Abigail Breslin Cast as Jean in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Film

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Great casting! Spot-on:
Abigail Breslin is set to be Julia Roberts’ daughter in August: Osage County. The Oscar nominee will play Jean Fordham, the 14-year old angry and acerbic pot smoking child of Roberts’ Barbara character in the family drama.

So Streep, Roberts, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, and Breslin, this is quite a cast! Cannot wait to hear more casting news.


Deadline.com

[nasty_khakis]

And Kyra Sedgwig for Ivy please!!!

[dramamama611]

I love Kyra, but as IVY? Hmmmm....let me roast on that one. Not sure if I like Breslin, either.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

They are really going all out on an all-star cast. At this rate we'll have Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the Sheriff.

[dreaming]

I think Breslin is a terrific choice.

I still think Mary Louise Parker was born to play Ivy. She would be amazing in the role. But, given the A-list casting, I'm not sure she's considered a big enough star (I know she starred on Weeds-is that enough?).

Have they cast Barbara's husband yet? (Philip Seymour Hoffman could play him very well I think)

[wicked1492]

^ Stanley Tucci for Barbara's husband (Bill)!

[dreaming]

Is he playing the role or is he who you'd like? (I still contend Hoffman would be better suited for the role.)

[Wynbish]

^ Stanley Tucci for Barbara's husband (Bill)!

I officially want Stanley Tucci to be in everything.

[nasty_khakis]

I'm not a Mary Louis Parker fan in general, but her eye-rolling neurotic nature could easily work for Ivy. But Ivy is a lonely, desperate woman. I have a difficult time believing somone who looks like her having a difficult time finding a man other than Little Charles. Granted, it's hollywood and there's a track record of putting glasses on Rachel Lee Cook and calling her ugly.

I suggested Kyra (and/or Cynthia Nixon) because they are not traditional beauties and have a resemblance to Roberts and can play emotionally hurt and vulnerable as well as determination. However they probably read older than Roberts. I'd also LOVE to see Julianna Marguiles but she doesn't resemble Streep or Roberts and she is alas, too beautiful.

It's weird we haven't heard any male casting other than Cooper, right? Not even rumblings of Hoffman, Clooney, Pacino, Klein, Hanks, Tucci, Nicholson, etc

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

I'm glad Breslin is doing this, it could become an important role in her career since Jean is so different from Olive in LITTLE MISS SUSNSHINE. I think she can definitely pull it off even if someone like Hailee Steinfeld would have been a more natural choice.
Mary Louise Parker is definitely unconventional looking, that's always been her reputation which is why she's mainly a character actress. It wasn't until she did WEEDS and they decided to create the whole MILF look for her that people started thinking of her as incredibly sexy or what have you. I'd slightly prefer Marisa Tomei for Ivy, but Parker would be great. And Parker is definitely the kind of actress who'd be cast in this, she's A-list enough to get Ivy, let's remember Juliette Lewis (who has been very low profile for many years) is playing Karen.
I think Philip Seymour Hoffman as Bill would be incredibly miscast, who's going to believe that he left Julia Roberts for a younger woman? (Though you could say in this case, Roberts is the one who's miscast). You need a George Clooney type here, someone that can stand up to Roberts' beauty and who'd believably leave her for a younger woman. Not saying that beautiful women never get cheated on, but I'm saying that we have to understand Barbara's probably going to be alone for the rest of her life, while Bill will likely keep screwing his students, a Hoffman/Roberts pairing would affect the balance of that relationship.

[ucjrdude902]

Won't Phillip Seymour Hoffman be busy for a while with "The Hunger Games" from my understanding those movies are filming back to back.

[dramamama611]

Hoffman is wrong for Bill.

It's important to remember why Bill leaves her....it's because he can't stand WHO she is (a young Vi), not that she's let herself go physically. I don't think he SHOULD be Hollywood beautiful (So "no" to Clooney and the like.)

I'm not sure "big star" is how to go with the men. They are not the focus here, its definitely about the women. For most people, even Cooper is really, "Oh that guy, whathisname."

[jewishboy]

I can see Steve Carell as Bill. Maybe Dennis Quaid?

[wicked1492]

No. Only Stanley Tucci.

(Wynbish, let's be besties)

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Dennis Quaid would be perfect, I love Tucci and wouldn't mind seeing him in the role, but his IMDB page lists like half a dozen upcoming films.

[nasty_khakis]

I've heard for YEARS (going back to Fried Green Tomatoes) about how hot Mary Louis Parker is. I do like the Marissa Tomei idea as well. Honestly any of these actresses sound more than capable so why quibble until somoeone like a Kardashian is cast? lol

Beautiful women get cheated on. Look at Tiger Wood's exwife, Jennifer Anniston, Christie Brinklie, etc etc. I honestly love the idea of Clooney the more and more I think about it. But there are obviously many other great choices.

Isn't Tucci too old for Bill? I mean he recently played Streep's husband!

[dreaming]

Bill isn't supposed to be good looking. He's a nerdy academic whose appeal to younger women likely stems from his brains (none of the men I saw play the role were anything like George Clooney). Believe it or not, younger women can find older academics very attractive.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

I knew I was gonna get in trouble for making the comment about the Julia Roberts/Philip Seymour Hoffman pairing. I am perfectly aware that beautiful women get cheated on all the time, I mean, Halle Berry is a perfect example. I know that the disillusion behind Barbara and Bill's marriage is not about the fact Bill thinks he's more handsome than Barbara, but I still believe that a Philip Seymour Hoffman type would not match Julia Roberts's star persona and looks in a way that would service the project. Hoffman was already miscast in DOUBT where he came off as creepy and guilty from the get-go, instead of both charismatic and suspicious; he would be perfectly cast as Bill if Marcia Gay Harden was playing Barbara, he'd be so wrong for the role if we pretend Julia Roberts had ever married him, it'd just be so unbelievable to me at least.

He's a nerdy academic whose appeal to younger women likely stems from his brains (none of the men I saw play the role were anything like George Clooney). Believe it or not, younger women can find older academics very attractive.

I don't question Cindy's attraction for Bill in any way, believe me, I am a PhD student, I've worked in academia for a while, I had relationships with older academics when I was a teenaged undergrad, I don't find that strange at all. What I would have an issue with is believing that Julia Roberts, one of the most magnetic screen personalities around, would marry Philip Seymour Hoffman *and* feel like her chances are gone after he leaves her for a younger woman. I'm not saying it's impossible to be a gorgeous woman who dates an overweight, not great looking guy who also feels like a loser when he leaves her; however, I am saying that it is harder for that relationship to come across on camera.
If you've seen Clooney in THE DESCENDANTS, you can tell why he'd be great as Bill. I'm not saying he is perfect for the role, I think Dennis Quaid is exactly the kind of actor they should be looking at, but I think with Julia Roberts cast as Barbara, you need to get a different Bill than say the kind of Bill someone like Amy Morton had to play opposite.

[nasty_khakis]

Ray, you seem to have taken my casting beliefs right out of my head. I think people on this board get WAY too caught up in "well in the stage version so and so was old or fat or blonde, etc" and don't think about who and how they're playing against. Clooney on stage next to Amy Morton would be AWFUL since his star power/looks/charm would make Bill far too likable and you would never feel for Barbara, but having Clooney next to Roberts puts him on equal footing in all those departments and makes the relationship interesting and complicated. I also love the Quaid suggestion and I'd even throw Tom Hanks into the mix if you think Cast Away/Philadelphia "serious" Hanks over Big/You've Got Mail "goofy" Hanks. There's a star equally as likable as Roberts.

[dreaming]

Tom Hanks is more like it. I could be okay with that.

[adamgreer]

It's strange that we've heard no rumblings about the casting of the most important supporting role in the film, Mattie Fae (other than Wells saying it won't be Kathy Bates).

[nasty_khakis]

I've resigned myself to believe it'll be Melissa Leo, whom I am NOT a fan of since I always see her ACTING with crazy wigs, screaming, snot, arms flailing, etc. That way when almost any one else is cast I'll be excited and if it IS Leo I'll at least be prepared.

[GlindatheGood22]

Throwing this into the ring - nobody's been talking about Bev. A tricky role to cast for the movie. Should he be a name or not, since he's such a crucial character that does not appear after the first ten minutes?

[adamgreer]

I'd actually be shocked if that scene is included in the film. I'd say it's almost certain to be cut.

[sabrelady]

Beau Bridges for Bev.
I agree that the 1st scene in the PLAY is mostly exposition and, as such, unnecessary in a medium whose forte should be rendering not telling. BUT Bev is a presence in the story (or rather his lack of presence) that almost everything revolves around. He just can't be a "name" they throw around. They could play a form of flashback w that scene even briefly, so we get to know ( and in the shorthand that all "stars" bring to a role)who Bev is and how his absence brings everything tumbling down.

[theaterkid1015]

I feel like they could condense Beau to a pretty short cameo, get someone like Robert Duvall to do it, and make everyone wish the whole scene was in.