Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts to play mother and daughter in 'August: Osage County'

John Wells' Broadway adaptation looks to be a potential Oscar magnet

By Dave Lewis Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 12:53 PM

Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep

Credit: Universal Pictures/AP Photo

Two titans of the silver screen will go tete-a-tete in "August: Osage County," with Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts playing mother and daughter in the adaptation of the Broadway play.

The Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts centers on Violet Weston (Streep), the pill-popping matriarch of the dysfunctional Weston family who is reunited with her daughters when a crisis hits home. Roberts will play Barbara, Violet's complicated adult daughter.

The Weinstein Company is producing the film with "The Company Men" director John Wells directing. Production is slated to begin this fall.

Roberts issued a statement reading, "After seeing Meryl Streep's mesmerizing portrayal as Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady,' it has me even more excited and proud to co star with her."

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"I'm delighted and feel very privileged to have the opportunity to direct Meryl and Julia in this magnificent piece written by Tracy Letts," said Wells. "Meryl's extraordinary body of work made her the only conceivable choice to play Violet. Coupled with Julia's effortless mastery of every role she undertakes and her fearlessness as an actress, I'm confident this first ever collaboration with Meryl and Julia will produce an exciting and moving film."

Roberts was recently seen in "Eat Pray Love" and "Larry Crowne," and will soon play the evil witch in Tarsem Singh's "Snow White" update, "Mirror, Mirror." She won the Best Actress Oscar for "Erin Brockovich" in 2000.

"Iron Lady" star Streep of course has her fingers crossed for another Best Actress win at next Sunday's Academy Award ceremony. Though she's been nominated more than any other performer in Oscar's history (a whopping 17 times), she's only picked up one trophy for actress ("Sophie's Choice") and one for supporting actress ("Kramer vs. Kramer").

Do you think Streep and Roberts are a good match for the material? Will we be seeing "August: Osage County" among the Oscar nominees in 2014?

Dave Lewis
Producer

Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.