Elsbeth star Carrie Preston has shared that Julia Roberts was mean to her while shooting Duplicity, the 2009 comedy. While this was in preparation for a scene that involved the two actors, Preston said that it was exactly what she needed.
Carrie Preston reveals conversation with Julia Roberts before filming ‘intense’ Duplicity scene
During a conversation with Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his Dinner’s On Me podcast, Carrie Preston recalled her experience filming a scene with Julia Roberts for Tony Gilroy’s Duplicity.
“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,’” the Elsbeth actress recalled, referring to the day of the shoot. “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 scene in question shows Preston’s character, Barbara Bofferd, confiding in Claire (Roberts) about sleeping with Ray (Clive Owen). Since Claire and Ray are opposing corporate spies secretly in a relationship, Claire must suppress her anger.
Preston described her feelings during the filming: “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 True Blood actress later added, “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. Then I just went and sat down, and she’s just like… And I just started thawing. It came. But it was the most high-pressure acting experience I had at that point.”
Both Preston and Ferguson agreed that Roberts might have acted this way for Preston’s sake rather than her own.
Originally reported by Harsha Panduranga on Comingsoon.
