Spielberg in front of camera

OSCAR winner Meryl Streep has a good way to go incognito on the streets of New York: distract people with her purse. During a swanky dinner for 200 at Lincoln Ristorante for HBO’s hot documentary on the legendary director Steven Spielberg, Streep was spotted showing off a purse decorated with a picture of Barack and Michelle Obama on one side and Michelle smiling on the other, telling guests, “I walk down the street and nobody looks at me because they are looking at my purse.”

Also at the bash hosted by HBO boss Richard Plepler were Vanessa Redgrave, Mike Myers, Greta Gerwig and “Empire” co-creator Danny Strong. Spielberg’s wife, Kate Capshaw, also attended — but a source tells us the couple went to dinner during the New York Film Festival screening instead and that they plan on watching the movie together in private. “She did see the last five minutes because they came back so Steven could see the crowd, which gave a standing ovation,” says a source who added that Capshaw was “in tears.” Their children Destry, Sawyer and Theo also attended the Susan Lacy film. We hear that Lacy — who’s made docs on Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Judy Garland and David Geffen, and convinced Spielberg to do her doc after he appeared in Geffen’s film — had edited an earlier version of the “Spielberg” documentary at four hours. It was submitted to the New York Film Festival, but was then cut down to under 2½ hours. Spielberg was telling pals at the dinner that he “wants to see the director’s cut.”