Yesterday, Meryl Streep and the cast of “Big Little Lies” attended the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. They were nominated as Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series, but lost to the cast of “The Crown”. Lots of pictures from the ceremony have been added to the photo gallery with more information to follow. Enjoy. Update: A video segment of Meryl’s appearance has been added to the video archive, with many thanks to Youtuber Wei Lan. Screencaptures have been added as well.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep will lend her voice to Apple TV+ in an animated short film celebrating Earth Day. The three-time Oscar winner will star with Chris O’Dowd (Sundance’s State of the Union), Ruth Negga (Preacher) and Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep) in Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth. The 36-minute film is based on Oliver Jeffers’ best-selling 2017 children’s book. It’s set to premiere April 17 on the tech giant’s streaming platform, five days before the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day celebration. Here We Are will follow a precocious 7-year-old (voiced by Tremblay) who over the course of Earth Day learns about the wonders of the planet from his parents (Negga and O’Dowd) – and from a mysterious exhibit at the Museum of Everything. Streep will narrate the film. The project comes from independent animation house Studio AKA (Hey Duggee, Oscar-nominated short A Morning Stroll). Philip Hunt directed the film and co-wrote it with Luke Matheny (God of Love, Maron). Hunt, Sue Goffe and Jeffers executive produce. Alex Somers (How to Train Your Dragon) composed the music. Hunt and Jeffers previously collaborated on the BAFTA-winning animated short Lost and Found, also from Studio AKA, based on the author’s 2005 book. Here We Are joins a lineup of kids and family programming on the two-and-a-half-month-old Apple TV+ that also includes the animated Snoopy in Space – part of a deal between Apple and DHX Media for Peanuts-related content — live-action show Ghostwriter and educational series Helpsters. The latter is from Sesame Workshop, which has a content deal with Apple.

Big congrats to the team of “Little Women” on receiving 6 Academy Award nominations this morning. While the team leader Greta Gerwig was snubbed for a Best Director nomination, the film received nominations for Best Picture, Leading Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Actress in a Supporting Role (Florence Pugh), Costume Design (Jacqueline Durran), Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and for Best Adapted Screenplay (Greta Gerwig). “Little Women” marks only the sixth movie in Meryl Streep’s career to receive a nomination for Best Picture – the other being “The Deer Hunter” (winning), “Kramer vs. Kramer” (winning), “Out of Africa” (winning), “The Hours” and “The Post”. The Oscars will be handed out on Sunday, February 9, 2020.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep attended the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills as a nominee for “Big Little Lies”. Unfortunately, she didn’t win – the award went to Partricia Arquette for “The Act”. To make matters worse, Meryl also skipped the red carpet, so there are only very few pictures, but at least some lovely ones with Helen Mirren, which is better than nothing. Right? :-) Neither “Big Little Lies” nor “Little Women” scored any wins at the Golden Globes this year. Pictures from the show have been added to the photo gallery. Update: Screencaptures from the ceremony have been added as well, and you can find the video segment in the video archive.

According to The New York Times on December 29, Sony’s “Little Women,” an adaptation by Greta Gerwig of Alcott’s 19th-century, coming-of-age novel, sold an estimated $16.5 million in tickets at domestic theaters Friday through Sunday. That places it in a dead heat for third place with Disney’s “Frozen 2,” now in its sixth weekend in theaters. Final counts on Monday will determine which film placed third. Regardless, it was a good weekend for “Little Women,” which opened on Christmas Day and finished the weekend with $29 million in estimated cumulative sales. An all-star cast doubtlessly helped sell moviegoers on “Little Women” — Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep are in it — and the movie got terrific reviews (it currently holds a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences were clearly eager to see Gerwig’s follow-up to “Lady Bird,” her 2017 movie about an angsty teenage girl that was among the most critically lauded films of the decade. And so far, while not being treated a “major awards player” in the Best Picture or Best Director category, the “Little Women” have received 14 nominations so far from various awards groups in the Best Ensemble category.

★   Boston Society of Film Critics Awards – Best Ensemble
★   Boston Online Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble
★   AARP Movies for Grownups Awards – Best Ensemble
★   Alliance of Women Film Journalists – Best Ensemble Cast
★   Critics Choice Award – Best Ensemble
★   Austin Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble
★   Central Ohio Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble
★   Georgia Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble
★   Florida Film Critics Circle Awards – Best Ensemble
★   Indiana Film Journalists Association – Best Ensemble Acting
★   Chicago Indie Critics Awards – Best Ensemble
★   Online Association of Female Film Critics – Best Acting Ensemble
★   Seattle Film Critics Awards – Best Ensemble Cast
★   Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards – Best Acting Ensemble

Upon reviewing Meryl Streep’s work this decade, let’s remind ourselves where we’re coming from. The 2000s were probably her career’s most exciting period since the 1980s. As many actresses in their 40s, Streep took a backseat in the 1990s – the only profitable or relevant film she did back then was “The Bridges of Madison County”. Films like “One True Thing” and “Music of the Heart” were appreciated and Oscar-nominated, but stood little comparison to the big classics Streep did in the 1980s. So in the 2000s, after a screen absence of three years, Streep returned big time with “Adaptation” and “The Hours”, then with the miniseries “Angels in America” on television. Two years later, she played one of her most iconic roles in “The Devil Wears Prada”, topped it off with a big box office success with “Mamma Mia” and closed the decade with two Oscar-nominated performances in “Doubt” and “Julie & Julia”. In short, the 2000s not only validated her star status, but something new Meryl Streep has rarely been in her career before – a bankable star. The 2000s were something of a Streep renaissance.

As we prepate to close 2019 and saddle our horses for a new decade, I thought about the Streep performance that has left the biggest impression on me this past decade? The rather surprising answer: There’s none. There have great performances in not-so-great films and some oddballs that have been long forgotten (Ricki and the Flash anybody?). The film industry has changed much more rapidly than it did in the 2000s, and although Meryl Streep made 14 films plus one tv series this decade, the availability of great content and memorable roles in cinema declines. So, which roles have stood out these last 10 years? Have a look at my (very opinionated) rundown of Streep’s top 5 performances:

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” (2011)

No shortage of love went into the latest “Little Women”. In a new behind-the-scenes featurette, which EW can exclusively debut, cast members Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and more gush about working with director Greta Gerwig and the bonds they formed on set. The film has received rave reviews in advance of its Christmas Day release, and is expected to be a strong awards contender. Among other things, the Little Women stars focus on Gerwig’s directorial prowess. “We’ve got to be really on it,” Ronan, who plays Jo March, says. “She knows when something’s right by how it sounds.” Ronan adds, “Greta is so emotionally intelligent, which is key for something like this.” Devoted fans of Louisa May Alcott’s classic story will also catch several second-long glimpses of its most classic scenes, from young Amy (Florence Pugh) falling through the ice to the March sisters bickering on Christmas Day. Check out the featurette above. The complete article can be read over at Entertainment Weekly. Screencaptures can be found in the photo gallery.

The bad news first – Meryl Streep did not score an individual Screen Actors Guild Award for “Big Little Lies” this morning. A possible “snub” was plausibe since the SAG Awards do not split categories between leading and supporting actresses in television, so you either make it into the lead category, or you don’t. However, Streep and the rest of the “Big Little Lies” cast received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, which is the SAG’s equivalent for the main drama prize. So it’s good news really, “Big Little Lies” was an ensemble piece from the start and this way, each character actor from a show gets a due recognition for their fine work on season two. “Big Little Lies” shares the category with “The Crown”, “Game of Thrones”, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Stranger Things”. The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be handed out during a live ceremony on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Big Little Lies
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things

Congratulations to Meryl Streep for receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for “Big Little Lies”. She shares the category with Patricia Arquette (The Act), Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown), Toni Collette (Unbelievable) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl). Big Little Lies has received a total 3 nominations, also for Best Television Series Drama and in the Lead Actress category for Nicole Kidman. Little Women has received 2 nominations – for Best Actress in a Drama (Saoirse Ronan) and for Alexandre Desplat’s score. However, the film was “overlooked” in the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay categories. The three-hour telecast hosted by Ricky Gervais will air live on NBC coast to coast Sunday, January 5, 2020, at 8:00 p.m. EST/5:00 p.m. PST.

Big Little Lies – 3 nominations
Best Television Series – Drama
Best Actress in a Drama Series – Nicole Kidman
Best Supporting Actress – Meryl Streep

Little Women – 2 nominations
Best Actress (Drama) – Saoirse Ronan
Best Score – Alexandre Desplat