If the name Andrea Riseborough isn't one you're overly familiar with, you might want to do the appropriate homework. The rising British actress broke onto the scene in 2010 with "Made In Dagenham," "Never Let Me Go" and "Brighton Rock" but didn't exactly earn much recognition as all three films failed to make a big impression. Madonna's "W.E.," in which Riseborough plays infamous heiress Wallis Simpson, also came and went, but the actress is fighting back, starring in "Shadow Dancer" and "Welcome to the Punch" later this year and is currently shooting "Oblivion" opposite Tom Cruise. And now, most excitingly, the actress is lining up a teaming with two of the biggest names going around.
In what will undoubtedly be her biggest role yet, Riseborough is set to join John Wells' adaptation of Tracy Lett's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play "August: Osage County," which will see her star opposite royal Hollywood thesps Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, who respectively play the pill-popping matriarch Violet and her eldest daughter Barbara. Riseborough, meanwhile, is slated to play Violet's youngest daughter, Karen, who's likely being written younger as her stage character is notably 40 years of age.
The film adaptation (which will be a condensed version of the original play considering that ran 3.5 hours) follows the women of the Weston family whose lives have splintered in many directions until their alcoholic father's disappearance brings them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Yep, it pretty much has Oscar written all over it (particular with Streep/Roberts) and the fact The Weinstein Company own the play's rights and are developing the project with George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures is only affirmation of its pedigree. Lensing is eyeing a September start when its two stars are freed up, with a release geared for an assault on the 2013 award season in mind. [DailyMail/Baz Bamigoye]