Julia Roberts is opening up about shooting choking scenes with Meryl Streep in August: Osage County. In the film, Roberts plays Streep’s oldest daughter.
At the Toronto International Film Festival press conference for the film on Tuesday, Roberts admitted it was “intimidating” to choke Streep.
“It was intimidating, certainly, to be in these scenes with her, choking her, things like that," she said, People reports. "That's not how I pictured it going in my mind all these years when I thought we'd be together, drinking tea together and speaking in fabulous accents and dressed up and looking very chic."
She continued, "And instead there I am sweating and wearing a big butt pad. So that's not how it was in my dream."
However, Roberts says overall it was "the best acting experience in my life” to act opposite Streep in the film adaptation of the Tony-winning play. It’s centered on a dysfunctional family that comes together to spend their final days with their dying mother, Streep, in Oklahoma.
“Our experience was a treasure box of discovery for me. And at the top of the heap was ... Meryl Streep, who showed that it is about working hard,” she said. “Because I've never seen anybody work harder than she works. She doesn't just snap her fingers and be a genius. She really is just the hardest working girl in the room. I was so grateful to see that up close."
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