August: Osage County Star Julia Roberts on Attacking Meryl Streep: ‘It Had to Be Done’

Julia Roberts has three Oscar nominations and one win under her belt, while her August: Osage County co-star Meryl Streep reigns with a whopping 17 nominations and three wins. It is no doubt intimidating to work with an actress whose awards and nominations warrants its own Wikipedia page, which makes one wonder what the off-screen dynamic was like between the two movie stars.

Broadway.com recently sat down with Roberts and asked a blunt question: Did she dream of choking Streep as she does film’s pivotal dinner scene? “She’s not the one that I dream about choking!” Roberts laughed, adding, “I love Meryl. It was hard to do it; I felt bad. But it had to be done.”

Set in rural Oklahoma, August: Osage County was adapted by Tracy Letts from his Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, which charts the trials of the Weston family, a dysfunctional clan that must face the hard truths that unravel when they all come together in the wake of a family crisis.

“It was intimidating, certainly, to be in these scenes with [Streep]," Roberts said in September at a press conference for the movie’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. “That's not how I pictured it going in my mind all these years when I thought we'd be together, drinking tea together and speaking in fabulous accents and dressed up and looking very chic. And instead there I am sweating and wearing a big butt pad. That's not how it was in my dream."

In addition to Streep as matriarch Violet and Roberts as the domineering Barbara, the film stars Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin, Sam Shepard, Margo Martindale and Misty Upham. 

Destined not to be the feel-good film of the holidays, August: Osage County will be released on Christmas Day. Check back for Broadway.com's  pre-premiere video interview with Roberts and her co-stars.