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"August: Osage County" Tracy Letts eats steak with Julia Roberts
Published: 9/30/2012 7:09 AM
Last Modified: 9/28/2012 6:27 PM

Tracy Letts.

A funny story happened during the Circle Cinema's Skype interview this past week with Tracy Letts, the Tulsa native and playwright of "August: Osage County."

Letts also wrote the screenplay for the movie based on his play, now filming in Osage and Washington counties with Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Juliette Lewis and Abigail Breslin, among many others.

But since Letts is performing on Broadway in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" right now, he told those in the audience for the Skype, he had only one day in his schedule to talk to the cast over a table read of the script.

Letts agreed to the Skype based on the fact that Circle Cinema is showing "Killer Joe," the Matthew McConaughey film based on Letts' first play, but naturally a couple of questions about "August: Osage County" found their way into the conversation.

According to Michael Wright -- a University of Tulsa professor of film studies -- Letts said the group had a good meeting; the actors asked many questions; and everyone went out to eat steak at Sterling's Grille in Bartlesville.

"Tracy laughed and said he thought that all of these California types would all order salad, but they all ordered steak," Wright reported. "However, Tracy said, he was the only one to finish his steak."

Among that group -- other "August: Osage County" cast members include Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham and Julianne Nicholson -- you might think that there would be a vegetarian among the group.

Would someone simply order a steak at a steakhouse out of good manners, and then maybe not put fork and knife to work? Sure they would.

According to Wright, Letts also commented on the big house in Osage County where most of the shooting will take place.

"He said that at first he was not thrilled with the exterior, but he went inside and became convinced that they had made a great choice," Wright said.

The favorite moment of the Skype was obvious for Clark Wiens, co-founder of the nonprofit group that operates Circle Cinema: Letts at one point stood up during the Skype to reveal that he was wearing his own Circle Cinema T-shirt.

Very classy for a man who is apparently very proud that among the medallions honoring Oklahoma legends located outside the Circle Cinema on the sidewalk is one for his late father, Dennis Letts.

A former college professor, Letts became a late-in-life actor, and he originated the role of the patriarch in "August: Osage County" on Broadway just months before his death.

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mullins (5 months ago)

I don't blame him I would like to eat out with Julia Roberts too.

241362 (5 months ago)

Pass the barf bag.

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“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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Past Articles By Michael Smith

2/16/2013		Broken Arrow movie theater moves to discount showings
2/15/2013		Review: 'Amour'
2/15/2013		Review: 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
2/15/2013		Review: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/14/2013		Review: 'Quartet'
2/14/2013		Shirley MacLaine to speak at Osage Casino
2/14/2013		Weekly rewind: February 14
2/14/2013		REVIEW: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/12/2013		Belgian best picture hopeful 'Amour' opens in Tulsa on Friday
2/10/2013		'Die Hard' marathon at AMC Southroads on Wednesday ends with new film
2/9/2013		Review: 'Identity Thief' a stupid movie from stupid idea
2/8/2013		Oscar audit: Critics choices for best picture hold up over time

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