Streep and Roberts set for August: Osage County

Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep have signed up for the Weinstein Company’s August: Osage County, the screen version, to be directed by John Wells, of Tracy Letts’ award-winning play.

The film will tell the darkly comic story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in.

Streep - who recently won a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe and is now in the running for the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in The Iron Lady (pictured) - has been cast as pill-popping matriarch Violet Weston. Roberts will play Violet’s complicated adult daughter Barbara.

Said Roberts: “After seeing Meryl Streep’s mesmerising portrayal as Margaret
Thatcher in The Iron Lady, it has me even more excited and proud to co star with
her.”

Wells added: “I’m delighted and feel very privileged to have the opportunity to direct Meryl
and Julia in this magnificent piece written by Tracy Letts. 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.”