Behold! The movie poster for Eat, Pray Love! It’s the EAT part*…see? We’ve already watched the trailer for the flick, due for US release August 13th, so naturally, with summer ready to kickoff, and big contender in the empowered-ladies’ date night movie category Sex and the City 2 (cue “Single Ladies”) opening this week, it’s all systems go for the EPL marketing machine. First stop, Oprah of course! Earlier this week the ladies dished with the omnipresent “O” on the film’s production (a lot of eating! search for Ketut!) and how the hugely popular memoir about a woman’s self-seeking journey through the “I’s” translated onto the big screen with super pretty people and Hollywood big bucks.
Here are the highlights from The Oprah Show (original airing May 24th, 2010):
Julia on the “Eat” part in Italy:
“I ate a lot, and [the producers] made me eat it,” she says. “They knew I was going to advance my muffin top, which I did, but it all worked out.”
Julia in India:
“They were very giving, which I guess is inherent to living on an ashram, to be open and giving. But [they] let us descend upon them,” she says. “We had some rules to adhere to, and we tried to be on our best behavior. And we didn’t show our shoulders.”
“To be in India is to experience India. It’s not that you have to go find it. It’s all right there,” she says. “[The children] love it. I mean, Hazel said when she grows up, that’s where she’s going to live.”
“Hazel [also] wanted to shave her head, so I let her shave the back half of her head. They would chant, and they were just interested.”
Director Ryan Murphy (Glee) on the search for a ‘Ketut’ in Bali:
They searched the entire island and finally found the man for the job, a man named Hadi who’d never acted before. “It was just a feeling I wanted. It was a spirituality. It was a warmth,” Ryan says. “It was somebody who was really authentic, and I wanted that and I couldn’t find it. [Then], he walked through the door.”
To make these pivotal scenes as authentic as possible, Ryan says they shot in the real Ketut’s house. “Ketut was there giving us his blessing, giving Hadi some pointers,” he says.
Liz on watching the film for the first time:
“We’re in this big empty movie theater, curled up on each other crying and shaking and laughing and talking out loud and saying, ‘There’s Richard, and there’s Sophie, and there’s Giovanni,'” Liz says. “What I was watching encapsulated the worst and best time of my life, condensed down into two hours. So I came out of it shaken, amazed, delighted, tearful.”
“I’m still all emotional about it… It’s essentially like this amazing director and this great actress and this cinematographer got together and made me a home movie of my year’s journey, but they photoshopped me out and replaced me with somebody with really amazing skin and 38-inch legs,” Gilbert said on the Oprah Winfrey show, while appearing alongside the actress.
Glaringly absent from the show and sorely missed? Javier Bardem (‘Felipe’), James Franco (‘David)! sigh
*prepare yourselves for the sure to follow “Pray” and “Love” posters, one can only hope.
Earlier…Just Released: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Trailer Premiere
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10 Things You Need to Know About Pierre Bernard, ‘The Great Oom’, America’s First Yogapreneur
Has anyone seen any objective reviews yet?
Bob
hello julia,
i have seen your interview on OPRAH.i hope u like India.know that your daughter love India.next time when u planning to go for some shoot of film please let me know we love to come & see you.me & my wife love to meet u if possible.thx
Interesting Story, Eat Pray Love is must watched movie….