INtErvIEw Being Julia She’s Hollywood royalty and an oscar winner but now Julia roberts has swapped the silver screen for the Tv screen, as she tells rianne Ison

he’s a huge Hollywood name, often starts to realise that things were not what they described as America’s sweetheart seemed at Homecoming. thanks to her countless hit films, After listening to the podcast, Julia and the including 90s classics Pretty Woman show’s creator and director Sam Esmail met on and My Best Friend’s Wedding Skype to discuss bringing the dark thriller to the Sand, more recently, August: Osage County and small screen. Wonder. So given that she is seriously A-list, Julia, 51, says, “we became instantly like you might expect Julia roberts’ life to be 20-year friends, so it seemed really clear that a whirlwind of red-carpet appearances and this was going to be a match and this was going designer-dress fittings. to work in bringing it to television. we talked but when we come face to face during the about Sam getting married, and their first dance Hollywood star’s recent visit to London, she’s and song, and a plethora of other things for quick to clear up any misconceptions, insisting about 45 minutes. Then we realised, ‘oh, we she wasn’t doing anything nearly so glamorous should talk about the show.’” when she became obsessed with the podcast However, if it was the connection with Sam T ur ES that inspired her latest role in Amazon Prime’s that initially attracted Julia to the job, it was the new Tv thriller Homecoming. twists and turns of Homecoming’s plot that made “I was cleaning up Lego and organising Lego her sign on the dotted line as both the show’s for hours, consumed with the podcast. And I got leading lady and one of its executive producers. all my Lego organisation done and I got a job,” “It’s the whole package, the whole story,” the T Y I M AGES / rE x F EA says Julia, mum to twins Hazel and Finn, 13, actress says. “It’s so complex and fascinating and 11-year-old Henry, giving us a flash of that and has all of these really interesting ideas famous megawatt smile. and characters that reveal themselves in very And it’s no wonder she became so hooked. unique ways. For me, it was the tale of two In the 10-part series Julia stars as Heidi Heidis and understanding the things about her bergman, a therapist working at Homecoming, that were vulnerable and the things about an organisation that helps soldiers make the her that were powerful. I liked the idea of playing

I M ES / rE dux E Y v N G ET transition to civilian life. almost two characters.” but a few years on, after Heidi has started Although, as she explains, having two alter ork T a new life, the department of defence officials egos presented its own set of challenges. “Tv is

N E w Y arrive asking her why she left. Soon, Heidi not for the faint of heart, for sure,” she says.

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