscar winner was “very disappointed to miss this important and inspiring event.” Gyllenhaal joins the all-star cast of Radiance, which also includes Amy Adams, Bill Camp, Allison Janney, David Morse, Liev Schreiber, and Brent Sexton. Written by Alan Alda and directed by Bob Balaban, the reading anchors the 2011 World Science Festival Opening Night Gala Celebration on June 1 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.

According to Variety, Sony is in negotiations to take North American distribution on “Great Hope Springs,” the Meryl Streep domestic drama. Lionsgate Intl. is selling the rights at Cannes. A Sony rep confirmed the negotiations Saturday. “Great Hope Springs,” to be directed by David Frankel, centers on a middle-aged couple who, after 30 years of marriage, attend an intense counseling weekend to examine the intimacy issues threatening their marriage. Steve Carell portrays a therapist. Vanessa Taylor penned the script. While there still hasn’t been an official announcement on Meryl’s involvement, it sounds like a fair deal if they sell the film with her name attached.

The Iron Lady has gotten some weighty support. The Meryl Streep biopic about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was picked up for distribution in the United States by The Weinstein Co., which has a good track record with British biopics. Last year, Harvey and Bob Weinstein steered The King’s Speech through a contentious award season to an ultimate Best Picture win at the Academy Awards. They are likely to push for a repeat of that recent history with this film, which focuses on the 1982 Falklands War and co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent as Thatcher’s husband, Denis. Phyllida Lloyd, who worked with Streep on Mamma Mia!, is directing. The pick-up news came out of the Cannes Film Festival today, where footage from the unfinished movie was shown to potential distributors at the world’s biggest film market. “Having worked with both Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent, I know that they are without peer as film actors. Even so, I was absolutely blown away by what I saw of their performances as Margaret and Denis Thatcher. Phyllida is doing an incredible job,” Harvey Weinstein said in a statement. He said The Iron Lady would be released by the end of 2011, naturally — which would qualify it for the next awards race.