Meryl Streep has been cast as pill-popping matriarch Violet Weston, and Julia Roberts will play her complicated adult daughter Barbara in August: Osage County, based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts. Deadline first reported the pairing on the project in 2010. John Wells (Shameless) will direct. August is a dark and humorous story of the of the Weston family women. The strong-willed characters’ lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. The Weinstein Company’s Harvey and Bob Weinstein made the announcement Wednesday about the project that will begin filming this fall. Commented Roberts, “After seeing Meryl Streep’s mesmerizing portrayal as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, it has me even more excited and proud to co star with her.” Streep recently received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. She picked up a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film also in release by TWC.