10. Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
As alluded to in the opening of this article, Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Oscar a whopping 17 times as an actress, a record (male or female) for the Academy Awards. She has won three Oscars, which means if she wins one more, she'll tie Katherine Hepburn for the most Oscar wins by any thespian (although one of Ms. Streep's victories came in the Best Supporting Actress category, Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979), while all of Ms. Hepburn's Oscars were in the lead actress category, if that makes a difference). At this point then, even if Ms. Streep were set to star in The Love Guru 2, she would have to at least be considered as a possible potential contender in the Best Actress Oscar race. Luckily for Ms. Streep though, Mike Myers has absolutely nothing to do with her latest film. In fact, the movie is being produced by the super-producers themselves, George Clooney and Grant Heslov (what aren't they producing at this point), and is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play of the same name, with a script written by the play's author, Mr. Tracy Letts. If that isn't enough, through in a cast that includes Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliet Lewis, Sam Shepard, Chris Cooper, and Abagail Breslin, along with distribution by the Weinstein Company, and I think it is safe to say we have a serious awards player on our hands. While those familiar with the play will know the plot in full detail, for those unacquainted with the play's story (such as myself), the movie is a drama, with supposed touches of dark comedy, focusing on an Oklahoman family reunion of sorts. Meryl Streep plays the eccentric family matriarch who appears to be very much at the center of the family's focus. Needless to say, it's prime melodramatic Oscar material, but if it's anything like the adaption of Mr. Lett's previous play-turned-movie, Killer Joe, don't expect this to be of your typical 1950's melodramatic variety. Lest you think that all this buzz is nothing other than idle speculative chatter, I urge you to check out the newly released trailer for the movie. You here that accent? That pretty much guarantees Ms. Streep a record-extending 18th Oscar nomination.