Julia Roberts is an Oscar-winner for a reason.
Her “My Best Friend’s Wedding” costar Carrie Preston revealed that Julia had to go from friendly to angry with her for a scene in another film they worked on together, 2009’s “Duplicity.”
“I’m on set doing a very intense scene where Julia Roberts is staring at me wanting me to die because I had slept with her boyfriend. I have to do that cry on cue thing, which, as you know, is a lot of pressure, especially when I don’t know any of the crew,” Preston explained on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast.
They only worked together for “two or three” days on the film, also starring Clive Owen.
For the big scene, Carrie remembered, “I saw her earlier in the day. She gave me a big hug and then she said, ‘I’m gonna be mean to you for the rest of the day.’ She gave me a fair warning. She was just like, ‘I’m gonna be mean. I’m just not gonna talk to you for the rest of the day.’ And it was exactly what I needed.”
The “Elsbeth” star added that it’s hard to be “chumming it up and then have to go and cry.”
In the scene, Julia basically stares Carrie down, “and I just started thawing. It came. But it was the most high-pressure acting experience I had at that point.”
Looking back on it, Carrie feels Julia’s commitment to keeping her distance before the scene was done “graciously” for Carrie’s benefit more than the “Pretty Woman” star’s own needs.
