JUSTIFIED’s Margo Martindale Joins New Tracy Letts Film

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Fresh off her Emmy win for her wonderful portrayal of small town crime lord Mags Bennett in Complex favourite Justified, the always great Margo Martindale has joined the cast of August: Osage County, according to Deadline.

The super dark comedy is set during several weeks in Osage County, Oklahoma, and follows the Westons, as well as various hangers-on, as their relationships come to a boil while the spiteful Violet Weston dies.

Martindale has been on a roll with Justified, where her villain character was so well-drawn by her and the writers, that it’s impossible to imagine the show being as good without her. And as we should all know (if you haven’t seen Justified, drop your child and go watch it now) Justified is one of the best shows going at the moment. Martindale can hit those tricky-to-balance notes of menace, mixed with empathy and pathos. She’s just that fucken great, really.

In August: Osage County, Martindale joins the already cast Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, Abigal Breslin, and Julia Roberts, in the adaptation of the play of the same name, being directed by John Wells, known primarily for his television work.

For us crime fiends, however, another reason to get excited is that this play is being written by Tracy Letts, who this year is about to blow me away with William Friedkin’s Killer Joe. Letts is the real fucken deal, sugarplum – his previous work with Friedkin, Bug, was seen as somewhat of a comeback for Friedkin (although, I’d argue that the man never really stopped churning out quality), and Killer Joe fits on the excitement-size-scale at a solid “Ron Jeremy.”

The play itself has a solid pedigree in terms of winning awards and shit, but don’t worry, dear readers, it’s actually really fucken good. I was lucky enough to see this one a few years ago when MTC had it playing, and wow – I can’t fucken wait to check it out again. It mightn’t get your crime-labia swollen, but it’s an awesome Southern-gothic play, written by a guy who knows his way around good characters. And Letts is writing the screen adaptation his own self, so you know it’s in good hands.

With Martindale onboard, and enough boxes on my crime-affiliated bingo card ticked, I’m sold. And so you should be, too.