Congratulations to Meryl Streep for receiving 2 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations – once as Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, and alongside the “August: Osage County” cast as Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Meryl shares the Best Actress category with Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks). Congratulations also to Julia Roberts for scoring a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Results will be tallied and sealed until the envelopes are opened by the presenters at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony on Jan. 18, 2014.

These days, most of the American critics circles announce their nominations and/or winners for the 2013 movie season. Meryl has scored three more nominations as Best Actress for “August: Osage County”. The Detroit Film Critics Society has nominated her alongside Amy Adams (American Hustle), Julie Delpy (Before Midnight), Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color) and Brie Larson (Short Term 12). The St. Louis Film Critics have nominated Meryl alongside Adams, Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks). And the Phoenix Film Critics Society lists Meryl as a Best Actress nominee among Blanchett, Bullock, Dench and Thompson. Detroit and Phoenix have further nominated Julia Roberts as Best Supporting Actress and the cast in the ensemble category, with the latter nominating the Best Adapted Screenplay as well. The winners for all three awards will be announced between December 13-17, so any updates will be posted here. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

The 2014 awards season is in full swing with the critics circles starting to announce their winners (or nominations first). The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association has nominated Meryl as Best Actress for “August: Osage County”, alongside Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks). “August” has also received a nomination for Best Acting Ensemble. They will announce their winners on December 09. Then, the Satellite Awards have nominated Meryl as well. Thanks to Frank and Alvaro for the heads-up.

The Actors Hall of Fame Foundation today announced that 15 international award winning actors will be inducted into The Actors Hall of Fame on Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 2pm in Culver City. The 2014 Inductees are: Julie Andrews, Robert DeNiro, Judi Dench, Robert Duvall, Kirk Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Olivia de Havilland, Hal Holbrook, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, William H. Macy, Maggie Smith and Meryl Streep. A special performance by The Hobart Shakespeareans, a class of 5th graders from Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles, under the guidance of their National Medal of Arts winning teacher, Ralph Esquith will be one the highlights of the Induction celebration. For more information and tickets, please visit their official website.

As previously reported, the cast of “August: Osage County” has been honored as Best Enemble cast at the Hollywood Film Awards. Julia Roberts was honored as Best Supporting Actress as well. Unfortunately, Meryl was a no-show at the ceremony, but most of her castmembers attended and took the stage to accept the award. You can watch their speech, held by Chris Cooper and Margo Martindale here.

According to Variety, Meryl Streep has been tapped to receive the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s annual Monte Cristo award, given each year to a legit creative singled out for distinguished contributions to the theater. Streep, who started out in theater before launching into film, has long stayed connected to the theater industry over the years, appearing in Shakespeare in the Park outings “Mother and Courage and her Children” (in 2006) and “The Seagull” (in 2001) and signing on as a presenting producer for the Broadway run of “Bridge and Tunnel” (in 2006). Last year she played Juliet opposite Kevin Kline’s Romeo in the Public Theater’s one-night-only reading of “Romeo and Juliet.” Streep will receive the Monte Cristo award — to be presented to her by actor Joe Grifasi, another O’Neill alum who was also her classmate at the Yale School of Drama — at an April 21 ceremony in Gotham. Many thanks to Glenn, Frank, Juha and Alvaro for the heads-up!

The cast of August: Osage County will receive the Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award at the 17th annual Hollywood Film Awards, the first awards show of the 2013 season, on Oct. 21 at the Beverly Hilton, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. John Wells’ big-screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Tony- and Puliter Prize-winning play features a star-studded cast, including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham. August’s producers include George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who also produced last year’s best picture Oscar winner, Argo. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

GoldDerby has posted some surprising details for the 2014 awards season. Two years after winning Best Actress for “The Iron Lady,” Streep has agreed to drop down to the supporting race for her role as Violet, the pill-popping, booze-swilling momma in “August: Osage County,” a Weinstein Company source tells Gold Derby. That means Streep will compete against Oprah as the hooch-guzzling wife of the title star of “The Butler,” which is also a Weinstein flick. Hmmm … what is Harvey thinking? Streep’s move is a shockeroo considering that role won Best Actress at the 2008 Tony Awards when Deanna Dunagan performed it on Broadway. Dunagan beat her costar Amy Morton, who portrayed Violet’s frazzled daughter Barbara. Now Julia Roberts, in the role of Barbara on screen, seems to have a clearer shot at a Best Actress victory without risking a split of “August” votes in that category. Streep’s gracious move may be good news for Roberts, but it’s rotten luck for “August” costar Margo Martindale, who portrays the role of Violet’s sister Mattie, which won the Tony Award for Best Featured (or Supporting) Actress for Rondi Reed on stage. Now past Emmy champ Martindale (“Justified”) must not only face off against Oprah, but Streep, too. Let’s see if they don’t change their mind once award season comes closer. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to the New York Times, Meryl Streep will present and award at the Obie Awards ceremony on May 20 at Webster Hall in the East Village. She will be presenting the lifetime achievement Obie to Lois Smith and Frances Sternhagen. Ms. Smith is a veteran of Broadway, television and Hollywood who played the mother, Mable Murphy, in Sam Shepard’s “Heartless,” which opened at Pershing Square Signature Center last August. Ms. Sternhagen has also had a long career in film, television and theater. She can currently be seen as Rose, the car-crashing mother in Liz Flahive’s “The Madrid,” a Manhattan Theater Club production at City Center Stage I. The co-hosts at the Obie Awards will be Jessica Hecht and Jeremy Shamos. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

A video clip of Meryl presenting the Best Actor Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis has been added to the video archive, alongside some wonderful HD captures from the show (with many thanks to my friend Lindsey for contributing them) as well as additional pictures from the show and the press room. Enjoy the new uploads.