Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep to Star in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY; John Wells to Direct

Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are in talks to star in an adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play, August: Osage County. According to THR:

The play focuses on the buried pains and present conflicts of a family after its patriarch dies. Streep would take the role of the drug-addicted matriarch and Roberts that of the eldest daughter, whose estranged husband has had an affair with one of his students.

John Wells (The Company Men) will be directing the film from a screenplay by Letts and the plan is to shoot next summer.  When you think about it, it is kind of odd that it has taken this long to pair up the two powerhouse actresses.  You can hit the jump to read the full synopsis for August: Osage County.

This plot summary comes via Amazon:

“One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, August: Osage County is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest—and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed. After its sold-out Chicago premiere, the play has electrified audiences in New York since its opening in November 2007.”

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