JULIA ROBERTS CALLS LATEST ROLE A‘ GREAT MENTAL CHALLENGE’
The show, she says, posed difficulties such as filming an 11page scene as one continuously, travelling shot
Hollywood’s Pretty Woman, actor Julia Roberts is entering the world of the small screen once again (in 2014 she had done a TV movie called The Normal Heart) with Homecoming, which is adapted from a podcast of the same name.
She says that working on the thriller was a challenge, and feels that the show can be easily renamed “No Easy Days”.
“I was really taken with the podcast. The characters were terrific. (Actor) Catherine Keener is a friend of mine — she played Heidi in the podcast — and she was fantastic. I was listening to it with (a TV series) in mind. The audio, the sound production, the fish tank bubbles it was all so visual. Micah and Eli know this material inside and out,” she added.
Directed by Sam Esmail, the show follows the life of case worker-turned-waitress Heidi Bergman (Roberts) as she struggles to remember her time working at a facility that treats soldiers returning from war.
Talking about working with Esmail and how was happy it was to work with him, she said. “He’s an incredible intellect and has such a very specific vision. I come from films where there’s just one captain throughout. And I know from friends and family who work in television that there’s a changing-of-theguard in every episode, which I’m unaccustomed to.”
“Homecoming was just so surgical in its complexity,” said the actor.
“The different time periods, all the different characters — they required a need for one voice behind it the whole time.
“I said from the beginning that I really wanted one person to direct all the episodes. And if that person wasn’t Sam, then I probably wouldn’t do it.”
Roberts echoes her collaborators’ enthusiasm about the show’s set design.
The Eat Pray Love (2010) star said, “They built it so that we could do these incredible camera maneuvers. I think there are days when we’ve done 11 pages of dialogue in one camera move up and down hallways, down stairs, through huge conference rooms and cafeterias — it’s pretty amazing. It’s been pretty challenging.”
She added, “The show could be renamed, ‘No Easy Days’, because there were none! But my collaboration with Sam has been so joyful. We’re just two peas in a pod. He’s very specific and clear in his direction. It’s been relatively effortless.”