Proof it's never too early for Oscar season: This week, trailers for "Captain Phillips," "Gravity" and, now, "August: Osage County" were released, trumpeting what look like awards-worthy performances and Best Picture bona fides.
It's the trailer for "August: Osage County," however, that should have Oscar watchers standing at attention: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts, the screen adaptation stars past Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Chris Cooper, plus Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney and Sam Shepard. Oscar king Harvey Weinstein produced the film alongside George Clooney.
"Life is very long," Shepard, as Weston family patriarch Beverly, says at the beginning of the first "August: Osage County" trailer. Not for Bev, as it turns out: his mysterious death forces the fractured Weston family to reunite, bringing old rivalries back to the forefront. Streep plays Bev's wife, Violet, a role that could put the three-time Oscar winner on track for a potential fourth trophy; Roberts is Barbara, the Weston's oldest daughter, and her knock-down, drag-out scenes opposite Streep already seem to crackle in the film's trailer. (For a spoiler-y look at the play's content and what kind of roles each of the talented cast members are playing, check out the detailed Wikipedia page.)
John Wells, of "E.R." fame, directed "August: Osage County," with help from acclaimed below-the-line contributors composer Carter Burwell ("Fargo"), editor Stephen Mirrione (an Oscar winner for "Traffic") and cinematographer Adriano Goldman ("Jane Eyre"). The film is due out in theaters on Nov. 8. Watch the first trailer, via "Good Morning America," above.
