Julia Roberts has long been celebrated as one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars, renowned for her radiant smile and effortless charm. From beloved romantic comedies like Pretty Woman and Notting Hill to dramatic turnouts in Erin Brockovich, she has proven her versatility time and again. Yet one of her most striking transformations came in 2013 with August: Osage County, a dark family drama that demanded she abandon her usual glamour and fully embrace a character defined by pain, anger, and vulnerability.
In the film, Roberts portrayed Barbara Weston, the strong but deeply wounded daughter of Violet Weston, played by Meryl Streep. Adapted from Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the story centers on a fractured Oklahoma family grappling with the disappearance and eventual death of the patriarch. Through confrontations, secrets, and tense emotional moments, the ensemble cast delivered performances charged with raw intensity.
To embody Barbara, Roberts shed the polished appearance audiences expected. Gone were designer dresses and perfectly styled hair; instead, she wore jeans, layered shirts, and sneakers, with her hair tied back in a simple ponytail and minimal makeup. This deliberate choice emphasized the weight of Barbara’s struggles—responsibility, disillusionment, and simmering anger—allowing the character’s emotional truth to take center stage.
Filming in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, further enhanced the story’s authenticity. The hot, isolating environment mirrored the tension within the Weston household, grounding the drama in a real, tangible world. Roberts shared the screen with an impressive cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Charles Aiken, Juliette Lewis as Karen Weston, and Abigail Breslin as Barbara’s daughter, Jean. Together, they created a family that was both painfully dysfunctional and convincingly human.
Behind the scenes, the atmosphere was reportedly lighter, with the cast finding moments of humor to balance the film’s intensity. But when the cameras rolled, Roberts’ commitment to her role was total.
Her transformation went beyond physical changes. Known for her charisma and warmth, she instead conveyed grief, anger, and exhaustion through subtle expressions. Barbara is a woman trapped between her crumbling marriage and a turbulent relationship with a domineering, addicted mother. By taking on a character who was flawed, often unlikable, and stripped of glamour, Roberts risked her star image—but it paid off, revealing a new depth to her craft that critics widely praised.
