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…on April 9th 1979, this photo was taken outside the Academy Awards honoring the films of 1978. Meryl was a first time nominee that year for The Deer Hunter.

Her follow up project, Woody Allen’s Manhattan (another future classic) was opening in just two weeks time. Welcome to Meryl Streep Month. Sorry for the delays. We’ll begin with a trip back to her feature debut, Julia (1977) tomorrow.
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Johnny Depp turns 46 today. We’ve loved him since April of 1990 when that first single teardrop fell in glorious closeup in Cry-Baby. Twenty years of richly deserved movie stardom followed.

Blessed are the richly cheekboned, for theirs is the Kingdom of Hollywood
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Up next for Johnny: John Dillinger in Public Enemies (another Oscar run?), Paul Kemp in The Rum Diary (Vanity Fair shoot) and The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. After that only Johnny knows… numerous movie possibilities (about 14 of them) are vying for time on his calendar.

I normally don’t report on who is dating who. But… an exception must be made.

This morning scanning the gossip blogs I read three “new couple!” alerts about actors Evan Rachel Wood & Shane West. This just goes to show you the short memories of most media writers or their alarming youth. Not a one of these reports has mentioned that Evan Rachel Wood and Shane West are SISTER AND BROTHER… well, fictional sister and brother but they’ll always be “Eli and Jessie Sammler” on Once & Again (1999-2001). That’s how they got famous in the first place! So I hereby decree that this fling must end. It’s too upsetting to my fragile psyche which already has trouble distinguishing acted fiction from lived reality.

I never thought I’d want Evan to run back to Marilyn Manson but incest is illegal in most states and should remain so in (Young) Hollywood, California as well.
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I know I’ve been remiss in sharing movie news and whatnot but I’ve had some personal issues, the birthday, friends in town, caught up with another old friend who is going to be in a new Kristen Bell movie (congrats!), and then there was that small matter of the TONYs. So here we are back to normal. Eventually I’m getting to the Meryl Streep retro. I really am.

Cinema Blend Neil Patrick Harris has conquered TV, what’s next for the movies?
Empire cool illustrations from 9 (no, not Nine). That was a good short
Buzz Sugar Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts will Eat, Pray, Love… at least we hope they will. Ryan Murphy has a way of announcing movies that never end up arriving. Have you noticed? See also: Dirty Tricks and Need.
/Film on Puss in Boots the Shrek spin-off
What’s Good / What Blows explains the difference between the three TONY-winning Billys in Broadway’s Billy Elliott
Feminism to a Neurotic Extreme I missed this piece but they’re kicking this summer’s favorite punching bag Terminator Salvation while it’s down. The reason? It’s treatment of female characters. What they say is true but it’s hardly surprising. Action directors (outside of James Cameron of course) aren’t exactly known for caring about women beyond their common movie function as sexual window dressing.
Film School Rejects a Heavy Metal reboot with A list directors already signed on? Weird. Wasn’t that South Park episode enough of a nostalgia trip?
Movie|Line terrific dish on Dawson’s Creek and its “four monstrous actors”
MTV Blade Runner web series Purefold in development. Better this than Ridley Scott continuing to fiddle with the relentlessly fiddled with movie.

Finally… today’s must read
I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing has a terrific brain vomit about the cancellation of a TV series (in this case Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles but it could be any show…)

< -- have you watched...
Nurse Jackie? (password: shifthappens) It’s quite good and promising. Edie Falco is 150% watchable but you knew that already. Haaz Sleiman is playing her gay friend. All television shows are required to have one. It’s the law. I am happy to report that he seems nothing like the Haaz Sleiman we became acquainted with in The Visitor (i.e. different role = different performance). Good for him.