Think noshing on delectable Neapolitan pizza sounds like the perfect day’s work? According to Julia Roberts, it gets old after a while. In this week’s cover story, the star of Eat Pray Love talks about carrying a film for the first time in a decade, her own personal “lost years,” and — in this excerpt from the interview — why she never used a spit bucket during the EPL shoot.
EW: Did you have a spit bucket by your side for all of the food scenes?
Roberts: Well, first of all, that grosses me out. But the truth of the matter is, there probably would have come a point when I would have used it. If you look at any of the scenes of eating, by the end of the scene, I’m done eating. Like in the scene with the pizza, by the time the scene is over, I’ve eaten the entire piece. When we were in Naples, we started shooting at 8 in the morning, and I think by 8:45 I’d eaten 8 or 10 pieces of pizza. Pizza was what I ate all day that day.
EW: Did you want it to look like you had gained weight after the Italy portion of the film?
Roberts: You know, we talked about that. Because I didn’t want people to say, “Well, she’s supposed to go to Italy and eat all this food, but she looks the same in the whole thing.” So I talked to [director] Ryan [Murphy] about it. And one of the things I love the most about Ryan is that he has a real legitimate answer for everything. There’s nothing that he hasn’t considered weeks before I’ve thought of the question. When it came to that, I said, “What do we do?” And he said, “By the time Liz got to Italy, she was so underweight that the weight she put on really got her back to normal and then a little bit more.” It wasn’t like she [became] a tub. So because I started at normal weight for me, by the time we left Rome and I was 7 to 10 pounds heavier, that was probably the truth of what she was dealing with. I could’ve used a bigger pair of jeans when I went off to India!
For more on Eat Pray Love, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands July 30th.
No offense but the cover is kind of bland looking. the words are in really pretty colors, but the background is the same color as her dress. nothing really eye popping!
It’s soothing. If you’ve ever been in a yoga studio before, you’ll notice there are no eye *popping* colors and that’s because that doesn’t create a feeling of ease or tranquility. I know I sound douchey but the mag cover fits very much with what the book (and movie) is supposed to be all about.
agree with you and no you don’t sound douchey, it makes perfect sense.
HAHAHAHA.
SQUIRRELz.
This is a message to ALL MEN:
) have been defeating us each week. From Twilight to Valentine’s Day, they have been crushing us. This is your LAST chance to show that there is a huge market for men and there is STILL a market for an action film like ‘The Expendables’. So please, do NOT let ‘Eat Pray Love’ beat us at the box office. Let’s show them that there is still a place for action films and that MEN can carry a film to #1 at the box-office.
Do not, I repeat DO NOT let the ladies beat us again. Go see ‘The Expendables’ when it comes out and let it be #1 at the box-office. Action films have been on the decline and and these girly films (No offense ladies, I love ya
Again, Ladies I love ya so no offense.
:::rolls eyes:::
Apparently ‘The Expendables’ has a really crappy marketing budget!
They blew their budget on ::fingerquotes:: “talent.”
I have no problem avoiding seeing a movie starring the most overrated actress of modern time.
Well, I’m a man, but I happen to have good taste. If I wanted to see a good action film, I would go see Inception or Salt. The Expendables looks like a campy exercise in bad 80′s cliches, full of even worse 80′s “actors” so I’ll pass. In fact, since I have no problem whatsoever with these so-called “chick flicks”, and since Julia Roberts is a stunningly gorgeous woman, I will go see Eat Pray Love that weekend. Oh…and by the way, this is Julia Roberts as the lead in a chick flick based on a hugely popular bestseller. There’s no way this film will not be # 1 on its opening weekend.
Wow. Now I am an easy going, fun loving, heterosexual male who loves a good explosion, one liner, right hook, knife fight and all that good stuff, but “The Expendables” looks like utter crap. It really does. I love Sly, but this just looks like a jumbled mess of “been there, done that” moments from decades of crappy action movies. I saw “Salt” and “Inception” and “Iron Man 2″ and those are action movies done right. I admit that I’ll be with the wife at “Eat, Pray, Love” on opening weekend. Chick flick or not, it’s got a heap of talent behind the camera, and it’s going to be very nice to see Julia Roberts back in leading lady form.
Here’s another guy who has absolutely no interest in seeing all those meatheads recycle action cliches from the eighties. Sorry. Eat Pray Love looks like a decent film, and I’ll be there on opening weekend.
I agree with you. Julia Roberts has no talent. The only actress worse than her is Sandra Bullock who probably receives all the scripts that Roberts turns down.
No “Boys rule and Girls drool” to wrap up that request, Movie Man?
excuse me but men have had years and years of films targeted at them…most of the time films focusing on women only come out around Valentine’s Day. And times are changing. Sorry if you can’t handle that.
Yeah for men with brains and taste.
I’ll be skipping both.
Oh, eff off.
I agree with this cover being boring. I love Julia, and she looks fine, but the shot and art direction are the most boring and awful I have seen on the cover of EW since that awful shot of George Clooney from the Up In The Air cover. Boo!
The cover is pretty. It’s hard to take a bad picture of Julia Roberts, but I wouldn’t say I’m excited about it. I have literally NO interest in seeing this movie.
Why couldn’t they have put Scott Pilgrim vs. The World or The Expendables on the cover?
Thank you. Now I can go through my day secure in the knowledge that Julia Roberts can eat 8-10 slices of pizza without a spit bucket. Thank you for this valuable information.
I assure you that is the most valuable insight you’re going to get from anything in the EPL-verse.
Every time I see that title, I can’t help but think of the South Park parody and giggle: Eat, Pray, Queef. (Yes, I am 12.)
cover is beautiful!cant wait to see this..
I think her beautiful smile and vibrant face are pretty eye popping. Sometimes simple is best.
Is she even relevant anymore?
Yes.
Are you?
snap!
More so than you sweetheart.
I know you are but what am I? (bunch of 8th graders here!)
Why such intelligent and well thought out responses by Troy and D. Tubb. Are you Julia’s PR reps or President and VP of her fan club?
For a minute there, it looks like the cover was promoting a big budget remake of Lassie.
HaHa!
NO!!!!
No
She’s Julia freakin’ Roberts!
Iloke the simple cover..with that smile you don’t need any distractions!
love Julia!
I’m kind of eternally obsessed with her smile and overall glow, is it just me?
Why the heck is she on the cover??
BECAUSE…
she is the starlet of the movie…
she is still very popular…
she is JULIA ROBERTS, nuff said!
She’s hardly a starlet. Do you even know what it means to be a starlet?
According to Wikipedia: “A young actress or singer, especially one working her way up through the Star System”
She’s definitely not a starlet.
What a great cover and she looks so pretty! The book is back to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and #2 on USA Today, so I think this movie is going to do really well.
Julia looks like she has barely aged a freaking day! She looks great, with no surgical enhancements to her face, just fantastic, and still SUCH A GORGEOUS SMILE! She glows from within!
I can’t wait to see the movie! I’ve heard early reviews from it are good. Paul Dergarabedian loved it!
No surgical enhancements? HA!
Yes that’s what I said. No surgical enhancements. There are many pictures of her from when she was filming EPL with no makeup on and she looked great. She hasn’t had any plastic surgery
Oh, she’s had some work done. Very subtle, mind you, and very GOOD work (Nicole Kidman, take note!), but there are definitely tell-tale signs she’s not 100% natural.
Julia Roberts is the perfect star for the movie version of this silly, insipid book by a self-obsessed whiner. Has anyone read this? “Waaaah, my marriage broke up and now I’m forced to take a self-indulgent tour to some of the most gloriously interesting places in the world. Poor me!”
Agreed. Western naval gazing of the most moronic order.
Completely agree, Lyn. I couldn’t get passed more than a few pages of EPL. I’m more a The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo kind of reader. I LOVED Stieg Larsson’s trilogy! And James Lee Burke, and JK Rowling….
Same here. I love me some JK Rowling and the Millenium Trilogy is AWE-Some!
One of my friends told me the plot of EPL and I fell asleep. If the description makes you sleepy, avoid the book at all costs!
Yeah, i couldn’t get into it. It was so pretentious and lame. And Julia Roberts is PERFECT for the role!
I have no interest in reading the book but I’ll rent the DVD just because of Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. They’re both fab.
Thanks Lyn, I’m so glad I’m not the only woman in the world who HATED the book. Elizabeth Gilbert is nothing more than a whiny, self-centered, attention-seeking American tourist. Julia Roberts is perfect casting.
Lol, Julia will be happy to know that there are crazy people in the world who think they know her personally.
Totally agree.
I’ll probably be seeing “The Expendables” instead. I’d rather watch Jason Statham and Jet Li in a big, dumb action flick than Ghoulia Roberts being a self-absorbed whiner with rich white woman problems.
Agreed.
Not a Roberts fan, but she looks great on that cover.
Julia Roberts is a has been.
She’s the only woman headlining a movie this summer, so she can’t be that much a has been.
What about me?!
Angelina Jolie is also headlining a movie this summer. And so are Juliane Moore and Anette Bening.
Wrong!
I think Julia Roberts has an advantage over the other women who headlined movies this summer, because EPL is based on bestselling novel, so it already has an established fan base.
and you are a never was.
LOL!
Her time has come and gone
I hate when people say things like this. I wouldn’t dream of seeing the same comment on an article about George Clooney, Brad Pitt, or even Anthony Hopkins’ new film.
Is it because she’s a woman over the age of 40, that her time has “come and gone?” Julia Roberts is an Oscar-winning actress, who still has a pretty impressive career for a female of her age, especially in this industry. In Hollywood, if you’re over 40…then you’re done, unless you’re Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren, of course. *End rant*
No, because she hasn’t made a decent movies in years. George Clooney and Brad Pitt have. I hate Anthony Hopkins.