The Weinstein Company will be hosting a screening followed by a live Q & A on Monday, November 25th with the cast of their highly anticipated movie, August: Osage County in theaters December 25, including Meryl Streep, director John Wells, writer Tracy Letts and fellow cast members Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Chris Cooper and Dermot Mulroney. The cast will be on-site for the live, interactive Q & A session to be held in New York City at AMC Loews Theater Lincoln Square 13, 1998 Broadway, NY, NY 10023. The screening is to begin at 8:00 PM EST with the live-streamed Q & A following at 10:00 PM. Moderator John Horn of the Los Angeles Times will discuss the making of the film with the cast and incorporate fan questions who can participate in the full Q & A by visiting http://www.facebook.com/weinsteinco.

Promotion on “August: Osage County” continues with three new clips from the film, all featuring Meryl and most of its ensemble cast. Click the previews below to watch all clips.

Awards season is knocking on the door, so it’s not surprising that both the stars are praising each other (and, in this case, their famous producers as well). Julia Roberts presented George Clooney, who has co-produced “August: Osage County” with the Britannia Awards by BAFTA Los Angeles, and recited a letter that Meryl Streep had given her to read at the ceremony.

George is like the dream boyfriend you have right out of college – sophisticated, older, knowledgeable about the ways of the world unlike all the callous, dopey undergraduates you so recently dated. And yet he is utterly, completely, thoroughly devoted, amazingly, to you. He calls, he writes, he charms, he disarms, you are in love, you are his socket. This is the guy. And then… you find out he has been hooking up in the past few months with women who look just like Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Valerie Jarett. You are shocked, shocked and yet somehow you can never ever be really mad at him. George is everywhere and all at once and somehow never shows a dent on his bumper.

The letter prompted Vanity Fair to the following thought: “Can the Oscars please just consist of recitations of Meryl Streep letters about every nominee? There don’t even need to be any awards; just Meryl letters.” Julia Roberts is further featured in the December issue of Marie Claire and is dishing more on working with Meryl:

I had many imaginary conversations with Meryl about working together…When a person goes from being on a pedestal in your mind, to even cooler, better, and more fabulous up close, you get to understand them a little more intimately.

“August: Osage County” premiered at the AFI Fest on Friday. While Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were absent, producers George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and most of the ensemble players attended the festival. The reviews so far focus on the film’s Oscar buzz (and how Meryl and Julia should both be considered as co-leads), but here are some writings that focus on the film. “August: Osage County” releases US theaters on December 25, 2013.

Bob Strauss writes for the Los Angeles Daily News: “All of Streep’s formidable technique, thunderous power and her lightning bolt precise emotional range is deployed in long, delectably disturbing doses as the raging matriarch of a deeply dysfunctional Oklahoma clan. Addicted to painkillers and a life’s worth of resentments, Violet also suffers from mouth cancer — and boy, does she take every advantage of that metaphor she can. The woman says the most awful things to her children, their significant others and briefly-glimpsed husband (Sam Shepard). “I’m just telling the truth” is this mad grandma’s — who could eat Johnny Knoxville for lunch — repeated refrain. The most infuriating, as well as interesting, thing about Violet is that she’s right; nasty and narcotized as her statements can be, they draw real blood because they’re so honest. And so funny.” The Wrap praised Margo Martindale and wrote, “to get the most enjoyment out of “August,” it’s best to think of it less as an adaptation of a Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize-winning play or as a screen adaptation of playwright Tracy Letts and more like an all-star opportunity for bad behavior, shocking revelations and even a cat fight.”

A first in-depth report from the London press conference for “August: Osage County” has been published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and features a lot of interesting quotes by Meryl on both “August” and “Into the Woods”, which was filmed at the time of the conference in London. Filming “Into the Woods” in London and promoting “August: Osage County” was putting Meryl Streep in two conflicting moods. “I feel like I should have two heads because I’m so into this music, place, magic that’s ‘Into the Woods,’” said the world’s preeminent actress with a lilt in her voice, exulting in her experience so far in playing The Witch in director Rob Marshall’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical. She is dressed all in black for this early evening interview at The May Fair Hotel in London. In “August,” coincidentally another adaptation of a play (by Tracy Letts who won a Pulitzer Prize for this), Meryl plays Violet Weston, the acid-tongued, pill-popping matriarch of a bickering family in Oklahoma.

The reason I did [August] was that a very dear friend said to me, ‘You had a great mother. She gave you your appetite for experience, curiosity, sense of humor. Your mother sang in the kitchen and mine hit me. Your mother made you feel you could do anything. Mine made me feel like I couldn’t do anything. You have to do this for me and for all the girls like me who had bad mothers, who made it in spite of that, who got out, and for all the ones who didn’t and to let them know it’s OK to leave that behind.’ She really made a case. I thought, OK, because when you’re a young actor, you think, oh yeah, it’ll be so cool to imagine having cancer and what’s it like to be close to death and then your family hates you…I really want to take that all on.

Meryl also talks about the character of The Witch in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”.

The metamorphosis in ‘Into the Woods’ is [of] a witch who sets the whole machinery of impossible tasks in motion so she can have her wish, which is to not be ugly. Her mother put a curse on her. It’s very like Violet. Her mother put a curse of ugliness on her because somebody stole the beans, the baker’s father. So her metamorphosis is that Rapunzel, [whom] she loves more than anything in the world, will love her because she’ll be beautiful. Of course, women think that if they’re beautiful, they will be loved. The thing is, you can get your wish and Rapunzel will still hate you. It’s such an interesting problem that Sondheim sets up. Everybody has a wish, everybody gets their wish. That’s just the end of the first act. Afterward, what happens after it all shakes down…it’s an ambitious thing.

The complete article can be read over at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Two new production stills from the upcoming “August: Osage County” have been added to the image library. One has been added a couple of days ago, the other one has just been sent in by Joan with many thanks. Click the previews to launch the last added pictures. “Osage County” will be screened this November at the Napa Valley and the St. Louis International Film Festival. Edit: Three more pictures have been added to the image library with many thanks to Juha for the heads-up.

Last week, Meryl has attended a press conference for “August: Osage County” in London. You can view pictures in the image library. Many thanks to Lindsey for sending them in.

As previously reported, the cast of “August: Osage County” has been honored as Best Enemble cast at the Hollywood Film Awards. Julia Roberts was honored as Best Supporting Actress as well. Unfortunately, Meryl was a no-show at the ceremony, but most of her castmembers attended and took the stage to accept the award. You can watch their speech, held by Chris Cooper and Margo Martindale here.

Macmillan Audio has re-released its William Steig collection as a new audio edition. Three of the children stories – “Brave Irene”, “The Amazing Bone” and “Spinky Sulks” – are narrated by Meryl Streep. These are not new recordings as all stories have appeared on the 2007 “The One and Only Shrek” already, but in case you haven’t heard these lovely readings yet, head over to Amazon. Thanks to Frank for the heads-up. Also, there hasn’t been a proper mention of “The Testament of Mary” yet, which is also read by Meryl and was released earlier this year. To learn more, visit its career page, which features an audio excerpt as well.

Here comes the fantastic new poster for “August: Osage County”, highlighting the disfunctional Weston family at its best. The film will be shown at the 2013 Houston Cinema Arts Festival, before its slated to be released on December 25th. This article on its Houston premiere also has a nice quote by Julia Roberts on the film’s making: “I’ve never worked so hard in my life – and I’ve given birth to three children. We would work all day and go home and shower, and then all run to Meryl’s house and start practicing for the next day. Because you had to have that momentum going really about 19 or 20 hours of the day or else it would just leave you. And it was the best acting experience of my life.”