Thursday, August 25, 2011

"August: Osage County"--please happen!

It's been close to a year since there were about 500 articles announcing that Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were in talks to star in a film adaptation of Tracy Letts's play August: Osage County. Aside from a few blurbs I could find here and there (particularly on simplystreep.com), there hasn't been much news about it. I was fortunate enough to see this play in the spring of 2010 when it came to St. Paul, and it was fantastic. Yes, it was long, but it was a compelling familial drama with some challenging acting roles. Who better to tackle this than our girl Meryl?!

Streep would be playing the pill-popping family matriarch Violet Weston, with Julia Roberts as her eldest daughter. In my very first blog post, I used Julia as an example of an actress who is typically less than convincing to me in many roles. This is not to say I'm not entertained by several of her films, but I'm of course anticipating Meryl's performance more.

In the stage production I saw, Violet was played by Estelle Parsons. I grew up watching her as Roseanne's mom, Beverly (interestinlgy the name of Violet's husband in 'August') on the sitcom Roseanne. I was very impressed by Parsons in the production I saw, and to be honest, I think it might be difficult for me to see someone else in this role. Is it possible Meryl won't do it justice? I can't believe that thought even came into my head (just paused to slap myself). If the film does eventually come to fruition, I'm sure Streep will shine.

In unrelated news, the Minnesota Twins need to figure. it. out.

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