I haven’t shown Meryl Streep enough love in the post-Globes spectacular. Meryl was in fine form last night, picking up the Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical for her role in Julie & Julia. Meryl happened to win soon after T-Bone Burnett picked up his shared Golden Globe for Best Song, and Meryl quipped that she now wants to change her name to T-Bone Streep, which I actually love. I think we should call her T-Bone Streep from now on, okay?

Anyway, Meryl’s speech was lovely, she talked about her mother and having her mother’s voice in her head, constantly telling her to be grateful for what she has and what she can do. She thanked all of her peeps and then went backstage to the press room, where she was apparently in rare form, dropping f-bombs right and left. Which she can do! Because she’s T-Bone Streep.

Meryl Streep is known as a class act in Hollywood, so reporters were shocked when the actress, 60, cussed three times back stage at Sunday’s Golden Globes in Hollywood.

Streep – who won best leading actress for playing Julia Child in Julie & Julia – was discussing the fact that Child was “not amused” by a blog centered on her culinary skills. The blog was written by fledgling writer Julie Powell, who vowed to whip up 524 of Child’s recipes in 365 days. The blog inspired a 2002 memoir by Powell and Streep’s hit movie.

“Julia Child was disgruntled because she felt this person was not being serious about cuisine,” Streep said. “I think she was offended by the language. She’s a lady of a certain age and certain time where you can’t say f***, f***, f***, all the time, and she was not used to it, and I think it upset her.”

Streep also addressed ageism in Hollywood, admitting that she was almost turned down for 1995’s Bridges of Madison County because she was 45 at the time.

“There was a big fight with the studio because they said I was too old and my co-star, Clint (Eastwood), was 65, which I thought was really old,” she said. “He seems like he was a kid to me now. But Sandra Bullock is 45 now, and it is a little bit better. The perception of her is different than it was for me 10 years ago. The business has changed. I think it really has changed a great deal for women.”

Streep said times have only gotten worse for young actresses, thanks to the Internet and constant scrutiny.

“I always say to my daughters, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do and don’t read things about yourself. Don’t read the blogs,” she said. “It is really hard not to Google yourself. But it is much, much better for your mental health and everything else. You try to lessen the self awareness and self-consciousness.”

[From Us Weekly]

I hope Meryl also tells her girls “And don’t read any Sharon Stone interviews, either.” Besides that, I get what Meryl is saying, and I think she’s right on. It still sucks for women in Hollywood, but not as much as it used to. And Meryl can say that sh-t without coming across like she’s whining and playing the victim, like someone else might. Meryl just sounds like she’s been around the block and she’s looking to dole out great advice to the younger girls, like Sandra Bullock. I really do think this year’s Oscars are going to come down to Meryl and Sandra, and it’s nice to hope that they might secretly love each other to pieces.

The Critics Choice Awards were held Friday night, and aired on VH1. It was a pretty good awards show, with a focus put on the big awards and the actors. The biggest highlight for me was the Best Actress category, which included nominees Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sibide, Emily Blunt and Saoirse Ronan. Bradley Cooper was presenting, and he let out a little gasp when he opened the envelope and announced there was a tie. Meryl’s name was announced first, and her speech was of course wonderful, as she thanked her husband first off: “I want to thank my husband… who is playing golf!” After her speech, she stayed on the stage for Bradley to announce the tying actress, who was Sandra Bullcok (for The Blind Side). When Sandra came up to the stage, she and Meryl did a play bitch act, where they gave each other the “I’ll cut you” look and Sandra shouted into the microphone, “This is bullsh-t!”

Then Sandra and Meryl laughed and made out. No joke! It was really cute.

Here’s the list of winners:

Best Picture – The Hurt Locker
Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow (for The Hurt Locker)
Best Actress – (above)
Best Actor – Jeff Bridges (for Crazy Heart)
Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz (for Inglourious Basterds)
Best Supporting Actress – Monique (for Precious)
Best Ensemble – Inglourious Basterds
Best Action Film – Avatar
Best Animated Film – Up
Best Young Actor/Actress – Saoirse Ronan (for The Lovely Bones)
Best Comedy – The Hangover
Best Documentary – The Cove
Best Original Screenplay – Quentin Tarantino, for Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay – Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner for Up In the Air

The show also included a really touching tribute to the late writer/director John Hughes, and a performance of “Don’t You Forget About Me” performed by Death Cab for Cutie, which was actually really lovely. Also, Kevin Bacon won the Joel Segel Award, which is sort of like the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement. Meryl presented it to Kevin, not only for his film career, but for his charity work. I was pretty thrilled with some of the winners, especially Jeff Bridges – I really hope he’s a major contender for the Best Actor Oscar, just because I think he’s one of the few actors keeping Clooney in check, you know? Even though Clooney claims he’s “not campaigning.”

The other notable incident that pleased me to no end was Kathryn Bigelow’s win for Best Director. She’s the first woman to ever pick up that award at the Critics Choice, and if she ends up with an Oscar nomination for directing, she’s only be, like, the second or third woman to ever play with the big boys. And if she is nominated for an Oscar – which I think is very possible – it will be another first for the Oscars. It will be the first time two ex-spouses are competing against each other for the same award. You see, Bigelow and James Cameron were married from 1989 to 1991, and Cameron is pretty much a shoo-in for, at the very least, a nomination for Best Director for Avatar. I was under the impression that James Cameron was a bastard to be married to, but he was incredibly classy when Bigelow won last night. A look of real happiness came over his face when her name was announced, and he jumped up to be the first to give her a standing ovation, which was really sweet, in my opinion. I’m changing my opinion of James Cameron – not only with this act, but with his dorky/sweet appearance on Oprah on Friday too. He seems like a nice guy.

The fashion at the Critics Choice was pretty dull, though. My vote for Best Dressed was Saoirse Ronan, but I was barely paying attention.

Critics Choice Awards photos from red carpet & press room, all from January 15, 2010: Kathryn Bigelow, Diane Kruger with Christoph Waltz, hostess Kristen Chenoweth with winner Quentin Tarantino, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, my boyfriend Jeremy Renner, Marion Cotillard, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, and Saoirse Ronan. Credit all: WENN.

Last week, parts of Sharon Stone’s cover interview with the Tatler came out, and people got pissed. I was one of them. In the course of the interview, Sharon Stone was talking about aging in Hollywood, and she sort of went off on a tangent about why Meryl Streep has such a flourishing career. Stone said: “I think that’s why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to. I look at her and I think, ‘I’m chasing my kids, I’ve moved my parents in with me, I’m coping with food spills – that looks like me in real life.’ Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that’s what I look like. To me, that looks true.”

While many of you pointed out that perhaps this should be interpreted as Stone’s odd way of complimenting Meryl, I still think it’s a really f-cked-up, bitchy, snide insult. Stone is basically “complimenting” Meryl on looking totally average (in Stone’s mind), while the unspoken, nasty, passive-aggressive statement is really, in Stone’s mind, that she doesn’t get the same work as Meryl because she (Stone) is such a ravishing beauty, while Meryl isn’t. Meryl is “relatable” because she’s not beautiful, and women can’t “relate” to Sharon because she’s so gorgeous. That’s how I interpreted her comments initially, and I stand by it. I still think it was a horrible thing to say about Meryl Streep.

Anyway, Sharon gave an interview to PopEater where she’s trying to half-heartedly eat sh-t for how we “took” her comments. Here’s Stone’s statement to PopEater:

Sharon Stone is fighting back against a magazine quote in which the actress seemed to bash Meryl Streep, as Stone tells PopEater exclusively that the publication took her quote completely out of context. “It is not ok with me for someone to take a statement I made with good-natured intent and to try and make it in to something politically incorrect,” Stone tells PopEater.

The quote in UK’s Tattler Magazine (via Huffington Post), had Stone saying: “I think that’s why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to … Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that’s what I look like. To me, that looks true.”

Stone refutes how that quote is being portrayed, telling PopEater: “My love and support for what she [Streep] represents for women right now is extraordinarily important.”

Her publicist agrees, adding that “the full context of what Sharon said about Meryl Streep in her interview with Tattler Magazine was meant as a compliment. Sharon greatly admires Meryl as a person, an actress, and as a friend.”

The ‘Basic Instinct’ and ‘Casino’ actress also allegedly says in the Tattler interview: “I look at her and I think, ‘I’m chasing my kids, I’ve moved my parents in with me, I’m coping with food spills – that looks like me in real life.’”

Also in the Tattler interview, Stone denies having any plastic surgery done, but then is quoted saying she did have work done once. “I have had zero, nothing done to myself: no lifting, no Botox, no injectables,” she said. “I did try something once and I saw myself in a movie and didn’t like the way I looked. I thought I looked like I had a giant balloon head, and I felt it wasn’t for me.

[From PopEater]

So, basically, it’s all our fault for thinking Sharon Stone is a bitch. And not only is it our fault, Sharon wants us to know that “it’s not okay” for us to read her comments and think she’s a bitch. We were supposed to intuitively know that Sharon, in fact, meant the exact opposite of what she was recorded saying. Here’s what Sharon could have said: “I was trying to give Meryl a compliment, but it came out wrong and for that, I apologize. I love and worship her. She is a million times the actress I could ever dream of being, and she‘s gorgeous.” But no! Sharon thinks we’re being too “politically correct” while hiding behind another bullsh-t statement about Streep’s career representing “women’s rights.” She never denied saying or thinking that Meryl “looks like an unmade bed” and that’s why this non-denial denial is full of sh-t. Just like Sharon.

Tatler Magazine cover courtesy of Celebrity Candid.

Damn, I am ready to smack Sharon Stone silly. Ordinarily, I enjoy Sharon in a “she’s so f-cking crazy, she makes writing fun” sort of way. But this new interview with Sharon has got me steamed. Okay, Sharon sat down with Tatler, a British monthly magazine much like People Magazine (this interview is via The Telegraph). Sharon talks a lot about how she’s “had zero” done to her face: “no lifting, no Botox, no injectables.” Which in and of itself is ridiculous enough. Granted, Sharon doesn’t look like a wax version of herself like some women (cough Nicole Kidman), and she doesn’t have an entirely new face like some women (cough Meg Ryan), but she’s had something tweaked over the past few years. Sure, it looks good. But don’t pull a Demi “I’m So Natural” Moore.

But what really got me steamed was this comment about Meryl Streep. Sharon says: “I think that’s why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to. Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that’s what I look like. To me, that looks true.” Um… no, bitch. Meryl does not look like an unmade bed. She looks unbelievably gorgeous and breathtakingly sexy, for any age. I saw It’s Complicated two weekends ago, and trust me, Meryl is f-cking beautiful.

Sharon Stone has described fellow Hollywood actress Meryl Streep as looking “like an unmade bed”.

In what could be mistaken for a backhanded compliment, the Basic Instinct star said women can relate to Streep because she looks so ordinary.

“I think that’s why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to,” Stone told Tatler magazine. “I look at her and I think, ‘I’m chasing my kids, I’ve moved my parents in with me, I’m coping with food spills – that looks like me in real life.’ Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that’s what I look like. To me, that looks true.”

Streep, 60, is currently on the big screen in the romantic comedy It’s Complicated, and is tipped to pick up her 14th Oscar nomination next month for Julie & Julia. Stone, 51, insisted that her own glamorous good looks are entirely natural, and that she looks fantastic at 51 thanks to exercise and good genes. She is currently the face of Dior’s anti-ageing skincare range.

“I have had zero, nothing done to myself: no lifting, no Botox, no injectables,” she said. “I did try something once and I saw myself in a movie and didn’t like the way I looked. I thought I looked like I had a giant balloon head, and I felt it wasn’t for me. I think everyone here [in LA] looks like everyone else. It’s goldfish number one, two and three, and I didn’t want to be goldfish number four. I’m not saying I might not do a little something later on but it’s just not me now.”

Instead, she prefers to maintain her looks “the old-fashioned way – to go to the gym and take care of your internal life. It might take more effort but you get something nicer to give back to the world.”

She went on: “I’m not one of those ladies who won’t say their age. I’m very grateful for it. We get different faces as we go through our lives. If you try to hang on to the face you had when you were younger, you end up desperate. I’m happy with the way I am now, with this 51-year-old person.”

Stone is a UK size 6-8 but said she never diets. “I have to watch not getting too skinny. I’m a mover. I’m not one of those people who can survive on salad. I love a big steak dinner and I’m obsessed with finding the perfect hamburger.”

The star of Casino and Catwoman has a track record of slightly tactless utterances.

In 2008, she suggested that the Chinese earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives was “karma” for China’s treatment of Tibet. “They are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine,” she said.

[From The Telegraph]

It’s like Sharon Stone is pulling a Sienna Miller, like “I’m so fabulous I barely have to work out, but I should, I need too, but meanwhile I look amazing, right?” Ugh. And that’s all I want to say about Sharon. Bitch.

But, if you’d like to hear more about how Meryl is fabulous, The Telegraph also has a great article on how Meryl is one of the sexiest pieces working in Hollywood today. And I mean “sexiest pieces” in a respectful way. The author of the piece goes on and on about Meryl’s “grace, intelligence, wit and exuberance” and her “glow…[there is] a sensuality and a radiance about Streep these days. Put simply, she’s looking great.” Oh this guy really has a crush on her too, listen to this: “I’ve met her several times over the years, and have always been struck by her humour. She is someone who, if she finds something amusing, lets you know it: she’ll throw her head back, give a full-throated laugh, and often slap her thigh for good measure.” See? Everyone has a crush on Meryl. Except for Sharon. Who is a bitch.

Sharon Stone on December 30, 2009 in Hollywood. Credit: Fame. Sharon at the Beverly Hills ‘Crazy Heart’ premiere on December, credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures. Promotional images of Meryl Streep in ‘It‘s Complicated’ courtesy of WENN.

Sigh… I remember back in the day, when the awards season was spread out over four months. Back in those days, the announcements of these big nominations were spread out, giving each award the significance and weight deserving of a major Oscar race. Not so much anymore – every since the Oscars got pushed up to the end of February, everything gets jammed up and you barely get a chance to catch your breath after each award nomination list comes out one after the other. So it is this week – it was just Tuesday morning when the Golden Globe nominations came out, and today the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) noms were announced.

Let me say this about the SAGs – I consider them a much better indicator of the Oscar nominations than the Globes. There will probably be a few changes, of course, considering the Oscar noms won’t come out for another three or four weeks, but the SAGs are always good for seeing the biggest contenders.

Hot on the heels of this week’s Golden Globe nominations, Hollywood woke up Thursday to more honors – with the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild Award nominees – which brought some obvious choices as well as a few surprises among the names from big screen and small.

While the already honored (by critics’ groups) George Clooney is again off and running as a nominated actor of Up in the Air, and Meryl Streep received yet another nod for her leading role in Julie & Julia, the field of leading men also included Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; Colin Firth, A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, Invictus; and relative newcomer Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Streep’s competition is made up of Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side; Helen Mirren The Last Station; Carey Mulligan An Education; and Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Female supporting actor nominees are Penélope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick Up in the Air; Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds ; and Mo’Nique, Precious.

The male supporting honorees are Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones; and the Oscar favorite, Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds.

Ensemble cast from a motion picture nominees are An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Nine and Precious.

TV Nominees
In the TV categories, the nominated ensemble casts of a comedy series are the stars of 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee, Modern Family and The Office. Dramatic series ensembles up for the award are the actors of The Closer, Dexter, The Good Wife, Mad Men and True Blood.

Nominees for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series are Simon Baker, The Mentalist; Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Jon Hamm, Mad Men; and Hugh Laurie, House.

Because there was a tie in the category, the six female actor in a drama series nominees are Patricia Arquette, Medium; Glenn Close, Damages; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Holly Hunter, Saving Grace; Julianna Marguilies, The Good Wife; and Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

In the TV comedy honors, male nominees are Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Steve Carell, The Office; Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Tony Shalhoub, Monk; and Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men. Female nominees are Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?; Toni Collette, United States of Tara; Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Exclusively devoted to honoring actors – the group’s individual trophies are called The Actor – the SAG awards are also a primary bellwether for the Academy Awards, whose nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

The two-hour 16th annual SAG Awards ceremony will be simulcast on TNT and TBS starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23. At the ceremony, to take place at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, TV’s Golden Girl favorite (and animal-rights advocate), Betty White, will receive the group’s 46th annual lifetime achievement award, “bestowed for outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession,” according to the Guild.

[From People]

So what does this say about the Oscar race? I think it looks like Clooney, Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges will be shoo-ins for Best Actor noms. Meryl Streep will definitely walk away with at least one Oscar nomination too, and Sandra Bullock will likely get her first nomination, which is cool. I also like that Jeremy Renner, previously known as a talented character actor by very few people, is pulling some big buzz. The supporting categories are a mess though – and I can totally see the Oscar noms going in a totally different direction. I think the only shoo-ins fro Oscar noms are probably Penelope Cruz, Christoph Waltz and maybe Matt Damon.

So, who got disrespected with these noms? Notice there’s a real lack of Nine cast members. No Daniel Day Lewis, no Judi Dench, no Marion Cottilard, no Kate Hudson, no Fergie. Nine did get the ensemble nom, but how could they not? Also, to my disappointment, Julianne Moore didn’t get nominated for A Single Man. Suck it, SAGs.

Sixty-year-old Meryl Streep is the “cover girl” for Vanity Fair’s January issue. My guess is that Meryl is promoting her two roles this year – It’s Complicated, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, and Julie & Julia, in which Meryl will likely get her bajillionth Oscar nomination for playing Julia Child. I don’t care for the cover image they used of Meryl – she’s such a beautiful woman who is aging so, so well. So why did they chose an image that makes her look washed out and… shall I say it… old? It’s like Vanity Fair is trying to say, “Look, we have someone other than a twenty-something twit on our cover! Meryl is so old!” Inside the magazine (and online), Vanity Fair does include some gorgeous portraits of Meryl throughout the years, all done by Brigitte Lacombe (slideshow here). For Meryl’s part, she tells Vanity Fair: “I can’t remember the last time I really worried about being appealing.” Here’s Vanity Fair’s cover story preview:

Hollywood is no place for older women—or is it? In the cover profile of Vanity Fair’s upcoming January 2010 issue, Leslie Bennetts investigates the mystery of how, at age 60, Meryl Streep has become the industry’s “new box-office queen.”

The evidence is indisputable:

• Her 2008 screen musical Mamma Mia!, Bennetts writes,“has grossed $601 million worldwide, despite some cringe-worthy reviews (for the movie, not its much-lauded heroine).”
• The Devil Wears Prada, also from 2008, in which Streep played a demanding fashion-magazine editrix, has raked in $324 million around the world.
• And Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, released earlier this year, has earned $121 million and counting.

Producers hope for comparable results from It’s Complicated, a Christmas release featuring a love triangle between Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. All this unexpected success has had the effect of exploding several long-standing myths:

• There is no life after 40 for women in Hollywood. Au contraire! “It’s incredible—I’m 60, and I’m playing the romantic lead in romantic comedies!” Streep says to Bennetts. “Bette Davis is rolling over in her grave.” And while Streep’s success is no guarantee that other actresses will fare any better than they traditionally have, it’s a step in the right direction. “She broke the glass ceiling of an older woman being a big star—it has never, never happened before,” says Mike Nichols.

• Talent of Meryl Streep’s caliber should be reserved for dramatic roles. Who says? Sure, she made her name jerking tears in prestige dramas and has accumulated more Oscar and Golden Globe nominations than any other actor, male or female, but she’s always had a lighter side too. (Bennetts unearths a Time-magazine quote from 1989 that reads, “Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose.”) And it turns out that the same meticulous approach that made her a great dramatic actress works in comedy as well. Ephron, who directed Streep in Julie & Julia, says, “I would love to take credit for that amazing performance, but the truth is that she had read everything about Julia Child, she played the cooking tapes over and over between setups … and she even suggested that I cast Stanley Tucci as her husband.”

• There’s no money in making movies for women, particularly older ones.
Regarding Mamma Mia! and its aforementioned box-office haul of more than a half-billion dollars, Streep says, “It’s so gratifying because it’s the audience that nobody really gives a sh-t about.”

[From Vanity Fair]

I guess what Vanity Fair and I are trying to say is something along the lines of “Meryl is a goddess who should be worshipped with grapes, chocolates and lithe young men.” No, I get it. Meryl is awesome, and her recent box office victories are really important for Hollywood and for women. Maybe I’m totally wrong about this, but I think Meryl is one of the few over-40 actresses who has a significant male fan base, too. My dad loves her. My mom loves her. I love her. She brings generations together. Plus, she’s just really cool and she’s the best actress to ever work in films. Bold statement, yes, but I stand by it. Meryl is better than Bette Davis. She’s better than Elizabeth Taylor, and Sophia Loren, and Ingrid Bergman and whoever else they want to throw at her.

Vanity Fair’s cover and Lacombe portraits courtesy of Vanity Fair online.

Here is the beautiful, talented, lovely, gracious, amazing and mind-blowing awesome Meryl Streep on the red carpet last night for The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Meryl was wearing “her own” Prada dress, and she looks gorgeous, doesn’t she? I love that color on her. I love how Meryl has been showing off her cleavage a lot lately – it seems like every red carpet she’s been on lately, she’s been showing off her girls. If she was thirty years younger, it would be trashy. But for Meryl, it’s just awesome.

On the red carpet, Meryl didn’t talk to most of the assembled reporters, but she did stop to talk to one. The “reporter” was a 9-year-old girl from Scholastic, and Page Six details how great Meryl was to the girl:

Meryl Streep passed by most of the red carpet reporters at the premiere of the animated “Fantastic Mr. Fox” at Bergdorf Goodman, but stopped to talk to Grace McManus, 9, from Scholastic, who asked about the difference between voicing a character and playing a character. The Oscar winner said, “That’s the most sophisticated question that anyone in this entire press line has asked me. Really, really good.” Grace, who had school the next day, skipped the after-party.

[From Page Six]

At the film’s after-party, Meryl spoke to the NY Post’s Cindy Adams, who asked Meryl what possessed her to voice a cartoon fox (married to a George Clooney-voiced Mr. Fox). Meryl’s answer was typical, basically saying that she did the voice work because she’s awesome and they sent her to Paris. Meryl says: “Well, the chance to work with [director] Wes Anderson and the chance to fly to Paris, where I did my work, with some extra recording done in Connecticut. When I did my lines, Wes played the other character speaking back to me, which helps give a feel for the action. Very important because reactions and the way your body moves defines your voice. So when I was working, George was on some of the tracks and Wes on some.”

In one other piece of Meryl-related news, word around the Oscar race is that Meryl is actually going to participate in some sort of late campaign for her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia. Allegedly, Meryl is going to do some big magazine interviews, and she’s asked to do some photo shoots with her Julie & Julia director Nora Ephron. Some sources claim that she actually wants to put her heart into it, and try to get that third Oscar (which would be her first in, like, 27 years).

Here’s the trailer for The Fantastic Mr. Fox:

Here’s Meryl at the New York premiere of The Fantastic Mr. Fox on November 11, 2009. Credit: WENN.

I hope a lot of people stayed up last night to watch The Colbert Report, because it was totally worth it. Meryl Streep was Colbert’s guest, and he pretty much dropped his Faux’Reilly persona to totally geek out on her. In his defense, she geeked out a little on him too. Most of the interview she just sort of giggled girlishly – which, when done by Meryl, is quite charming. Meryl looked gorgeous too – she’s lightened her hair to a really pretty, warm caramel-blonde and she dressed up in what looked like a silk blouse and heels. She must really like Stephen Colbert, because Meryl doesn’t get dressed up for much anymore.

At the beginning of the interview, he jokes that he’s really “Meryl Streep playing Stephen Colbert for the whole show… I’m that good.” Colbert asks her if when she got the role of Julia Child, she thought, “Man, I get to bulk up!” Meryl says, “I kind of did, inadvertently… I looked at it like a pregnancy, you know, ‘Whatever!’ I could just eat whatever you want.” Colbert laughs and says, “Actually, saying ‘Whatever!’ is a great way to start a pregnancy.” They both tell funny stories about food and their childhoods, but one of my favorite moments is when Colbert asks Meryl, “Are you afraid that portraying Julia Child is going to make cooking seem cool? Are teenagers going to start having braising parties?” I also love when he scolds her for not being on more red carpets, asking why she isn’t partying with Kanye West.

Meryl also sat down with Salon for a nice little interview. Here are some of the highlights:

You’ve played plenty of real-life characters through the years, but rarely such a familiar person as Julia Child. Did that worry you? Did you worry about playing it too broadly — like Dan Aykroyd’s caricature on “SNL”?
Well, probably it should have. But I had just finished “Doubt” and didn’t have any time to think about it. And before “Doubt”… I didn’t have time to think about that. I think generally I’m better when I’m thrown out on the stage with a [mimes a confused look] “What, what, what do I do?” [Laughs] I really do. I think the more time you have to worry about something — actors that prepare for a year to work on something — I know I couldn’t do it, because I’d over-think. I would definitely over-think.

I just had the same outlines in my mind that everybody had. You know, the voice, the posture and things like that. But really, what I attached to in my imagination was her spirit. She was so similar in spirit and approach to life to my mother that I got to do a little tiny homage to Mary Streep while I was doing this. Which meant a lot to me and sort of located me centrally in a body I loved.

That’s interesting to know, because your performances are closely scrutinized for their potential influences. In “Manchurian Candidate” [2004] you said you’d watched women like Karen Hughes and Peggy Noonan, but a lot of people were convinced you were playing Hillary Clinton, and — I thought it was fascinating that people thought it was her. Because, honestly, I’d never thought about her for one second while I was doing it. But there was so much anti-Hillary vitriol in the press at that time that anybody with a bubble haircut — you know? Even though [my character Eleanor Shaw] was a brunette and from the South and looked like me! I think the women that are sort of driving, aggressive ambitious presences in films are still terrifying — and in life, I guess. It’s still something society is chafing to accommodate.

You had a famous quip in the 1990s about how difficult it was for older women to get good roles — that Hollywood producers don’t want to cast women who remind them of their first wives. Recently, you’ve said that you don’t think anything has changed dramatically. And yet you’re wildly in demand …
I don’t think they have changed dramatically, otherwise all the actors my age would be working as much as I am. And I think I have surfed a wave of very good fortune. I guess, starting with ["The Devil Wears Prada"] it has to do with the money coming back in big blockbusters. But if there were more female-driven, interesting projects that were widely distributed … That audience is there, they want to go.

You said recently that you’re still “shocked” when you get a role. Is that really true? Come on, you’re Meryl Streep!
Yeah. I don’t know, I think [pauses to consider] I’m a valuable commodity to a project. But I’m always shocked that there’s an interesting, full-fledged, ambitiously wrought role for somebody like me, that somebody’s willing to put in a movie, it’s unusual, that’s what I mean by shocked. I’m not shocked because … “Gosh, me? How do I know how to act?” [Laughs] But there’s so many unbelievably talented, richly talented women and men that are older, that just don’t get a chance.

[From Salon]

Does Meryl understand that she still gets roles because she’s the greatest living actress working today? That she’s every director’s first choice in casting a female character over the age of 50? Sigh. I love her. If I could have even 2% of Meryl’s coolness right now, at my age, I would be a happy camper.

Here’s Meryl Streep at the ‘Julie & Julia’ premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on July 30th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

It’s no secret that Meryl Streep is a goddess. She’s out promoting her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia, which will likely earn her another round of awards, and probably her sixteenth Oscar nomination. Meryl sat down with Parade Magazine to talk cooking, acting and the love of butter. It’s a cute interview, and the biggest quote coming out of it is probably when Meryl says, “I’m really glad that I’m still working and that people are not sick of me, even though even I’m sick of me a little bit.” This is so refreshing, I have to say. Meryl’s not out there, lamenting how she’s too beautiful to get roles. She’s not badmouthing anyone. She’s just herself.

Julia Child reminds Meryl Streep of her mother: “Julia’s personality was so much like my mother’s that I felt very familiar with it. My mother had an undeniable sense of how to enjoy her life, and she made every room she walked into brighter. She really was something, and all my life I wanted to be more like my mother. So this is my little tribute to that spirit. Unfortunately, in my own life I can be a real whiner.”

Meryl grew up thinking potatoes came in boxes: “The cookbook my mother used was Peg Bracken’s I Hate To Cook. I remember when I was 10 going over to a friend’s house and she and her mom were seated at the kitchen table and they were doing something with what looked liked tennis balls, these big white things. They said, ‘We’re making mashed potatoes.’ I went, ‘What do you mean? Mashed potatoes come in a box.’ I’d never seen a peeled potato. My mother’s motto was, ‘If it’s not done in 20 minutes, it’s not dinner.’ She had a lot of things that she wanted to do and cooking was not one of them.”

Stanley Tucci (who plays Julia Child’s husband in the film) is a better cook than Meryl: “I’m not so good, but I got better. Julia said you just have do it over and over again, and then you’ll get it right. Finally, I decided to do a test by inviting Stanley Tucci, who plays my husband in the film, and his wife over for dinner. I made blanquette de veaux and it was not done by the time they arrived. Stanley came in and completely took over in the kitchen. He was like, ‘Is that what you’re going to do? No, seriously, I’m just asking. Is that what you’re going to do? I can show you an easier way.’ Boom! It was out of my hands. Stanley’s a great chef and I’m just a cook.”

For the love of butter: “Julia was mad about butter, and who alive isn’t? Butter does make things taste better. For a long time, Julia really resisted the whole idea that you could seriously elevate your cholesterol by partaking of that wonderful substance. Finally, the facts were incontrovertibly presented to her and Julia had to kind of do a U-turn and agree that butter should be used in moderation. She was such a vivid and straightforward personality that it was very difficult for her.”

Meryl thought acting was “silly & vain”: “It was committing to acting and thinking it was a serious enough thing to do with my life. I was like, ‘What are you going to do with your one wild life?’ I thought acting was sort of silly and vain even though it was the most fun thing that I’d ever done, and it remains that. But I was like, ‘If I enjoy it that much it can’t be good for me.’ Finally, somebody asked me, ‘What do you really want to do?’ And I blurted out, ‘I’m an actor.’ I realized I finally had made the commitment. But it took a long time.”

On being unemployed: “I’m like every other actor, I’ve been unemployed more than I’ve been working. Actors just have a lot of down time. So I’ve never gotten used to being out of work. It’s a very uncertain life and there are only a few people that would sign up to be married to somebody who’s an actor. My husband’s an artist and he understands that, the vagaries of the job. I just take every day is a miracle and I’m really glad that I’m still working and that people are not sick of me, even though even I’m sick of me a little bit.”

[From Parade]

My favorite part was the discussion of butter. So many chefs feel so strongly about it! It reminds me of my favorite Food Network cook, Paula Deen. Paula puts butter in everything. And she thinks a sprig of parsley is her “vegetable” for the day. I think Deen is the heir to Julia Child, and I’m really hoping the Food Network does some cross-promotion with this film. I would love to see Meryl and Paula together cooking. My head might explode from the coolness of those two great ladies.

Meryl Streep is shown at the Julie & Julia premiere in NY on 7/30/09. Credit: WENN.com

Before I get into She Who Is Unworthy, let’s just take a moment and enjoy Meryl Streep. Meryl was out last night with her little buddy Amy Adams, attending a screening of Julie & Julia. Meryl donned a comfortable-looking red dress that I actually like, but I’m not too thrilled with her hair. Still, she’s Meryl F-cking Streep, and I doubt she cares what I think about her hair. Julie & Julia comes out next weekend – it’s the film where Meryl takes on yet another great role – that of the first lady of chefs, Julia Child. Reviews are already coming in for the film, and while most are saying there are some weak points in the film, every critic agrees that Meryl shines yet again. Playing Julia Child will probably bring Meryl her SIXTEENTH Oscar nomination. Meryl has already blown through every record ever set by Hollywood actresses, and she’s still got dozens of great performances yet to come. Meryl is the queen.

Take it as a given that Meryl is the undisputed queen, the empress of all, the best of the best and then some. So what does that make Jessica Biel? Yeah, I thought so. Jessica gave an interview to the LA Times to promote her upcoming stage performance as Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls. Sarah Brown is the role played by Jean Simmons in the film version, with Marlon Brando playing Sarah’s seducer, Sky Masterson. Honestly, I love the film, and you couldn’t pay me to watch Jessica Biel murder those lines and songs live.

Jessica’s doing what she does best – promoting herself through any means necessary. Which means referencing her struggles with her own beauty again, and then topping it off with career-comparisons to Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep. Bitch, please.

Biel, 27, said it took her all that time to summon the courage to take her singing beyond the shower stall. “I’ve struggled a lot in the last five years or so with my own insecurities, having done some film,” she said recently. “Will I be accepted? Is my voice good enough? I think I finally feel confident enough to do it.”

“Her voice is silvery,” said Jay-Alexander, [director of Guys & Dolls]. “It glimmers, and the higher it goes, the more it shimmers. It’s a very interesting instrument.” And she’s been training for the role “like a triathlete in a decathlon,” working with a coach two hours a day for the last two months.

Biel hopes that the role of Sarah will confound an industry that often makes assumptions about the limits of beautiful women. Her concern about that has at times ricocheted awkwardly across the Internet, as it did in May when she told Allure magazine that she wants a career like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman’s, but her beauty “really is a problem” in Hollywood and has cost her roles.

“I just don’t want to be in a box ever where anybody feels I can only do one thing, because it’s boring,” said Biel. “I feel I have a lot to explore and a lot to give and try and probably fail doing something, but I want the shot to do it.”

That probably won’t include performing with her longtime boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, at least for now. “I never thought about doing an album,” she said. “I’m more interested in incorporating music into film or onstage. I am his No. 1 fan when it comes to music, but we’re doing our own things.”

“The only destination I’m hoping for is longevity,” she said. “I want to be able to keep working until I’m 105 years old. I want the choice. It’s difficult for women in general in entertainment. They peak earlier and the men peak at 30, 40. It’s kind of scary. But you can’t tell Meryl Streep she can’t do a part. You can’t say to Cate Blanchett ‘I don’t believe her in that.’ They do anything they want because they have explored the range, which is endless for them. That’s what I want.”

[From Los Angeles Times]

And I want Gerard Butler naked in my bed. We all want something, Biel. Wanting to be as insanely talented, beautiful, successful and cool as Cate or Meryl is fine. I want to be like them too. But name-dropping them in an LA Times interview as if you’re on the same kind of career path? As if Cate Blanchett doesn’t have more talent in her pinkie than in Jessica’s whole “too beautiful” mess? As if the only thing coming between Jessica Biel being recognized as The Next Meryl Streep is a few casting directors who can’t see past Jessica’s “gorgeous” face? Give me a f-cking break.

Update by Celebitchy: Some people are understandably commenting that Jessica Biel did not bring up her ‘beauty’ in this article in the LA Times. The piece mentions that Biel did reference it again, without stating what she said specifically. They write “Biel hopes that the role of Sarah will confound an industry that often makes assumptions about the limits of beautiful women.” They then go on to quote her Allure article, and then Biel states that she wants to make sure she’s not pigeonholed “in a box ever where anybody feels I can only do one thing.” I think we can assume that she’s again talking about her beauty without making the outrageous comment that it gets in her way as she did in Allure.

Here’s Meryl Streep and Amy Adams at the Los Angeles Premiere of ‘Julie & Julia’ yesterday. Jessica is shown at Whole Foods on July 4th. Images thanks to WENN.com .