1 of 4 | Julia Roberts attends the “After The Hunt” red carpet during the Venice International Film Festival on August 29. File Photo by Rocco Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts says it was exhilarating to play a role that actually scared her a bit in the new drama, After the Hunt.
Opening in theaters on Friday, the film was directed by Luca Guadagnino and co-stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny.
It follows Alma (Roberts), a married, upper-crust university professor whose work colleague Hank (Garfield) is accused of “crossing the line” with their student Maggie (Edebiri).
The “he said-she said” nature of the incident causes shockwaves through the campus, straining professional and personal relationships.
“Alma was so foreign and complicated and challenging to me,” Roberts, 57, said during a recent press conference.
“[Guadagnino] made me feel so excited at the possibilities of this kind of portrayal, but deeply encouraged and supported and just was believing in me before I even knew what we were doing. It was like a freight train. This was the fastest anything has ever happened,” she recalled. “it was almost like if he would start to see the panic or the doubt in my eyes and I’d say, ‘Luca…’ [He’d reply:] ‘No, come on, come on.’ And we’d just keep going.”
Following up a successful run with Call Me By Your Name, Bones and All, Challengers and Queer, Guadagnino was planning to take some time off from film-making when Nora Garrett’s script landed on his desk.
He said he was immediately struck by the “quality of the writing, by the precision of the description of the world in which the story was set, the beautiful complications of these characters, the dialogue that reminded me of some classic cinema that I love.”
And then he took a meeting with Roberts.
“It became inevitable to make this movie because she wanted to do it, and we wanted to do it together,” he said.
“It became an immediate task to do. To be honest, without the support of Courtenay Valenti, MGM, that would have been impossible. But they felt that the urgency we had to make the movie was something to support, and they did.”
Roberts — of Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s Eleven fame — said she was eager to work with Guadagnino.
“It’s so fun getting to be in the orbit of someone who’s so interested in people and curious and in love with why we do the things we do or don’t,” she said.
“I’m really picky and, so, I wait for something that’s going to be really, really hard to do, and then you get there and think, ‘Oh, now I have to do it.’ It’s that part between taking a part and doing a part, that’s the sweet spot where you just go, ‘I’ve got this great movie with Luca Guadagnino, and I haven’t had to do anything yet.'”
The actress described The Amazing Spider-Man, The Social Network and We Live in Time actor Garfield as “deeply, profoundly introspective.”
“He is a searcher. He is a seeker. It is so beautiful to listen to him pontificate on life and people and our needs and our hearts,” Roberts said. “He’s pretty breathtaking. He holds a really special place in my world.”
Venice Film Festival: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield promote new film
Star Julia Roberts waves as she attends the premiere. Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo
