With a shoot date so close to set, news should soon emerge on who will fill out the rest of the Weston’s twisted family tree. Your suggestions and predictions, as always, are welcome in the comments.

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Magazines > 2010 > Elle-US (September-2010)

In a statement, festival officials praised Roberts for appearing in some of the biggest boxoffice hits of the past two decades and cited her academy noms for “Steel Magnolias” and “Pretty Woman,” as well as her Oscar for “Erin Brockovich.”

Roberts’ latest film “Eat Pray Love,” co-starring Spanish actor Javier Bardem, will be shown out of competition at the 58th edition of the festival which runs from Sept. 17-25 in the Atlantic seaside resort.

Previous Donostia Award winners include Glenn Ford, Lana Turner, Francis Ford Coppola, Max von Sydow, Woody Allen and Ian McKellan.

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Movie Productions > Eat Pray Love > Movie Stills

“I think she’s an amazing actress, has done amazing work,” says Javier. “Julia has this thing of making you feel safe and secure, helping you to be the best of yourself in your performance.”

“I just love her, I just love her,” says Richard. “She’s found her ‘Eat Pray Love.’ I think Julia is in a great place in her life. … She’s really happy.”

“She’s very quick — she’s sly, and smart, and watch out for her,” says Billy. “She’s a bonafide movie star, and has been for most of my adult life.” Joking self-deprecatingly about co-star Javier, Billy says, “We gotta go with what we have, right? He’s got masculinity and I’ve got idiocy.”

‘Eat Pray Love’ finds Julia as Liz Gilbert, a modern woman who, despite having a dream husband, home and career, finds herself lost in life. Determined to wipe the slate clean and get a fresh start, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes her around the globe to exotic locales ranging from Italy and India to Bali, meeting some intriguing men and mentors along the way.

“The men fall in love with Julia Roberts, the women become Julia Roberts’ best friend,” says Ryan. “She’s incredibly empathetic and every single guy in the movie, I thought did the movie because my script was good; no, they did it because they either wanted to kiss Julia Roberts, or hold hands with Julia Roberts, or just hang out with Julia Roberts. … She’s one of those people who has something you want to get to know.”

In theaters August 13, the film is based upon the bestselling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert and also stars James Franco as a love interest.

On if she had read the book before shooting:
Julia Roberts: I had read it before it became so widely popular, and I thought it was so terrific 30 pages into it, that I went on Amazon.com and sent one to my best friend in Chicago, and said, “Let’s read this.”

On her own love advice to young women:
JR: Talk to your mother. Get your mother to tell you what she really knows, and don’t take advice from actors. We don’t know anything.

On her many outfits in the film:
JR: I think the most costume changes I’ve had in a movie is maybe 40 or 50. I think that’s maybe average. This, by the time I think we were done, was maybe 103. [Michael Dennison] worked tirelessly over making it really authentic and making it great . . . It was like wardrobe Olympics, this movie.

For more from Roberts, read more.

On meeting Liz Gilbert [who wrote the memoir]:
JR: I met her in Rome. I didn’t want to meet her before that, because I knew that she and Ryan [Murphy] were in close communication, and I obviously, in this endeavor, the first step I took was to put my complete and total trust in Ryan, which was one of the smarter things that I’ve done in four years. So I knew that his paper interpretation of her that he gave me as my reference was all I would need, and I was also worried about falling too much in love with her, so that I would try to be her, as opposed of interpreting her as an actor . . . And so she came to Rome, and she was a delight.

On her favorite eats on the shoot:
JR: Italy, I mean, really I have to say, they did go to great elaborate pains to make food that I had to eat endlessly in the heat. So there was this one plate of pasta that was — all other circumstances removed — delicious pasta. It was simple spaghetti. It was delicious. . . India, well let’s just say this. I, as a mother, pack like a 10-pound box of medicines and Band-aids and alcohol and all these things — which I never had to open — and a 10-pound box of snacks, so that might have been my favorite bite. Every time I turned to that box late at night, a granola bar.

On how much she ate:
JR: How many bowls of pasta did I eat? [Ryan Murphy: "Six"]. . . The pizza, we went to the place where she had pizza, got there at eight in the morning and proceeded to shoot, and I started my day with eight entire slices of pizza in 45 minutes. The deliciousness of something wears a tiny a bit after piece seven . . . I would eat an entire slice in a take. I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea. Ryan keeps telling people I gained 10 pounds; it was 11 actually. But I loved every pound, and everyone said it was going to drop right off in India, and that didn’t happen. I didn’t get that memo.

On if she’s eaten Italian since:
JR: Tons. It can’t slow me down.

On working with Javier Bardem:
JR: It was like deciding to get a puppy. You have everything in your house worked out, and then the puppy comes in, and you’re like, I’m way too tired to have a puppy. He came in with all this gusto and enthusiasm and he wanted to read the scenes and go over some stuff. And then you realize no, this is getting good, let’s have lunch, let’s go over scenes, let’s look over the stuff! And his excitement was so contagious . . . It’s been well-reported that I was a little terrified to be around him after No Country For Old Men. . . I said to him near the end, “You know, I thought you’d be so intense and weird, and I’d have to be like, handling you, but you’re just so sweet and funny, and it’s just so easy!” And he said, “I’m not like that normally. I just wanted to try it once to see how it worked!”

On if she’s tried to evolve her life like Liz Gilbert:
JR: Not in the urgent pursuit way that she’s experiencing it, but I definitely knew that my life would continue to evolve until I found that place to occupy and live in, which is the home I have now. But I relate to her search and pursuit, and it was definitely great to have a fulfilled sense of my own life.

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Though she’s worked steadily since marrying cinematographer Danny Moder in 2002, Roberts has become known for turning down as many blockbusters as she’s starred in, a development that stems from her desire to spend as much time with her family as possible. But the appeal of “Eat, Pray, Love” was too strong for her to pass up.

Portion of the Q&A, running in this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly:
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.

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 under-weight 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!

EW: Have you ever been in such a dark and sad place as Liz finds herself in the movie?

Roberts: As a younger person, [with] problems that are more unformed and immature, I’m sure. There’s a moment where you’re hitting the compass and it’s just not giving you the way to go.

EW: When was that for you exactly?

Roberts: Well, my whole 20s was like that: trying out this idea of things, working a lot, and moving away from home at 17 and being away from my mom. So there are times when you’re figuring out those puzzles where you really do feel lost. “Do I really want to be an actor? Is it really going to work out?” You want to talk about a series of breakdowns? Talk to any actors in their 20s. You just never know if it’s going to click.EW: You’re in literally every scene of the film. Was that a lot of pressure for you?

Roberts: This is the first time where I’ve traveled so much, worked every day, and had my family with me. This was, like, the big full-meal deal. The last time that I worked every scene of every day on a schedule was “Erin Brockovich“. It definitely has its own challenges, definitely has its own set of magical comforts that you find at the end of the day. I mean, the day never ends [when you've got kids]. As opposed to coming home from work and thinking, “Hmm, should I make a drink and take a shower and put my feet up?” it’s, you know, “Mommy!” But there’s a beauty to that that I was very attached to. And I certainly had a village of support to make it all happen. That’s the thing too – so much of this movie is about finding a place of gratitude to really dwell in, to build a residence in. And the experience of making this movie allowed me to open my eyes and see all the people and elements of my life coming together that make me so – I could start crying right now – but really, humbly grateful. So I couldn’t trade that for anything.

EW: What was your family’s favorite location?

Roberts: Well, my kids could really make a party in a cardboard box. It’s not hard to please people under four feet tall. They have a great spirit of adventure. EPL was for us the WPT: We called it the World Pool Tour. Everywhere we went, it was so hot, we were just looking for a swimming pool. The fact that they never got sunburned and no one’s hair ever turned green was pretty much my maternal triumph of the summer.

EW: It’s hard to believe, but this year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Pretty Woman. What advice would you give to your younger self if you could?

Roberts: Nothing. The funny thing is, I’m still so much that same person, really. I think that you’re born that person – becoming famous doesn’t make you crazy. I just don’t believe any of that crap. Twenty years is, first of all, a drop of water. It’s all still kind of hilarious and unbelievable to me. And I have so many places to put the big weight of identity of my life that movies just will never have that. They just fulfill me in a different place.

EW: Do you obsess over your appearance? Do you like the way you look today?

Roberts: I’m human. Sometimes I, like anybody, wake up in the morning and go, “F—. Really? This is the starting point?” Haven’t you ever picked up a picture of yourself from, like, five years ago, and you look at yourself and you just go, “And I had no appreciation for how lovely I looked, how fit and healthy I looked.” So now I say, “Now listen. Ten years from now, you’re really going to think you should have appreciated yourself more.” And I’m raising a daughter, and I really want to empower her by example.