With Meryl Streep MIA at TIFF, Julia Roberts had all of her dreams come true: the spotlight all for her. Everyone got to revel in The Joy of Julia. It was truly all about Julia during the TIFF promotion for August: Osage County. Too bad that news broke during the festival that Julia had been demoted to “Supporting Actress” so Meryl Streep could go head-to-head with Cate Blanchett. But that just gave Julia the perfect opportunity to humble-brag about how great it was to work with Meryl and how Meryl works super-hard to be where she is. And somehow, even Meryl’s performance became all about Julia. MAGIC!
Working with Meryl Streep is a dream come true for any actress – and Julia Roberts is no exception. But Roberts, 45, admits her longtime fantasy never involved butt pads, flop sweat and a chokehold.
Still, that proved to be their reality when Roberts was cast to play Streep’s eldest daughter in August: Osage County, the film version of Tracy Letts’s 2008 Tony-winning best play about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family gathered around their sharp-tongued, eccentric dying mother, played by Streep, 64.
“It was intimidating, certainly, to be in these scenes with her, choking her, things like that,” Roberts admitted at Tuesday’s Toronto International Film Festival press conference for the movie. “That’s not how I pictured it going in my mind all these years when I thought we’d be together, drinking tea together and speaking in fabulous accents and dressed up and looking very chic.”
Her projection strayed from the reality, however. “And instead there I am sweating and wearing a big butt pad,” she added. “So that’s not how it was in my dream.”
Not that this was in any way a disappointment.
“It was the best acting experience in my life,” Roberts declared. “Our experience was a treasure box of discovery for me. And at the top of the heap was … Meryl Streep, who showed that it is about working hard. Because I’ve never seen anybody work harder than she works. She doesn’t just snap her fingers and be a genius. She really is just the hardest working girl in the room. I was so grateful to see that up close.”
Yet despite her passion for the film, Roberts, mother of twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 8, and son Henry, 6, said family trumps the trappings of fame every time.
“Family values, that’s values in general,” she responded when asked whether family or fame is more important. “That’s all there is. Fame is a summer breeze that comes and goes. But to have a bedrock of knowing who you are, that’s what it’s all about.”
“I’ve never seen anybody work harder than she works. She doesn’t just snap her fingers and be a genius. She really is just the hardest working girl in the room. I was so grateful to see that up close.” Is that shade? Is that a back-handed compliment? It’s like Julia is saying: “It doesn’t come naturally for Meryl, she really has to bust her ass to be where she is.” Which is true, Meryl does bust her ass and Meryl is the queen of research and rehearsal. But coming from Julia, it felt like shade. Maybe I’m just feeling prickly.
But seriously, about her “family values” quote… good God. Even if you philosophically agree with her, whenever Julia says anything, you just want to disagree because she sounds so smug and full of herself. Plus, I don’t think she has any room to talk about family values. Maybe she should tell her husband’s ex-wife about her family values.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
I’m kind of loving her entire outfit while still disliking her immensely
lol her comment about Julia did not sound like shade to me at all, and I’m not Julia’s biggest fan either. I definitely get the impression that Meryl works hard and considering all that she’s acheived, it’s paid off.
I always thought that Meryl’s such a great actress because she has so much talent. Please explain to me why she’s a good actress just because she works hard, because Jessica Biel wants an Oscar then too.
You’re right, it’s a mixture of both, and a whole other factors – such as the fact that she’s flexible, she can play a whole range of characters convincingly, she’s maintained a really good attitude where she’s not doing the Taylor Swift “who? me?” thing but she isn’t super egotistical.
My point was that what Julia wasn’t making a subtle dig at Meryl, at least not to me, and even if she was, her doing that does not negate the fact that Meryl is more successful and a heck of a lot more likeable than she is.
A Low Vera is a great example of family values…
Ok, I admit, people can change. I acted like an entitled brat at 21, and later went back and apologized to several people in my life that were hurt by my actions. Never broke up a marriage or anything, but I was an ass. However, I’ve never seen Julia once show remorse for her behavior-ANY of it. She genuinely seems to feel entitled to whatever she wants. *sigh* I just can’t with her.
Meryl is a goddess who can do no wrong. She, Cate, and J.K. Rowling are three peas in a perfect pod for me.
Yup, had the same image of that horrible magic marker t-shirt she modeled. She is atrocious.
Same here.
I mean honestly, that tshirt is what did it for me. We, as humans, can make a LOT of horrible mistakes, do a lot of horrible things. So I try not to judge in a celebrity case when there’s cheating–the only time I start talking trash, is when that person shows their true colors in the aftermath-whether they were cheated on or with.
That tshirt–not the actual cheating tells me something about Julia, and it ain’t good. And the fact that she didn’t show remorse when asked about the tshirt says even more.
I totally agree with that t-shirt stunt. So trashy.
But I have to say that cheating with a married person is just as trashy. A little restraint is the difference between a trashy person and a decent person.
what’s this tshirt incident?
Alex,
Back when Julia was dating and going to marry her current husband, he was in the process of getting a divorce from a woman named Vera. Julia wore a home made t-shirt for the paparazzi that read, “A Low Vera”. I think she claimed that Vera was stalling the divorce process therefore stalling Julia’s new marriage.
@Tiffany–a correction: Danny Moder was NOT in the process of divorcing his wife when he and Julia got involved. He and his wife were relative newlyweds, like two years or less, from what I recall.
To fill in the story: He was a cameraman on Julia’s current movie at the time. When he got involved with Julia during the making of that movie (I forget which movie it was), Vera was devastated and tried in vain to keep the marriage together. But she was just a lowly make-up artist or some such thing, and the powerful Julia Roberts knew what she wanted: Vera’s husband. When Vera didn’t cave, she was publicly branded “A Low Vera” by Julia.
That was the thing that changed Julia forever from being America’s Sweetheart: her going out in public in that incredibly mean-spirited handmade teeshirt during that period when Vera was devastated about her relatively young marriage suddenly ending, out of nowhere. A Low Vera. “Low,” because she wasn’t rolling over and handing her marriage to the powerful Julia. Danny’s parents were devastated, too–they loved Vera, she was their daughter-in-law, part of their family.
After Danny extricated himself from that young marriage, he became a Cinematographer on Julia’s movies, and then on other films–he was never just a lowly cameraman again. What a fairytale ending.
Julia was in her 30s when she pulled this “A Low Vera” sh*t. It wasn’t enough that she destroyed the poor woman’s marriage, but to humiliate her like that was the last straw IMO.
(Moreover, if the rumors are true and I suspect they are, that’s not the first or the last time Julia’s gotten involved with a married man.)
She was in her 30s when she did the t-shirt stunt. When I read the article headline and her quote, I also thought of Vera and how the big actress went after her husband. They even married on Independence Day, which may have been further shade to Vera.
I was thinking he same thing. A home wrecking ex-whore toting family values. Mmmmmm-hmmmm. Just keep believing it Julia.
Sounds just like Leann Rimes, they must drink from the same fountain of delusion.
Lots of similarities, aren’t there (both in the women and the men they “picked” and were determined to get)? At least this one went away for awhile (presumably to lock down her man with kids and hope the public would forget).
Hahaha…”maybe she should tell her husbands ex-wife about her family values”. Bravo kaiser!
Julia looks like she’s wearing a lace covered lampshade in a whorehouse.
http://www.tackyliving.com/article.php?id=183
I’m always facinated by famous people’s approaches to fame.
Like, some crave it and need it and implode when they don’t get it (Lohan, I’m looking at you).
Some are actually more focused on being actors, and resent it when they get it (because sometimes, the fame stick is random).
Some of them get it, enjoy it, don’t have that much difficulty holding onto it. Then they get really flippant about it, as in Robert’s “Oh, fame? It’s a summer breeze! Who needs it?!”
Oh Roberts – you would say that. You’re Julia Roberts!
If I were her though, I’d be the same though…
And some manage to have lengthy careers and pretty much stay out of the tabloids. Others seem drawn to the drama of the paps and the tabloids like moths to a flame. It all seems to come down to narcissism, and what the level of it is in each celeb.
She looks exactly like a posable Barbie in that last shot.
I don’t think that was shade really, but ugh I just don’t like her anymore I’d be willing to believe it was.
Did you watch the video of the full interview? I’m not a Julia fan but she came across well and her fangirling over Meryl seemed genuine so I definitely don’t think there was any shade
I don’t think it was shade. And on re the values; Maybe she has evolved to appreciate what is important despite her past. I’m not a fan, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt since she seems, at least, to be intelligent. Perhaps she has grown.
After these many years of Julia, I will say: GREAT LEGS!
But to have a bedrock of knowing who you are, that’s what it’s all about.
She and Jake Gyllenhaal: siblings under the skin. A symphony in the key of “Me”.
Is it bad that I just want to smack the teeth right out of her head?
julia roberts scares me
I think it was a genuine compliment.
But I also expect to see her hanging ALL over Meryl come awards season.
And does julia’s bedrock include her brother and sister, or are they a summer breeze? Do they view Julia as part of their bedrock or a hurricane I wonder?
That’s values? How about “Those are values”? Just the teacher in me…:)
I know this is a strange question, but does Julia have any friends. Hollywood or otherwise. There has never been that rare photo or anything. I just peaked my curiously lately for some reason.
Most of her friends are not in the Biz, they are her friends she has had since high school.
That dress is beyond hideous. And who says things like “Our experience was a treasure box of discovery for me”? Oh yeah, Julia Roberts does.
Judge Lynn Toler, can I get a witness?
That was shade – like, “I could do it to if I wanted to.” Meryl is a genius, and she knows what to do to be great, and how to do it. Someone could diagram if for Roberts and she still wouldn’t be able to do it, working hard or not. She has charisma and star presence, and she used to be beautiful when she was younger and weighed more, but she’s not a gifted actress like Meryl. Meryl is spellbinding, and she becomes her role.
I love the comment about “…sitting around drinking tea and speaking in fabulous accents…”
Julia, when have you EVER been able to do a decent accent? Come on now.
IKR? Long ago, before they realized she has very little range, she stank up the screen with her attempts at accents. Here is Julia wishing she was in a movie which called for lots of wavy hair and a big braying American laugh, starting at about 08:10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SSOcOs3N4
I thought it was a very sweet compliment. I have no doubt she reveres Meryl and is in awe of her. Even egotistical Julia knows she’s not in her league.
Regarding her comment about family, when can she stop wearing the scarlet letter? Just wondering. She has been married a long time with three children and by all accounts a very hands-on mother and she and Danny seem to be good companions. I am not crazy about her anymore moviewise and get tired of her adjectives to paint her life, and the A Low Vera was beyond tacky and unlikeable, but I do believe she has the right after all these years to talk about her family being first and her career taking a back seat because it was true for years. Danny left his wife. Julia didn’t make him. Vera moved on and is happily married and has a child. I think Julia doesn’t have to do the walk of shame when she talks about her love of her little family.
I dislike Julia Roberts too, but this post was really grasping at straws. I watched the full TIFF video (which involves the rest of the cast too), and she was fine. There was no shade in her comments, no bragging, no trying to be the center of attention (most of the media people were directing their questions to her). You come out of it really believing that the entire cast greatly admires Meryl Streep, Roberts in particular. She was well-behaved.
Love how she had to mention the butt pad she was wearing in the film lest we peasant moviegoers think that was her real one. Vain much?
Dear god that dress is a disaster on her.
Seriously? She wore that outside of her bathroom–and it isn’t Halloween?
That stuff is scary
I didn’t take it as “shade.” My interpretation is,”Even after all these years in the business and all the accolades, Meryl isn’t resting on her laurels and merely phoning it in. She still puts in the work.” If I interpreted that correctly, I would label that high praise.
Anything that comes out of Julia’s mouth makes me cringe. She has such an inflated sense of self worth. And breaking up your husband’s marriage and wearing a nasty shirt aimed at her in public doesn’t sound like family values to me.
I don’t know that much about Julia Roberts, other than her being an actress and a bit of a diva. But I think I agree with her take on family values.
A lot of people misuse the term ‘family values’ to the point where it’s really about imposing traditional or religious values on everyone. The man and the woman have to be married, everyone is heterosexual, the females dress modestly and abstain from suggestive dance moves, big paternalistic papa makes sure teenage daughter abstains from premarital sex, etc., etc., blah blah blah.
To me that doesn’t sound like family values. That sounds like upholding the conservative patriarchy. You don’t have to follow patriarchal values in order to have family values.
And yeah, even though she once had an affair with a married person, and I think cheating is wrong, I also believe in second chances. A woman shouldn’t have to wear the scarlet letter all her life for having an affair, whether it’s her, Kristen Stewart, Angelina Jolie, Leann Rimes, or anyone else, so shame on the person who called her a whore. I also don’t think that a person doing one bad thing in their life (depending on what it is) negates their ability to ever talk about values.
“I also don’t think that a person doing one bad thing in their life (depending on what it is) negates their ability to ever talk about values.”
LOL girl, Julia Roberts. The woman is an ego-maniac. Diva is an understatement. She comes from one unbelievable crazy family.