Carrie Preston said Julia Roberts was “mean” to her on the set of 2009’s Duplicity, but she had a good reason.
During a recent interview on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me podcast, the actress recounted her experience working with the Oscar winner on the 2009 film as well as 1997’s My Best Friend’s Wedding, which was Preston’s first movie.
“We were 27, 28 years old at that time. And she was at the top of her game that young. And boy did she show it. That was a movie star,” Preston said of Roberts. “I was very nervous around her, but she was such a pro.” She added that they connected over both being young actresses from Georgia while filming the P.J. Hogan-directed rom-com.
But when they reunited years later for Duplicity, she described it as “interesting,” partly because she was only on set a few days to film her “wonderful cameo.” In the movie, Preston’s character sleeps with Roberts’ character’s boyfriend, played by Clive Owen.
“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,” the Elsbeth star said. “You have to keep yourself in a vulnerable spot.”
It was earlier in the day when she said Roberts came up to her and gave her a heads-up that she was going to be “mean” ahead of filming their scene together.
“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,” Preston recalled. “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 for the scene.”
The True Blood alum knew it would be more difficult if they were “chumming it up” before the scene and then she had “to go and cry.”
“They call me and they’re like, ‘We’re ready for you, we’re ready to go.’ The cameras are all set up. We hardly rehearsed,” Preston said, adding that she “just started sobbing” once Roberts gave her a look.
“It came. But it was the most high-pressure acting experience I had at that point,” she explained. But Preston was ultimately thankful Roberts “graciously” chose to be “mean” to her to help her performance.
“We did the scene and it went well. And then she had the whole crew clap,” The Good Wife actress concluded. “It was a cool moment.”
Duplicity, directed by Tony Gilroy, follows two corporate spies, Claire (Roberts) and Ray (Owen), who become embroiled in a clandestine love affair.
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