Despite having Pulitzer Prize-winning material and big stars at its center, August: Osage County has taken a bit of time to properly coalesce; in the wake of the next news, though, all pre-production struggles may have finally reached their end. Well, that’s what I’d think when hearing George Clooney and Grant Heslov will, through their Smokehouse Pictures, get behind John Wells‘ (The Company Men) familial drama, from which we can anticipate the first-ever pairing of Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. [THR]

Tracy Letts‘ original play (he also adapted it for the screen) revolves around the Westons, “a dysfunctional Oklahoma family [who] come to terms with various resentments and secrets” upon a long-delayed reunion. At the center of this fractured grouping is Violet (Streep) — the drug-abusing, emotionally unstable mother — and Barbara (Roberts), a “complicated” daughter of Violet’s; she’s also the impetus for much of August‘s plot.

It isn’t necessarily expected that Clooney would star — I’m sure The Weinstein Company wouldn’t mind having his name on the dotted line, natch — though his attachment is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes movement August could have used for almost two years. I doubt it’ll make the movie any better, but the film, any other problems notwithstanding, has been doing well in the talent department this whole time.

August: Osage County is expected to shoot this fall and open in late 2013.

Is Clooney’s name a sign of relief for the long-gestating film?