given his involvement as producer my money is on George Clooney for Bill and Amy Adams as Ivy, she's the perfect link between Roberts, Streep and Lewis.
It's funny that on stage opposite Amy Morton George Clooney would be completely miscast and awkward, but on screen opposite Roberts Clooney would be dynamic casting. Since Julia is one of the only true mega-watt super movie stars audience sympathy will automatically go to Barbara in spades and a lesser-name Bill would just be villan/@$$hole/jerk (but I wouldnt say no to Bill Macy). Casting another mega moooooovie star will make their relationship deeper and more balanced.
Adams would be fantastic as well, but I'd want her and Lewis to switch roles (ages be darned). I'd still like to see Julianna Marguiles despite her drop-dead gorgeousness.
Misty Upham was phenomenal in FROZEN RIVER and is absolutely terrific casting for a high profile project like this. I also really like the idea of re-concieving Johnna younger as a college student, presumably working for the Westons to pay her way through school. It makes the dynamic between her and Jean even more relatable, since they're closer in age.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I don't think Clooney would be a good Bill. He's too good-looking and suave. I think someone like Steve Carrel or David Schwimmer. Someone who is not overtly sexual. Just my thoughts.
Zellweger would be great as Ivy, but she doesn't seem to be on many director's short lists anymore. Still, she'd bring the necessary amount of vulnerability and she can definitely dress down.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I think Zellweiger would be fine. I still wish Mary Louise Parker would get it-she reminds me of Sally Murphy, who was brilliant in the role on Broadway.
I sill think Winona Ryder would be phenomenal as Ivy. She's played opposite Juliette Lewis before, and I think they (and Roberts) look enough alike to be believable as sisters, which is very important to John Wells.
In fact, this pciture almost looks like it could be a still from AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY if they were indeed playing Ivy and Karen.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Where did you hear that, random person? All of the press info about Lewis's casting still listed Karen as the youngest sister.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
That stinks because Ivy has that 'middle child' syndrome in the play-she's overlooked and sits in the background. (Her character really will be different then.)
I apologize i had a dumb moment and was looking over imdb where one of the posters had said that they had switched the birth order. It's very likely they were wrong. I think she could still function as the youngest, she's the one staying around to care for the parents, she's the 'prettiest' so she will probably look younger than the other two.
But her very behavior suggests middle child (I have a parent who is a middle child-and definitely acts like one). Karen is doted over as the 'baby' and Barbara is the 'responsible' oldest. Ivy is lost in the middle. She's childlike in a way I think. But I do think she really is a very typical middle child (FYI-my parent who is a middle child did stay to take care of the parents too). Karen behaves like a spoiled, irresponsible, over indulged youngest child.
I disagree with you, dreaming. If anything, I think it's quite the opposite- Karen is the "forgotten" child of the three sisters, not Ivy. There's a really good series of profiles of all the characters that the original cast did for Broadway.com, and they all talk about this specifically at length when discussing Karen.
She's the one who has worked really hard to define herself in a way the family will notice and appreciate, and no matter how hard she tries or how desperately she wants to please them, no one seems to care. She's lived her entire life in the shadow of her two older sisters, and in many ways, she's the one who seems like she was born in the wrong family, given that her bubbly and positive persona is so much at odds with the dark and brooding tendencies of the rest of everyone else around her.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I will concur that Karen is the least developed of the sisters. However, she is rather flighty and irresponsible (look at her fiancee). And she really is immature-much more so than Ivy.
Sure, she's flighty and immature, but that's a direct response to the fact that she was largely ignored for much of her life. She's desperate for anyone to show her attention, which probably explains why there's such urgency for her to make things work with Steve, even when she sees who he really is. As her final speech in the play states, she's determined to have her "happy ending" at any cost, even if it means preserving her own self dillusion.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I guess. I just think she acts spoiled (particularly by Barbara-who dotes on her more than anyone else)and that contributes to the flightiness. Also, I guess I also think Ivy's greater maturity reflects her being older. (Frankly, I think she's overlooked too-the mother in particular doesn't seem too nurturing-she dotes on Barbara and Jean and no one else.) But, I do think certain characteristics point to Ivy being older.
Somethingwicked, that still does look like it could be a still from the film! I love the idea of a lot of people playing Ivy: Mary-Louise Parker, Marisa Tomei, Amy Adams, Renee Zellweger, and Winona Ryder all seem right for the role in different ways and I think each could bring something unique to the role; however, I'm a huge Ryder fan, her Ivy would be out of the world, and it could be the role that finally puts her on the map. I just hope that the person they end up going with turns out to be as great as the people we have mentioned in all the threads speculating on casting. So far they've cast each role perfectly well so I imagine that Ivy will be as ideally cast as the rest of the family.
It's a shame Zellweger isn't going to be involved in this, she'd have fit perfectly with the rest of the cast, she definitely has the comedic chops to pull off Karen, though Lewis will be wonderful. Can this film come out already? I really hope it's as good as the casting suggests.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"