Here comes a nice article by USA Today: Beware, lawmakers who protect their billionaire buddies. Meryl Streep isn’t having any of that. “The people who are doing it have to be spanked,” she says, smacking her hands together. “It doesn’t stop until they feel they can’t.” The 70-year-old acting legend with a record 21 Oscar nominations (and three wins) stars – and educates the masses – in director Steven Soderbergh’s experimental Netflix dramedy “The Laundromat” (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, streaming Oct. 18). Based on the 2016 Panama Papers leak, the film uses intertwining stories and well-known actors to impart real-world lessons about tax avoidance, insurance fraud, shell companies, bribery and other financial shenanigans employed by super-wealthy folks to hang on to their cash flow. Streep’s character Ellen loses her husband (James Cromwell) in a vacation tragedy on New York’s Lake George that takes the lives of 20 tourists (a disaster that happened in 2005 in real life). When financial restitution doesn’t come, the retired widow launches her own investigation into shady schemes that lead to the two Panama City lawyers, Jurgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramon Fonseca (Antonio Banderas), at the center of the true scandal. The complete article can be read over at USA Today – two new pictures with Meryl alongside Sharon Stone and Melissa Rauch have been added to the photo gallery.

Meryl Streep serenaded the room with a Joni Mitchell tribute, sweetly warbling “Oh Can-a-daa,” as she accepted an acting award Monday night at the inaugural TIFF Tribute Gala at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Streep, at the Toronto International Film Festival for the North American premiere of director Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat, referenced Mitchell’s much-loved classic “A Case of You,” before cracking a joke about the Jumbotron-sized screens flanking the stage. She then turned serious, urging the audience to be mindful, explaining for the past decade she has chosen the roles she takes on by asking herself, “Does this help or does this hurt?” Streep set the tone for the first ever Tribute Gala: a mix of humour and serious reflection from stars and filmmakers about what inspires their work. Before the awards dinner, Streep was joined by Steven Soderbergh, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas on the red carpet. Pictures have been added to the photo gallery with more media to be added, so check back.

After a much-anticipated visit and more-or-less positive reviews for “The Laundromat” (see previous update), lots of additional media from the 76th Venice International Film Festival have been added to the archives. Let’s start with the videos: Full segments from the photocall, press conference and premiere have been added, as well as television interviews by the Italian Rai televsion and the Canadian Entertainment Tonight.

Hundreds of additional pictures from the arrivals, photocall, press conference and premiere have been added as well. For a complete list of all updates, have a look at the list below.

This afternoon, Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Steven Soderbergh have arrived in Venice for the world-premiere promotion of “The Laundromat” at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. So far, there are pictures from the arrivals and the photocall, with the press conference happening as we speak and the world-premiere gala set for this evening. I’m looking forward to the first reviews coming out of Venice later today, to see if it’s good entertainment, a good try, or an Oscar contender. Check back for more updates throughout the day. From the press conference: Streep reminded audiences that although the film was a comedy, the issues at hand are indeed life-threatening issues. “This is a funny way of telling a very, very dark, black-hearted joke, a joke that’s being played on all of us. It’s a crime, not without victims. And many of them are journalists. The reason that the Panama Papers were exported to the world was because there were over 300 investigative journalists who got the word of John Doe, the whistleblower from Mossack Fonseca, or who knows where out into the world.” Edit: Pictures from the premiere have been added as well.

“Some people died for it. Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist, who was investigating someone at the top of the government in Malta, and his connection to the Panama Papers, was blown up in her car, in front of her home,” said Streep. “People died and people die still to get the word out. This movie is funny but it’s really, really, really important.” On playing a relentless woman who wouldn’t back now, Streep said of her character, “I guess grief is a great motivator. The parents of the children shot in the Parkland High School, the parents of the children shot in Newtown, Connecticut. Those people don’t stop. They don’t stop trying to change the world. If it’s personal, you don’t stop. And we rely on the people for whom it really counts to save us all.”

Today, Netflix has released the trailer for “The Laundromat”. The film is based on the real-life Panama Paper scandal when the secret financial records (some involving massive corruption) from a Panamanian law firm were leaked by a whistleblower to the press in 2015. The leak showed widespread tax evasion and fraud by some of the world’s most wealthy people. If, after watching the trailer, you’re left feeling like it seems awfully similar in subject matter and tone to another Soderbergh movie The Informant!, you wouldn’t be wrong. The Laundromat is written by Scott Z. Burns, the same person who wrote The Informant!. Burns also directed the forthcoming film The Report, about a lawyer looking into the CIA’s use of torture in the aftermath of 9/11. Soderbergh also produced The Report. The Netflix produced film will premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, followed by its wide release on October 18. It also stars David Schwimmer, Will Forte and Sharon Stone. You can watch the trailer below and in the video archive. Screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery. Check back on Sunday for up-to-date coverage on the film’s world-premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

As The Hollywood Reporter writes, “The Laundromat” will hit select cinemas September 27 and then debut on Netflix on October 18 – a month earlier than the previously-announced November release. The Steven Soderbergh directed film has also expanded its festival run. After a world-premiere at the Venice Film Festival (September 01), it will be shown at the San Sebastian Film Festival’s sidebar section (no date yet) and the Toronto International Film Festival (September 09), where Streep is set to receive the inaugural TIFF Tribute Actor Award. Here’s the offcial synopsis: When her idyllic vacation takes an unthinkable turn, Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep) begins investigating a fake insurance policy, only to find herself down a rabbit hole of questionable dealings that can be linked to a Panama City law firm and its vested interest in helping the world’s wealthiest citizens amass even larger fortunes. The charming—and very well-dressed—founding partners Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramón Fonseca (Antonio Banderas) are experts in the seductive ways shell companies and offshore accounts help the rich and powerful prosper. They are about to show us that Ellen’s predicament only hints at the tax evasion, bribery and other illicit absurdities that the super wealthy indulge in to support the world’s corrupt financial system.

“Let Them All Talk” – a film starring Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest, Lucas Hedges and Gemma Chan – will have its debut on HBO Max. WarnerMedia announced it picked up the project for the streaming service on Monday. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Deborah Eisenberg, the film tells the story of a “celebrated author who takes a journey with some old friends to have some fun and heal old wounds,” a press release said. Hedges will play Streep’s nephew and Chan will play a literary agent. “This is the kind of project where you just say, ‘Yes, please sign me up,'” Sarah Aubrey, head of original content at HBO Max, said in a statement. “To work with Steven Soderbergh and this all-star cast led by Meryl Streep is thrilling and sets the standard for features at HBO Max.” Production was underway in New York and is scheduled to move to the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship and Britain. HBO Max is set to launch in 2020.

Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic — her sophomore directorial effort after 2017’s Oscar-nominated Lady Bird — hits theaters on Christmas Day (naturally), and the first trailer arrived Tuesday morning. The following bits are courtesy Entertainment Weekly: “We wanted [the trailer] to feel like the movie feels, which is both classical and fresh,” Gerwig tells EW and PEOPLE. “We wanted it to feel light on its feet. And even though it does take place in the 19th century, we in no way wanted it to feel like it was something that was past. We wanted it to feel like it was present right now.” Good luck not being knocked over by the very present emotion of seeing Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlen), and Amy (Florence Pugh) brought to vivid life in the joyous, colorful footage, with glimpses of gentle Marmee (Laura Dern), stern Aunt March (Meryl Streep), and the wonderful, almost-irresistible Laurie (Timothée Chalamet). “It’s like their hearts are as big as the landscape,” Gerwig says, and the two-and-a-half-minute clip is packed with love — sisterly, motherly, complicated, unconditional, unrequited, and otherwise. Watch the trailer above, and read on for a breakdown of all the ways the December release has already got our hearts soaring.

Lucky us! Only one day without Meryl Streep on “Big Little Lies”, and the next project is already waiting around the corner. Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat” will have its world-premiere at the Toronto Film Festival before its release in theaters and on Netflix November 01, 2019. The Toronto International Film Festival seems to outdo itself year after year with its lineup of film presentations and premieres. In the 44th annual iteration of the buzzy Canadian fest, star vehicles and award season hopefuls will screen for critics and industry insiders Sept. 5–15. “Some of the year’s biggest films will land in Toronto this September,” said Bailey, co-head and artistic director of TIFF, in a statement. “Our new programming team has been hard at work for months to deliver the compelling stories, acclaimed filmmakers, and top onscreen talent that mark our two highest-profile sections.” In a record number for the festival, 50% of the gala films announced are directed or co-directed by women. This year’s 18 galas and 38 special presentations includes 29 world premieres, six international premieres (films that debuted in the U.S.), 13 North American premieres, and eight Canadian premieres.

It’s a wrap for the second season of “Big Little Lies”. Screencaptures from the seventh and final episode, “I Want To Know”, have been added to the photo gallery. The episode has been a courtroom showdown between Mary Lousie and Celeste in a custody fight over her boys – a highlight in a sometimes slow season (some reviews have called it disappointing while others have highlighted Streep as a standout for the show) and definately something to remember when the 2020 awards season starts rolling. A clip from the episode, in which Renata confronts Mary Louise, has been added to the video archive, as well as the final part from HBO’s roundtable discussion. With screencaptures from all episodes being added, I would like to thank Ashley for helping me with the first episode and to Jess for her generous support with the rest of the series. Thank you very much!

Celeste (Nicole Kidman) questions Mary Louise (Meryl Streep) about a tragic event from Perry’s childhood; Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) worries their lie is tearing the Monterey Five apart.