Transcript of "Julia Roberts"

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Visit Cherifitslettings. Ie. All right, so we're here. Are we-We're going to do a cold open? Did you say bowl open?

Yeah, I said bowl open.

Are you trying to do a Shameless post of a thing about the Hollywood Bowl that we're going to be at the Hollywood Bowl?

On November 15th, yeah. On November 15th.

Or you think that I'm going to sit here and do a cold open that's just a Shameless plug of SmartList Live at the Hollywood Bowl on November 15th? Sean, get a grip. I'm not going to do it. Tickets are on sale now. You want me to say that? You want me to Is it smartlist. Com/live? You want me to say that, Sean?

Well, no, I didn't want to... I wasn't saying you should say any of that. No, I'm just saying it's gross.

It's gross. All right. Because then I'm sitting here and I'm going, Smartlist Live at the Hollywood Bowl, November 15th. Tickets on sale now at smartlist. Com/live. Gross, dude. Gross.

I'm so sorry.

Okay, just don't insult me again. Smartlist Live, November 15th. Let's go to the show.

Also, welcome to Smartlist.

Yeah, obviously that.

Smartlist. Smartlist. Smartlist. Smartlist.

Smartlist.

Oh, Willie, where are you?

This is New York City?

It's my new place in New York, yeah.

Do you love it? What do you mean? You got a place? Yeah. Oh, that's amazing.

Yeah.

Are you doing press, Willie, for your movie?

No, I'm just... Not yet. I'm about to, but I'm just getting sorted here in my place.

Sure. You might be seeing a friend. Oh, look at him.

He's got a dollar bill.

He's got a gambling issue.

He likes to be as close to Atlantic City as possible without going.

Wait, how are you? How is everybody doing? We haven't seen each other in two weeks.

I know. I don't like it.

I saw JB last week a couple of times. We played golf, and then we went to an event. That's nice. We did a little charity work together.

Will did some emceeing of a A very special charity event, the YES Charity.

What is that about?

It's our friend Eric Eisner's charity, the Young Eisner Scholars. It's a really great... Actually, look it up. It's a very worthy cause, and they identify Kids from underserved communities who are really smart and helps-Might not otherwise have access to funds for higher education or for secondary education, however you call it.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

That is nice. I was part of the My tag group when I was a kid. It stood for talented and gifted, and I couldn't do math, couldn't do anything. I don't know why I wasn't there.

I'd love to just send it out to the group there, just freestyle on that acronym there. I know. Will? I want to try a shot at that acronym?

I do. Yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead. No, let's not.

Talented and gay? Is that what it is? No.

No.

You think I'm going to say tight-ass gaze.

Does it take cheap shots?

I'm not going to take a cheap shot, dude. Oh, my God. No, thanks. I'm not walking into your bullshit.

Did Will just get a coffee from someone special?

I might have.

Was that the Is it the chef that just brought you some?

Today, she is.

Today, she is.

Wait, everybody is so excited about your new love, Willy.

I got to tell you one thing really quick. Yesterday, we visited Sean Levy, our friend Sean Levy, on the set of Star Wars.

Oh, my God. Did you guys even get to sleep last night?

No, it was incredible.

Are you going to be able to do the show with a boner?

Here in hour 19 of that boner? Your lightsaver.

Who needs Viagra?

The people from Viagra called and they're like, Hey, can we take your blood? Because we need to know.

Let me see that picture.

Let me see that photo again.

Well, you can't.

So, listener, this is... Right, this is...

That's the new droid in the new film.

How do they let you get a picture of that?

Well, we went to go to the creature shop.

And you promised that you wanted to show anybody.

That's right. Listen to this. It's a trap, believe me. It's a trap. Remember, it's a trap? Look at Scottie's making, our admiral Ackbar move. Isn't that wild?

No, that's weird that he's remembering a line of dialog from, oh, my God, he's making them out.

Return of the Jedi. Yeah, look at that.

Oh, my God. You guys, that must have been like best day ever.

It was incredible. And Sean Levy, of course, is the greatest. The nicest guy. Jason, you would do so well at directing one of those movies. I don't know why.

Like one of those big movies. Let him know, Sean. Let him know. All right. Thanks, mom. I love my mom once said, You know what? You should call Steven Spielberg and let him know you'd like to work with them. I was like, What a great idea. I know.

I love stuff like that. How come you don't work with better directors? I remember somebody who we know, but years ago, and she said that another person we know who is very famous said to her, You know, you should work with the greats and the Scorsese. And then she was like, Oh, okay. Well, just give me their number.

Sign up like the- Why didn't I think of that?

Yeah, you're right.

Listen, speaking of one of the Greats, guys. I love Greats. My guest today had quite the historic beginning. I just wrote this last night. When she was born, Martin Luther King Jr. And his wife, Coreta, paid the hospital bill. What? I didn't know this until I looked it up. What? She grew up in Georgia playing the clarinet in the school band, which I love learning about. After graduation, she moved to New York, sold running shoes. Guess what? Chaste an acting dream. On a film set 30 years ago, she picked up Knitting, hasn't put the needles down since. Her kids once asked her if she was more famous than Taylor Swift. These days, she's happiest at her ranch in New Mexico. You could call her an Oscar winner, you could call her America's Sweetheart. You call her My Sweetheart. But today, I'll just call her the Brilliant and Always Brilliant Julia Roberts.

Yeah, I got it. Oh, my God.

Julia Roberts.

Hello, Julia. Oh, in the bright yellow.

That's so cute.

She's wearing a firefighter uniform, folks.

It's Boy Scouts.

Oh, Boy Scouts.

It's Boy Scouts.

Oh, it is Boy Scouts?

I did a little Boy Scouts.

Julia Roberts. Hi.

How cool that you're doing this show.

Thank you, Sean, for that intro.

All my research.

It was like a high coup about one's grandmother or something, the clarinet and the knitting.

Wait, I didn't know you played the clarinet and the oboe. Those are two of theoboe. Those are the two hardest instruments.

Wait a second. You don't want to get into Martin Luther King paid for the hospital bill?

I was going to get there, too. Let's start with that. Martin Luther King paid the bill why?

They were friends with your parents?

Yes. Really? Not knowing the state of my family's financial situation as a brand new born baby, I guess they were maybe just going to have to smuggle me out in the middle of the night. This made it we could go out the front door.

I'm going to sound dumber than usual. This is going to be a stretch. Okay, good. What is the bill for having a baby? Isn't that usually-In 1975.

Right.

But That's not covered by- Thanks.

My new favorite, Will Arnett.

Yeah, he's slick.

Yeah, you've got kids. These are not cheap endeavors.

He's so out of touch.

He has no- But my Screen Actors Guild insurance. Wait, but isn't it all paid by the mystery elves that are insurance. Isn't that the same people that do the laundry, right? Julia, welcome to Smartlist.

Welcome to. Jason, I love you so much for this.

But you know what's amazing is I am such a Jason Bateman fan. No, you're not. And this up-close exchange now, though. That's not as good. We've seen each other in person. We've never... I'm really just staring at you right now. You can't even tell.

I could spend years with you. You're the greatest.

Do you know the first Bateman I ever truly loved is your mom. Oh, my mom. When I met your mom-On a plane? She is just... She just has sparks that shoot off. She's so beautiful and so sweet and the accent and the whole thing.

The whole British accent. She nailed it. Because she was a flight attendant for Pan Am. Did you meet her on a plane?

Pan Am. I mean, that just adds to the allure of her.

With the buller hat and everything. Or was it on set of Satisfaction?

It was on set. It was on set. It was on Satisfaction. Oh, for real? Yeah.

Wait, why was your mom on the set of Satisfaction?

Because I guess Justine wasn't yet 18, maybe, or was my mom just there visiting, maybe. Julia was in a movie with my sister Justine way back when.

It was before we were on location. We were in Los Angeles for a long time because I came out to California, and I was probably there for at least three weeks before we went on location because we all that band practice, you see. Oh, boy.

So cringy.

If only I could have played the clarinet in that movie.

Will does a great horn player.

Air clarinet.

Air clarinet. Just making sure the reed is nice and wet. It just like a spit out.

I only do it to the theme song of Law and Order.

Oh, right. Getting clarinet.

Then I wet the reed as I'm waiting to flip the page.

Scotty does that, too, all the time. You ever like to spit out at the bottom?

So dumb. Yeah, careful. Spit out. All right. Wait, where were we? So we were Martin Luther King paid the bill. Yeah, that's just incredible.

Isn't that wild? That's incredible, yeah. Right. How did they know each other, Julia?

My parents had a theater school, and the King kids went to that school. Oh, wow. And so then my parents became friends with them. That's amazing.

So the King kids wanted to be actors?

I think one of them, and again, this is, I'm reaching back into my first days of life, but as I recall, I think one of them did have maybe some acting aspirations, but it was more than anything. I think it was just hobbyist after-school weekend thing to do with your kids.

Wait, so your parents ran a theater school or like a theater. Sean, imagine the stories, the theater stories.

I can't even.

Sean is going crazy now.

Oh, he loves a good theater story.

Shon loves a theater story.

Well, naturally, you've done a lot of great theater. You've done a lot of great theater. Have you done Broadway? Have anybody ever have a heart attack in the crowd. Let's just get right to it. Yeah, let's get right to it. He usually saves these winners for the end.

No. Well, I have an opening night story that is pretty good, but it might be long. Maybe it's better.

No, we've got 45 minutes left.

Never too long.

Yeah.

Well, so I did a play with Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.

I saw this one. This one with the Rain. The Rain. Yes?

What a cast.

I was there..

I was there. It It was rain inside the theater, which was great for everyone but the people in the front row, which we discovered they were all being pelted.

Julie, didn't-Three days of rain. Every day someone would go like, Oh, my God, I'm wet. It's like, Well, yeah, that's the- Congrats.

You got front row seats.

Well, I don't think you go to the theater thinking that the rain in the show is going to get on you. I wouldn't think that. No, right. But we had rehearsed this play. As you guys know, it goes on and on and on forever. Then all you want to do is just start the thing. The opening night comes and nerves are high. Just even thinking about it, I'm getting a little short of breath.

It's your beta blocker.

The play starts, Paul's on stage by himself, and it's his apartment set, and there's just this bear mattress apartment in New York. He's reading this. He's thumbing through this book, and then there's a knock at the door. Open the door, and it's his sister, played by yours truly, clarinet player. I come in, and what's in his hand is our father's diary that he's just found. And he's been reading it, and he's crazed, and he's manic over what he's discovered, and he's talking about it, and he's talking about it, and he tosses it on the bed as he has done 9,458 times in rehearsal. And this book skitters across the mattress, hits the front of the stage, and into the aisle.

No way.

Which is fine for the next four and a half minutes until I say, but But...

And you got to open it. Look at this.

Right. Or Paul says it. Paul says it. He picks it up. We keep going, but we're looking at each other like, This has never happened before. What happens when this happens? Because this has never happened before. Meanwhile, someone working on the show who has seen this happen, Commando crawls down the aisle and says to the man in the front row, Sir, pick that up and just put it on the stage. The man's like, What? Paul and I are acting our little hearts out.

Just pick it up, put it on the stage. Look how excited Sean is. This is one of the great stories.

The man picks it up and he doesn't quite know. I mean, I wouldn't want to touch it properly. He puts it on the stage at the exact, you couldn't have planned it better, at the exact moment that Paul goes, No, I'll read it to you, and he pings it up.

That's great.

At the second, and then Paul, being the amazing human being that he is, just turns and looks at the man, he goes, Thank you. Everybody in the audience, you could just feel everybody just let out their breath that we didn't realize we were holding, and we went on for there.

This is the magic of theater.

I want to get to Back to the beginning, Julia, because I did all this research, and it was, you think you know somebody, and then you actually do read about them. You're like, Oh, I didn't know how to stop.

Then you realize, wow, nothing that I've read is actually factual.

We believe in media. Wait, so When you were a kid, you wanted... You said you played the clarinet, we covered that. You were a vet, you sold shoes.

We really haven't covered that. I'm going to double back on that.

I was a doctor. Did you hear? He goes, You were a vet and you sold shoes.

No, you wanted to be a vet, a veterinary and a pet. I didn't know that. That's so cool.

Wait, how old were you before the vet thing went away? Because every kid wants to be a vet.

Everybody does. I was in the 4-H Club. I thought this was great, and it wasn't until I discovered that I don't really have a mind for science.

Right.

I just wanted to do the petting. I could take out a toothbrush and put some mange medicine on if necessary, but I didn't want to do the surgeries.

What was the most involved thing you've ever done with an animal? Have you milked a cow? Have you changed horses shoes?

I've milked a cow.

You have?

I have not changed. I've watched the farrier do it, but I've not done it myself. What's it called? A farrier? A farrier?

See, I would lose that on who wants to be a millionaire. I wouldn't know what that name is.

You could call me.

I could call you. You would know.

Oh, my God. She'd be your security call or whatever. I'd like to call Julia Roberts.

Yeah, exactly.

That'd be so good.

When did the acting? When did you say, Yeah, no, screw Veteranarian. I want to be an actor.

I don't know that I had that moment where I thought, This is the path I want my life to take. I mean, my parents were artists. I have an older brother and sister. They were their artists. My sister was going to the neighborhood Playhouse when I moved to New York and moved in with her. And that's when I was working at the athlete's foot on 72nd and Broadway, right? No way. But Grace, Papai and Popeye's. No way. That's great. And I worked there for a while. And I think it was just realizing that college was not going to be in the cards for me. And I didn't really know what I was going to do. I had moved to New York really just because I wanted to be back with my sister because she had been gone for two years and we were so close and I missed her.

And I-Gone from Georgia?

Yeah.

But you were thinking what? That you were just going to go to New York and something different was going to happen?

I don't want to embarrass you, but was modeling a poll at all?

I did get I called in to a couple of agencies, and there was an agency called Click Models. God, I completely forgot about this. You have jogged a piece of the puzzle out of my mind. Let's get into it. I did go meet a really nice woman there.

Flick and Click. Wasn't it Flick and Click?

I don't think so. No?

That doesn't sound good at all. That's something else. I think that's something else.

No, I think it was. I actually think it was.

No, it was Click Modeling. Click like a camera click. There's no Click and flick.

I swear to God. Anyway.

I think that's a massage. Okay. Wait. Julia, but really, to answer the question, you weren't like, Okay, I'm leaving Georgia now. I'm going to be an actor, so I'm moving to New York, you were going because your sister was there and you just thought- But Eric had already been working, no?

He's 11 years older than I am. So he had a career by the time I graduated from high school. But to answer your question, everybody was leaving home to go to school, and I did not want to be like, Okay, I'll see you guys when you get back.

Right.

Right here in my mom's apartment. Nobody worry.

What about college? You said college wasn't a thing for you. Why was that?

Because it wasn't for me either. It wasn't financially feasible, and I certainly didn't have the grades for any a scholarship.

Should have called the King family.

I'd relied on them once already. I just felt I didn't want them to have to support me the whole way around. Yeah.

Yeah. Sure. Were you to study something in college at that age? Had the the the the veterinary thing had gone, had passed?

I had gone. I think I probably I would, at that time, because you have to remember this is 1985, I graduated from high school, and I probably would have wanted to be a home economics teacher. Oh, wow. Something I'm happy to bring back into the school system now, if asked.

What's a home? What does that mean, home economics? What does that mean?

So many things. I'm glad you asked.

Here we go.

Well, I'm an idiot. I don't know what that is.

No, it's It was such a great class because it covered... It was like, yeah, sewing, but it was like sewing, mending. It was practical things. You learn how to write a check, you learn how to sew on a button, you learn how to iron a shirt, you learn how to make it.

Is that where you learn knitting?

No, I learned I learned how to knit from the standby painter on the Pelican brief. Eric Bart taught me how to knit.

Wow, the standby painter, yeah. They got a lot of kit stuff right there. Wait.

Right at your disposal.

How are you-Oh, yeah. They got that bucket they sit on. It's got a bunch of stuff in there.

We'll be right back. Now, back to the show.

Hey, I feel like I'm not a great parent for many reasons. One of them is that I haven't taught my kids how to iron, how to wash a window without getting streaks on it. My parents, I had 20 chores every weekend until the day I moved out when I was 18. Have you been good about teaching your kids? Do they know how to iron a shirt without wrinkling the fabric that's underneath it? How to separate it over an ironing board and put the sleeve over the little wedge portion of the board and all that stuff. You don't know it until you know it.

You don't know it until you know it. Well, I would say there's a yes and a no here because I feel like a lot of the things that I learned from my mom, I either learned because like you, long list of chores that started right when I got home from school and paused only to watch the Mike Douglas show and then right back to the chores.

Mike Douglas I love it. Phil Donahue.

I mean...

J. B, were you ever on the Mike Douglas show?

No, I got bumped a couple of times, but no, I'm kidding. Did you?

No, you couldn't possibly. Even in your- I did do Murf Griffin.

I did Oprah. What else?

A bunch of Johnies. Phil Donahue?

Phil Donahue. Never Phil Donahue.

You know what? I slept with this guy in Chicago.

Named Phil Donahue? No.

What a This is going to be Sean Hayes slept with Phil Donahue.

Not B Phil Donahue. Don't tell his wife.

It's Philip K Donahue.

No, I just slept with a guy once in Chicago, and then he ended up on the Phil Donahue show because he was the Chicago... He was a Chicago weatherman that then did porn. It was so crazy. In my family-What?

You just said so many things in one sentence.

I know. Isn't that crazy? I slept with him once, and I remember his name, and he was a Chicago weatherman on the TV. And then one day, he was on Phil Donahue because he left that career and was a porn star. I was like, What? It was the craziest thing.

Wait, you had no warning on this? You were just watching your Donahue like you do every day.

Yeah, that's it.

There he is. There's your guy, and he's on there because it was a porn story that had gone wrong?

No, it was in America. It was like, wow, there's a gay person on television. That's it. That was way before.

Shani.

Anyway, let's get back to you.

Let's get back. You know what I want to get?

Everybody take a quick shower.

Julia, what I don't know, and maybe Wikipedia can answer this, but I'd love to hear from you, what was your first professional acting gig?

Yeah.

Crime Story.

One episode. A precursor to Law and Order? Am I being a dummy?

Dennis Farina, 1950s. Michael Mann, TV show in Las Vegas. Dennis Friina, the nicest man you could imagine.

The great Dennis Friina.

What was your character? Were you a damsel in distress or were you a bad person?

I was a 15-year-old girl living with my mother, played by Hannah Cox. Her, I feel like, newish husband, and he was maybe not being a good stepfather to me.

No, Julia.

If you catch my...

Yeah, catching your drift.

I'm really bringing the mood down with this. This is no weatherman turned porn star story. But yeah, so did that, and that was a great experience.

You were living in New York at the time? You got cast out in New York? Yes. Okay. So it was a big moment. It was exciting at the time, obviously.

Oh, yes. It was huge. It was huge.

Then you were able to start your work and start to gain momentum before there was huge pressure on you to pay a lot of rent and to really declare, this is what my career is going to be. You were still young enough to like, dip your toe in it and see if you get any traction. Is that how it things started?

That sounds nice, the way you put all that. Somebody jot that down. Well, you know what it is, too?

He likes to bundle.

He's bundling it. Just to say, I met There was an agent. I was with my brother and his girlfriend coming from dinner one night, and they lived uptown, and so they ran into some people they knew. And one of the women they were chatting with was a talent agent. And I don't know if she called my brother later or his girlfriend or something and said, Oh, does she act? And she called me into her office, and after a nice conversation, she said, Well, I can't do anything for you, but I know someone who might be able to guide you here. And she sent me to meet this man called Bob McGowan, who was from Atlantic City and was dating the star of all my children, Kim Delaney. Yes. I know. And he was just this... He seemed to me to be the nicest, most energetic guy with time and money to spare. And he loved helping young people realize their dreams. I mean, he became my manager. I once went into his office and said, Bob, I was at the Empire Diner today, and there's this guy, he was our waiter, and he wants to be an actor.

And I said, you've got to come meet Bob. No way. He did, and he signed him. That was Dylan Walsh.

Oh, my God. Wow.

That's crazy. Bob was just this incredible man who just loved being the facilitator. He just loved putting people together, and that was- He was a nice early advocate, and you stayed with him for a while?

Yes. Then the project that gave you the momentum that would push you into, well, I need not pursue other things. I think this might work out for at least a few years.

Mystic Pizza.

Yeah. Yeah. Mystic Pizza. Did you get nominated for that? Or no?

No.

Okay.

Way to go, Sean. I did get nominated for Independent spirit award for Mystic Pizza.

That's what you're thinking of, Sean.

That's what you're thinking Yeah.

And I lost to Jody Foster for Five Corners.

All right.

Julie, was there... Again, I say this a lot, but at risk of embarrassing you, was there Mystic Pizza, crime story, then Mystic Pizza and everything. Was there a life before Pretty Woman and life after Pretty Woman? Is that fair to say? It must have changed your life in a lot of way.

Everything. Well, it was a joke to start with, but it's actually completely true when people say, Oh, when Pretty Woman came out, did it just completely change your life? And I said, Well, I was out of town when it came out, which is the joke, but I was on location shooting Sleeping with the enemy.

One of my faves.

And this tiny little town. One of my faves. Thank you. And it wasn't playing at the Sticky Shoe Theater where I was. And I remember one One of the crew guys was reading USA Today, and he goes, Hey, your movie's in the paper. And it just said box office. There was a little square, and it said pretty woman, and it said what the box office was. Number meant nothing to me. I was like, Hey, great. I didn't know if it was a great number, if it was a good number, if it was like... In a way, the momentum of that moment passed me by a little bit. So I think I was probably spared.

Well, you were also in work mode, and that helps as a distraction to that stuff, right?

Do you long for those days of the naivete and just like, Oh, it's Is just doing the work and having fun and playing make believe and not being aware of the machinations of this interesting business? Or do you like how complicated this business is?

Is it complicated?

Well, in certain areas, in the areas that are completely unpredictable and without any meritocracy, I guess.

I just feel like there's so much more choice than we allow ourselves to believe. I can choose to get super caught up in some of the things that really we have no control over. I have long given up reading anything.

Yeah.

I don't know.

You still just love doing it for what you're doing, right?

It's so fun. I love it so much. It's such a great I love watching that.

I have a Google news alert on you. Just don't worry. So I'm reading all your stuff for you. And you're fine.

I'm listening and I'm reading.

Anyway, so you were filming Sleeping with the Army before Steel Magnolias?

No, Steel Magnolias was first. I filmed Steel Magnolias. I filmed Mystic Pizza, and then I... Don't you have my IMDb? Yeah, I know, but I want you to tell it. Then I did Mystic Pizza. Then I did I did Steel Magnolias. Then I did Pretty Woman. Then I did Pretty Woman. Then I did Flatliners. Then I did Sleeping with the enemy.

The thing in Steel Magnolia is Scotty's diabetic. When you had that scene, had a scene like that in real life. I'd only watched Steel Magnolias for the first time seven, eight years ago. Crazy. No.

Thanks for the support.

Just seven years.

Oh, my God. I've seen Sleeping with the enemy 17 times. But I have. I've seen it a billion times. But no, the... No, you haven't. But that scene was so real.

Scotty's flatlining.

That was so real when you had the diabetic thing. When we first started dating, we've been It's been together almost 20 years, and he would be... He would do... Let's go on to the next question.

Good Lord. I feel like you're circling the airport. You're about to take the landing gear down.

Can I tell you, because you said, has anything crazy ever happened during a play? During screening of steel magnolias, there were a lot of reports of people having physical responses,reactions. Reactions to watching you do that? Wow.

Yeah. To that.

People who are predestined disposed to these outbursts, these conditions.

It was wild. Julia, I'm going to tell you a true story, truer than Sean and Scotty, I guess, flatlining watching Steelman. I don't know what happened, but-No, he almost died, but he was going into that shaking face thing.

Here we come. The landing gear is down. I think the landing gear is down.

It's fine. It was just amazing. Don't approach the airport. It was an amazing performance and how true to life that actually really was.

Thank you, Sean. Thank you. I'm with you. Someone just told me that there's, I think, a smoothie place or something on Fire Island, and they have a smoothie called Drink Your Juice, Shelby.

Yeah, very good.

I'm going to say- Will, any Fire Island smoothie Hey, folks.

Hey, Jason.

I just like to tee him up.

I'm going to say December 1991.

Thank you, Mary Lou.

I'm in Stowe, Vermont.

Mary Lou Henner. I'm with you.

Skiing. Skiing with my dad and my brother.

I went to Stowe, Vermont.

I saw you having breakfast in this little breakfast place. I just remembered that. I haven't thought about this in years. You were with a bunch of people, and you were I think, breakfast.

What did I eat?

Not for nothing.

Wow. And mine was bad?

Yeah. Mine was bad? Mine was short.

Mine was short.

That's true. I was only there one time.

Stowe, Vermont. The one time you were in Stowe, Vermont. There you go.

Can we talk about, I think your career is just incredible and enormous and something we can spend.

And Erin Brogget.

To the extent you're comfortable, I think one of the greatest things in your life is your marriage. It's been forever, and that's not common. This guy is a great guy, incredibly talented. I really dork out over cinematographers. Can you, would you, are you comfortable talking about? Is there a key? Is there a secret? I mean, this is a great story.

How you met Danny Motor, everybody.

Danny Motor. Well, first, let me just say this, is that he... I mean, I really like your podcast. He loves this podcast. No, really? I was trying to be on it- Get him out here. Without telling him so that he would just be tuning in and All of a sudden, there's this old lady's voice. But it didn't- That's nice. He saw my agenda book and he was like, smartness.

We're fans of yours.

I love that. I remember seeing you at a charity event and you were with Danny and you just looked him and you looked at me and you go, Isn't he the best? I just love him. It was so sweet. I just thought that was the sweetest.

That was so cute, Julia. What's the secret, darling?

I know. I'm getting all sweaty. It's really- You seem like your buddies. Yeah. Well, he's my best friend. Yeah, there you go. But also the only person I want to make out with. So I think it's that combination of things is...

Amen.

Yeah. But you know what? Here's the thing, because you just don't know. You never want to give all the credit away to one person and say, I owe it all to this one person.

But honestly- This is the section about Kevin Huvane? Here we go. I wanted to talk about Danny.

For Tracy, he's an agent. He's a big agent in Hollywood.

But 25 years later, I mean, I just think, gosh, my life could have gone off the rails a hundred different ways in the last 25 years, were it not for finding my person? I don't know how, I don't know what small nation of people I saved in a former life.

I feel the same way.

Did you guys work on a project together? Is that how you met?

Yes. We met on a movie called The Mexican.

Oh, yeah. Good-looking movie.

Mr. Pitt. Yeah.

And he was on that movie. They had been shooting for about three weeks, and he... God, what? Was he... He was the focus puller on that movie?

Yeah.

And he and Brad were always next to each other and always talking. Brad Pitt from your sister. So I come in and I'm like, the new one. They're talking about, I don't know, a new record that's come out or something. I'm like, I love that.

Trying to jump in there.

I love that band. Oh, yeah. I start humming it and be like, oh, yeah. Music. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know. They're just so locked into each other. I was just looking for a way in the conversation. That's really funny. Not realizing that one day this man that I was just trying to have a conversation with would be my husband.

That's so cute.

Then you finally had a conversation.

We had a conversation and he has not gotten me to shut up in 25 years.

I love that. I love that.

The fact that you're able to schedule and work out all these, you go away, he goes away, let's meet up every couple of weeks. It's got to be just so difficult. I know high class problems, listen. I apologize.

These are high class problems. But you want to know something. We have in all these years, and we have three awesome kids, and only one time in our lives, and the kids were probably They were all under five, for sure, and now they're all in college. But there was one time when I was doing Eat, Pray, Love, and Danny was shooting a movie in Detroit And we were apart.

So you were in India, right?

For seven weeks.

Oh, wow. That's long.

And I mean, I was lucky because I at least had the kids with me. And there was just no way. Even one time, I did have three days off in a row, and I thought, oh, great. We can... And even if I went as the crow flies from New Delhi to Detroit, we could have hugged and I'd I have to turn around. It was seven weeks. And when he finished and he came and joined us, and we were just like, wow, that will never work.

All right. You said the kids are in college now. How How many weeks have you become an empty nester?

It's been two and a half weeks.

Oh, my God. Wow. Okay, so I just sent my first one away, but it was just down the street to USC, so I'm happy about that. But I'm not anticipating doing well when the 13-year-old goes away in five years and being empty-empty. How are you doing?

Yes, but you and your wife are crazy about each other, so it's all going to be okay. I think it's when the kids leave and you turn around and you're like, Who are you? What are you still doing here? That's when you run into troubles.

You were supposed to go, too.

Yeah.

Like, Are you still here? Yeah, it's amazing. I love that you revealed in that you're the first cover star of the brand new 72 magazine, which is really cool. And you You revealed George Clooney interviewed you, and you revealed your dream seven-person dinner guest list, which I love. The first person you named was Danny, which was great. Oh, that's good. Jesus, and Virginia Wolf, and Joni Mitchell. It was a great list. I loved it.

Yeah, I mean, it's so funny because whenever someone asks you a question like that and you have to rapid fire answer, and you feel like... Then afterwards, you go like, Oh, that'd be a good dinner party. And then, of course, for the rest of the day, it's like, Oh, but what? It should have been this person. And what about that person? But I think I did... I mean, wouldn't it... Jesus coming to dinner?

What would I ask him? What would I ask him today? Versus last year or something. George would be a good guest at that, right?

George Clooney.

Yeah, guy can talk. Yeah. Very good storyteller.

Great storyteller.

Yeah, he told us that classic about crapping in the cat box.

Oh, my. It's one of the greatest stories of all time.

Yeah, that is I hadn't heard it until he came out of the pocket. It was great.

But even better than hearing George tell it is Richard telling it because Richard's voice is so...

Oh, George. He's great. I love that guy.

We will be right back. Now, back to the show.

Wait, so I read that you saved a seven-page love letter from Danny to someday show your kids? And have you showed your kids?

That's the first letter he ever wrote me. But I have all the letters. And in fact, someone gave us a great present many years ago. These two beautiful ceramic earthen pots. And the lid on one pot inside is painted Love Letters to Julia from Danny, and the other one is to Danny from Julia. And so there's all these We're just shoving stuff in there for years. There's just no telling what's at the bottom of these jars. But, yeah, we're big on paper in our house, and our kids are now, too. So it's nice I opened a book the other day, and there was a Post-it from my oldest son in the handwriting of maybe a seven-year-old, which is not too dissimilar from his handwriting now, but I could see the time. And it just said, Mom, I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry. What did I do? I thought, Oh, I wish I had written on the other side of the post-it what the grievance was.

I love that. Other than your wedding day and the birth of your gorgeous children, if you could pick one year to relive, what would it be? Because it was so great.

Because it was so great? Yeah.

I love that. Somebody just asked me that the other day.

A whole year. Sean's coming with a classic.

A whole year.

A whole year or a day. Or is there a one day?

Don't back off. Don't back off, Sean.

No, mine was any year in college. I just loved my college life. I loved it.

I'd love to see that.

I was a crazy person. It was great.

I don't know. I'm just thinking any year that I could go back and spend before my father passed away. He passed away when I was young. And so I feel like even though I don't say, Oh, this was a great year, and I want to relive that year, just to have any year with the knowledge that this is special because it's not going to last.

Was he the one that was running the theater school? Was it your dad and your mom together?

It was my dad and my mom together, but I think my dad was the captain.

Was he alive long enough to start to Did you experience some of your momentum?

No, I was a child. Very child.

You would have loved it. Yeah.

I mean, that's just a dumb question, but what did you...

How did you- Did that affect my life? How did that affect my life?

How has this hold you back now?

No, because my dad... I mean, I guess I haven't thought about it either. My dad left.

Get ready well.

My dad left when I was five or six. He did?

How?

He just literally walked out the door. He did?

With the keys or Yeah, but I think something- Surely he came back.

You guys are cruel.

Was there a vehicle involved? We got to have one of those things like stern with the little sound things, just the scratching tires. Anytime his parents, Oh, you're right.

We need Fred here to do that.

No, but there was something like with the fact, I think growing up- Abandonment can be funny.

Yeah.

It has to be.

If you did laugh, you'd cry. I think that that's the…

I mean, my mom had Alzheimer's, too, which is once I cried-So she doesn't remember him lately.

Oh, my God. You guys.

That's the good news.

I cannot play like this.

We find the good in everything.

You have to. This is how we love.

Julia, this is how we love each other.

This is how we love. Also, but if I didn't make jokes or laugh about it, I cried for three years straight about my mom having Alzheimer's. She's passed away since then. But I cried and cried and cried and tried to take care of her and every one of our family members, try to take care of. Then after a while, you have to have some levity. Anyway, one time, she was at this memory care place, and there was a band there, it was a live band, and I was sitting with Scotty and his mom. What a gig. Yeah.

It was one of the top bands.

Some people who won't remember you. They're like, Should we play some of the old hits? It doesn't matter. They don't know. It's new to them. Everything's new to them. You can play a Beatle song and just say, We just wrote this. That's what I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying. That's why you have to make light of it, because otherwise, you'll die crying. Okay.

So anyway, there's a band. I call this one Satisfaction. I just wrote it in the car the way here.

We're sitting there, and I'm sitting there with Scotty and Scotty's mom. All of a sudden, Scotty's mom, who's one of the sweetest people in the world, she gets up and starts dancing. She says to my mom, Mary, she's like, Mary, come on and dance. She's like, Yeah. She's like, She's going to get up and then she grabbed me. She goes, Sean, come on, let's dance. I go, Mom, I don't want to dance. There's all these people watching in this room, and there's a dance floor, and I'm like, No, Mom, I don't want to watch. She goes, Come on, let's dance. I go, No, Mom, I don't want to. She goes, Don't be such a pussy. I was like, What? She would have never said that.

Did you die laughing, though?

Oh, my God. I laughed so much.

Did you dance with her?

No. I was too embarrassed. Sean. I know. I wish I could now blah, blah, blah. Anyway, no, she was sweet, though. But anyway, let's get back.

You and Tracy must have laughed at that one.

Oh, God. My whole family, We obviously loved her so much. But anyway, so this is a good one I wrote down because somebody asked me this the other day. If you had to marry... This is for everybody. Julia, if you had to marry a woman, guys, if you had to marry a guy, me, if I had to marry a woman, who What would it be? Mine would be Cary, or Reina, or Ali, or Jen, or Amanda. I would marry Jason's wife, Amanda.

If you had to marry a girl. That's a lot of people, and I didn't even make the top 10.

Hang on, I'm not done. Julia. Okay. Okay, there you go.

I would marry either Frances McDormand or Kate Blanchette or Emma Thompson.

Nice. Those are good answers. Those are pretty good.

There's more, but I'm limiting myself to three.

Yeah.

Guys, you had to marry a guy. I would marry one of these two guys because of the formula you were talking about before, which is you got to marry a friend if you wanted to last. That's right. I've always thought. And so far I'm right because I do really like that, Amanda.

Same thing. I'd marry one of these two guys because they're guys that I love and that I like. Jason, we'd be able to share golf clubs. Because I tried his wedge the other day. He's great. And also Jason, he does, I'd love to marry a known bottom.

You don't want to have to do any fighting. No negotiating.

No, I truly truly. I would be one of these two guys. I love these guys so much.

I love you guys, too.

I want to hear about your new thingy, Julia.

I just watched it last night. I couldn't wait to talk about it.

Oh, you did. They're locked. They're locked, Sean. So watch the notes.

I loved it so much. Wait, so what is it? After the Hunt. It's called After the Hunt. I just watched last night. What an awesome, dark, complicated character you're playing. As always, I believed every moment, every word coming out of your mouthThank you. You never suck. It was crafted in such a way that reminded me of, and now After the Hunt will be on that list, Doubt. What's the other one? Conclave after the Hunt. They're all brilliantly made, brilliantly performed. Your performance was incredible. At the end, I was like, because the whole time, I'm like, What's going on? What is happening? And then the reveal was so cool. I mean, crazy, but cool. Anyway, thanks for coming.

Julie, you must be proud of it.

It sounds like a pretty high-level-What drew you to the material?

Luca Guadagnino, who is just...

He's He did Call Me by Your Name. I mean, tons of great movies.

He is so wonderful as a person and so innovative and the most curious person I've ever met. He's so curious about people and why we do the things we do and why we don't do things. And just every detail of everything. There's nothing that you're seeing that hasn't been specifically chosen in this this shade of color and this statue and this painting being slightly askew or whatever. I mean, it's just really...

It's a really cool moment, too, when you guys, you and, forgive me, Aya, right?

Ayo. Ayo Debre.

So sorry. So when you and Io, it's towards the end and you have this incredible scene outside of this building. And it starts as regular over the shoulder, and then it just cuts to you guys looking right into the can. I love that. It was so effective as you're finishing this argument just right into the camera, cutting back and forth directly. It was really cool.

Oh, I can't wait.

By the way, six minutes standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Yeah? Yeah. Wow.

Really amazing. People tried to sit down. I was like, Oh, no. No, no sitting.

Don't be rude.

I just loved it.

Yeah. Oh, I'm glad. Thank you. I'm glad you got to see it. Luca just texted me.

How crazy. Wow. Crazy. Tell him he's doing well.

He must have felt us talking about him.

Is it nice to launch a film at a festival like that as opposed to just a standard release where it just comes out?

I've never really had an experience like this before. So it's nice to do new things, especially this.

What do you mean? What do you mean you haven't had an experience?

Well, I mean, I've never been to the Venice Film Festival for one thing, and I mean, I guess George and I went to Cann a few years ago, but that was the first time I'd ever been to Cann. Yeah. Oh, wow. Because on television, they all look so terrifying. Like, why would you want to put yourself there Yeah, I agree. If people say, Oh, do you want to go to Cann? No, thank you.

Off-season.

Yeah, it just looks so terrifying. People screaming and- But what about all the glam and festivities of it all?

Is that appealing just in the slightest, playing dress up and all that stuff?

I think once you say yes, once you commit to it, then you have to have a sporting event mentality about it. You're going to have a great time. Danny had on a tuxedo. It was great. That part was great.

One final question before we let you go, because we've taken up way too much of your time. What is the coolest or weirdest or amazing piece of memorabilia from any film? Have you kept anything that you love?

That's a good question.

That is a good question.

Because there's so many iconic films.

Not Contaminated Soil from Erin Brockovich, surely.

But no. Water samples, no. But I haven't done anything cool.

Or a costume or a shirt or anything.

I have a lot of costumes. I have a lot of costumes. Yeah. And somewhere I actually think I have some wedding dresses from Runaway Bride.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Do you have a place to keep them? I mean, like a separate from your house?

It's probably dangerously just in the garage in New Mexico. And maybe there's just generations of mice that have made homes now that they're coming in these boxes.

They're trying it on.

They're each trying it on. In these boxes. Yeah. Yeah, but not really more like I have a beautiful drawing that Meryl Streep did for me of my character that she gave me as a wrap gift from August Osage County.

I love that movie.

That movie is so good.

Some things like that.

I love that. What a cast. George, eat your fish.

George produced that movie. Who did? Yeah, eat your fish, Bitch. George Clooney produced that movie. Oh, yeah?

That's great.

Yeah, it's very good.

Okay, so it premieres. It's called After the Hunt. It premieres, wait, Select Theater, October 10th and wider October 17th. It's so good. I just loved it. I loved it so much. Thank you.

Julia, you're the greatest.

Yeah, no kidding. You guys are so fun. Honestly, this is just zipped by and I- It was quick, right? I want a chance to do it again and be quick and witty and more- You were no.

You were sublime.

You were fint. You were perfect. One of the dudes.

No, you were. You were amazing. Come back anytime you want.

Can we just Can we talk about the microphone that Will Arnett has in his apartment? Yeah, that's pretty sweet. What is up with that?

It's nice. It's janky right now. I'm in a makeshift situation because I just moved in here yesterday.

Yo, let's get the whisper booth all set up, huh, Willy?

I know. It's not... Nothing's great. The internet's not great. I got the windows open because the AC is broken. I got a guy here.

You got a real vital- You got a guy. Vital V. O. Career you need to manage.

Don't we get to see... Oh, those chairs are nice. Yeah, nice chairs. Do we get to see your guest star.

Yeah. Where's your babe? Let's pull your babe in real quick.

She just went out. She just went out.

I'm sure.

She just left.

I think it's all fake. I think what you guys... Yeah, it's a fake media story. No, we're thrilled for you. Yeah, we are thrilled. Julia, you're incredible.

Julia, thank you so much.

You're incredible. Thank you for saying yes to this. Talk about a thrill. Come back anytime you want, miss.

Oh, thanks.

Thank you. It goes without saying, I've been such a fan of yours for so long. Likewise. I'm so great at what you do.

Yes. Thank you. More please.

Truly.

Thank you. And can I just say, I'm sorry to leave you out, Sean, because I am your guest and I appreciate you so much. That's okay, likewise. But a rest of development. Danny and I ate that show up like ice cream. And I'm happy to report that our youngest son, who's 18, just started college. Episode one pilot who just started all over again. No way. Me and him together. We are loving it.

Wait, can you invite me over? Because I haven't seen them since then, and I want to watch them all again. And my kids won't watch anything I do.

Come over. We'll go back to the pilot. We will back this right up.

Jason and I haven't watched. We used to watch when it first came on the air, I'd go over Sunday, we'd watch football together, and we'd watch the episodes as it air.

We were like, wow, this is so crazy. Then we'd wake up in the morning and we'd call in for the overnights.

It is so... How much is going on all the time. It's extraordinary.

Well, you know Mitch Hurwitz. Julia, I know you know Mitch a little bit. I just spoke to for the first time in a few months, two days ago out of the blue. How's he doing? He's doing okay. He's the funniest guy. Immediately, you start texting with him, and he's the funniest person of all time.

Yeah, agreed. I mean, that show really is one in a million.

Sean's going to catch it one of these days. We're going to get you some tapes, Sean.

We're going to make him watch it clock records, though. Yeah.

Well, thank you, Julia, for being with us today. Enjoy the rest of your day, and good luck with the film. After the Hunt. Can't wait. Coming in October. After the Hunt.

October 10th. October 10th. Wide October 17th. My birthday, October 28th. Oh, great.

That's Franny's birthday. My eldest.

October. It's the- It's a great day. It's the big month now.

Three days after my son Archie and Wendell Clarke's birthday. Okay, it doesn't matter.

It's It's like three and a half months and a week, couple of weeks after mine. Anyway, so. I love you to pieces. Thank you for being here.

Lots of love, you guys. Thank you. Bye. You too.

Bye. Bye.

Wow. Wow, Sean.

Isn't she great? I love... By the way, for so long, she's been on my list. I'm sure she's on all our lists.

Tip top. Yeah, of every list. I know. You name the list. She's at the top of it.

Iconic. I was looking at her list of credits, and you're just like, bang, bang, bang, bang. One big movie after another. It's just- It has even taken pauses.

She's elected to take pauses, and the industry just keeps her place in line. She comes back in and she's just, bang, another incredible director she works with. It's an incredible career.

Yeah, and that movie is really good.

Yeah. I can't wait to see that movie. It's not in the English countryside chasing foxes on horses, right? No.

This is not. None of that's happening.

It's not about a salon after the hunt where we're sitting in the drawing room talking about the hunt.

Wonderful shot back there, jeez. What a hunt we had. Oh, that's tricky little fox. Tricky little fox.

Yeah. What else can you say? I was going to ask her about being called America's Sweetheart because she's been called that for her whole life and what that means. If she hates that anymore. It's true, there's nobody that doesn't love her.

But it's also like you can hate it, but it is something maybe you could look back on when you're lying on the bed, taking your last 25 breaths and going like, I was pretty cool that I held that title.

Yeah, I mean, for so long. She's awesome. There's other friends of ours that has that title as well.

There are those that share it for sure.

I share it. Well, hang on. So many people.

I don't know.

Who's thinking of a buy?

I know, Will, you're googling something. Let's see what you found, Zoe.

I just loved her story about that she kept the dresses from a runaway bribe. Smart. Smart.

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