Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts Are Mother-Daughter Team in 'August

 

Here's a dream team: Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are in talks to star in the big-screen adaptation of Tracy Letts Pulitzer and Tony-winning play 'August: Osage County' for the Weinstein Co. John Wells will direct the film from a script written by the playwright.

The play revolves around a dysfunctional family that comes together after the death of its patriarch. At the center of the painful reunion is Violet, the drug-addicted matriarch of the clan whose relationship with her three daughters is confrontational, and Barbara, the oldest daughter, whose estranged husband has had an affair with one of his students.

Streep would take the role of Violet and Roberts would play Barbara. The movie would shoot in the summer and is already getting a buzz in the trades as a prestige film with awards potential for Roberts, Street and the Weinstein Co., which is making a push to recapture its former glory as a distributor of first-class films. The company's Harvey Weinstein was involved in the original stage production with Jean Doumanian, and they will produce the film together.

The Weinstein Co. will release Wells' feature directing debut, 'The Company Men,' starring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Maria Bello, on Oct. 22.