August Osage County: Filming now.

Produced by George Clooney. What do we think of the cast? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sam Shepard as Beverly Weston Meryl Streep as Violet Weston Margo Martindale as Mattie Fae Aiken Chris Cooper as Charles Aiken Benedict Cumberbatch as Little Charles Aiken Julia Roberts as Barbara Fordham Ewan McGregor as Bill Fordham Abigail Breslin as Jean Fordham Julianne Nicholson as Ivy Weston Juliette Lewis as Karen Weston Dermot Mulroney as Steve Heidebrecht Misty Upham as Johnna Monevata

• Some pics taken on the set....

  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/%3Fset%3Da.10152101401760018.901498.666125017%26type%3D1

• Desperate casting. Especially with Violet Weston.

  Glenn

• Umm...where's Patty Duke?

• More photos from August Osage County:

  http://www.televisionhits.com/mamasfamily/

• Meryl AND Abigail? Did a datalounger cast this movie?

• It's fucking lame that they are using UK actors. This is one of the great American plays of the 21st Century.

• How does Benedict Cumberbatch keep getting so much work? He's not all that.

• R6, if UK actors agree to never appear in a film of an American play again, then Us actors should have the same courtesy and quit attempting Shakespeare.

• Cast looks good other than Roberts, but with her pal Clooney producing what do you expect?

• I wonder if Meryl has put the moves on Benny yet. Isn't there some DL meme about her banging all of her male co-stars?

• Benedict Cumberbatch is in this? That'll be really convincing. This movie stinks like a shit sandwich. I won't be going.

• [quote]Margo Martindale as Mattie Fae Aiken Love Margo!

• I'm sorry, but as much as I love many of these actors, this looks like another star-studded misfire that's already too self-important to sustain interest. Some consideration should be given to acting style when casting, and this is all over the place--Streep, Martindale, and Cooper will probably seem to be in an entirely different film than the others, with Shepard in some one man show of his own. Roberts doesn't deserve to appear in an Abigail Breslin film at this point, that's how obvious the smoke and mirrors have become.

• Oh c'mon r11, I've been fixing to do this fo months now. I'm usin' a voice coach y'all.

• Why is Clooney in those pics? Is he a producer?

• Jane Fonda should have been Violet

  Deanna Dunagan

• It's not a plot-driven play, it's character studies. Which, IMO, makes using anyone other than American actors unforgivable. It would be like casting Americans in a film version of "Look Back in Anger" or any of those Brit working class films of the 50s/60s.

• I love Cumberbatch, Cooper, McGregor, and Streep, but consider Julia Roberts the kiss of death for any serious film. I hate to say it, but this looks like the cast of one of those disaster movies from the seventies where they are all stuck in a burning elevator or something.

  Anonymous

• "Jane Fonda should have been Violet" Not sure if Fonda could really pull off the truly low-down semi-trasiness of the character (she could certainly do the mean, drug-addled part). Frankly, I'm not 100% certain Streep can either. This part is perfect for Grace Zabriskie, but there's no way she'd get cast, and she's sort of done this already on BIG LOVE. I don't get Cumberbatch as the mentally slow Little Charles, but maybe he'll surprise us.

• He's the greatest actor of his generation. You heard it here first.

  Not%20a%20bitch

• R9, I thought Clooney&Roberts had a falling out? Or does he just recognize that she still has a name to sell movies overseas? Is Clooney now a producer, instead of a director and actor? (See Argo)

• Yeah, r20 - Gary Oldman was slobbering all over his knob in the commentary for Tinker Tailor Solder Spy.

• Ok, so Gary Oldman said it first. With his mouth full.

  Mmmmmmmmmm

• A drug-addicted woman with mouth cancer. Perfect role for Meryl. Her arsenal of mannerisms must be totally spent by now. Tick, tick, tick

  Kate%20Hepburn.

• Cumberbatch will be amazing.

• Read much, r15?

• Oh, here we go again on the English thing. Get over it. Especially in this case where there are only two Brits in the entire very large cast.

• Don't they often cast internationally to increase the appeal to overseas audiences?

• Patty Duke should be Violet. Will Ewan McGregor be showing off his big intact penis again?

• I'd love to have seen Patty Duke as Violet, Laura Linney as Barbara, Kathleen Turner as Mattie Fae, Chloe Moretz as Jean, Anthony Edwards as Bill, Josh Brolin as Steve and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Little Charles.

  Lynn%20Stairmaster

• I believe this will be one of Meryl's greatest triumphs.

  The%20Streep%20troll%20%28tm%29.

• Julia Roberts - that's a dealbreaker. It doesn't matter who else is in it, she ruins everything she touches.

• I guarantee you JR will be angry and petulant as Big Barb, totally one note and insufferable. This role plays right into her humorless streak that ruined her appearance in those Oceans films.

• I agree, r33. Our only hope is the large cast: they will eclipse her awfulness with sheer talent. Meryl alone will make us forget JR is even in this film. Ocean's Eleven was an ensemble piece as well, but Clooney and Pitt are as one-note as JR, and therefore my formula doesn't apply to that series.

  The%20Streep%20troll%20%28tm%29

• Macgregor can't do an American accent AT ALL. Neither can Cumberbtch. I love the Poseidon reference. So spot on

• Meryl looks great here.

  http://bit.ly/M1BfOc

  The%20Streep%20troll%20%28tm%29

• Very interesting cast. I agree with R30 that Laura Linney should have been cast as Barbara instead of Julia Roberts. I like Roberts in some of her roles (Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman) and think she is strongest in lighter, rom/com shows. I do not think she has the chops to do August justice. Linney on the otherhand could.

• Did someone forget Sam Shepherd, op?

• I don't understand casting all these Brits in such an American play. That is like casting an American to play a quintessential Brit, someone like ...Maggie Thacher

• McGregor's American accent is OK but Bill should be played by someone quintessentially American like Anthony Edwards or even George Clooney.

  Lynn%20Stairmaster

• Her role may be minor, but this film will fail on the basis of Abigail Breslin alone. What was that fucktard Clooney thinking?

  Dakota%20Fanning%2C%20lighting%20my%2047th%20Parliament%20of%20the%20day

• The cast composition is ... interesting, to put it mildly. Meryl will steal the show, as to be expected, but I'd put Margo Martindale on my Oscar short list for Best Supporting Actress *immediately*. The casting of Sam Shepard is interesting, given his near-complete lack of acting roles in recent years. I have no qualm with Ewan or Benedict being cast, as both are superb actors. The casting of Julia Roberts, Julianne Lewis and Dermot Mulroney boggles the mind, as this is not a remake of "My Best Friend's Wedding." But yeah, I can't think of any more obvious upcoming Oscar bait, period. The *only* question mark is whether it can successfully transition from stage to screen.

• "It's not a plot-driven play, it's character studies. Which, IMO, makes using anyone other than American actors unforgivable. It would be like casting Americans in a film version of "Look Back in Anger" or any of those Brit working class films of the 50s/60s." So would you also object to Ralph Richardson as James Tyrone? Besides which, McGregor, who plays Americans very well, and Cumberbatch are the only Brits in the cast. Everyone else is American.

• "Julianne Lewis?" huh? What do either Ms. Lewis or Ms. Nicholson - not sure which you are referring to - have to do with My Best Friend's Wedding?

• Yummy Dermot Mulroney. HUGE PENIS A BALLS! Sexy!

• R40, Is Clooney giving up acting and directing for producing?

• Sorry, R44, I meant *Juliette* Lewis, of course. And yes, I realize she wasn't in "My Best Friend's Wedding"; my point was a) Julia and Dermot were and b) Juliette is better-known for similar fluff as opposed to serious actor work. Her most recent gig was as a white-trash secretary on the quickly cancelled TV version of "The Firm"!

• I read the synopsis on wikipedia and it doesn't seem like a movie that will make much money.

• Juliette Lewis: Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen) Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese) academy award nomination, top three National Society of Film Critics (she and Judy Davis lost to Jane Horrocks), top three New York film Critics (she and Kate Nelligan lost to Judy Davis) Natural Born Killers (best actress Venice Film Festival) Conviction (best supporting actress, Boston Society of Film Critics 2010 - so much for her recent work being confined to her work on "The Firm") Gaudi Afternoon (with Judy Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Lilli Taylor) The Other Sister (with Diane Keaton) The Basketball Diaries (with Leonardo DiCaprio) Kalifornia What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (with Johnnie Depp and Leonardo Di Caprio) Hardly a career to lambast, OP.

• Juliette Lewis belongs in that fucking whacked out play -much more so than JR. She is actually a very watchable featured player and I always love when she pops up in a film somewhere.

• [7] I agree with [20] that Cumberbatch is a thrilling actor. He's been known in the UK for some time. Now with Sherlock he's known everywhere. I saw him in Frankenstein as the monster; I also saw Jonny Miller, and Cumberbatch kicked Jonny Miller's ass. And I think Johnny Miller is very good. Cumberbatch recently was interviewed in Cheltenham and his session sold out very quickly, to the extent that at J.K. Rowling's session, she announced that she was the "warm up act" for Cumberbatch. He stayed until after midnight meeting the fans and signing autographs. Supposedly he's going to be the villain in the James Bond film after the one that's coming out soon, but he claims to know nothing about that, so who knows. He's in talks now to star as Julian Armitage, the WikiLeaks guy.

• They should have cast the Broadway originals. It is dismissed.

• Cumberbatch is all that, but this isn't such a great use of him.

• [quote]I don't understand casting all these Brits in such an American play. That is like casting an American to play a quintessential Brit, someone like ...Maggie Thacher All these Brits??? Streep, Roberts, Cooper, Lewis, Mulronrey, Breslin, Shepard are ALL American. So is Clooney- if you're counting.

• [53] I also agree this isn't the best use of him. I think it appealed to his theatrical side. I'm sure he loves the money from Star Trek and the Hobbit but I'm also sure he wants to do more than that. He was just in a huge miniseries in England, Parade's End, that received very good reviews. I hope they bring it over here for public television.

• Cumberbatch will not have the childlike quality which is needed for Little Charles. He'll just seem "mentally challenged."

  Lynn%20Stairmaster

• Parade's End will be shown on HBO early in 2013. It's an HBO production.

• the house and land 138 acres north of the movie house is for sale. You can own the property and view the movie home anytime.

  Roy

• Huh, Roy?

• bump

• Who is playing the maid?

  Ms.%20Viola%20Davis%2C%20still%20bitter

• I wonder what Cumberbatch is like in the sack.

• ......

• Julia Roberts can be great, sometimes. She was fantastic in Closer and ... Hmm.