I have nothing to do with this movie. I haven't seen the movie or read the script. However, several of my friends have and loved it. Julia & Julie will close the Rome Film Festival late October. I believe the movie will open in France and the rest of Italy that week.
I'm sure if the movie does well the frat boys in Hollywood will say it was a fluke. As you know, women never go to the movies and what man would want to see such a film?
I had to stop reading certain movie websites/blogs because the bashing of Nora Ephron was getting on my nerves. Yes her last few movies didn't do well. So what? Male directors are allow a few strikes or singles before they are kicked to the curb.
I hope this movie exceeds all expectation. Julia Child didn't become JULIA CHILD until she was 49. Think about that. She grew up during time when women's roles were very narrow.
Her influence on American cooking cannot be underestimated. Because cooking was seen as women's work (this is pre-chef as celebrities) it was undervalued. Julia never spoke down to housewives (most American women back then did not work outside the home) and encouraged people to throw out canned mushroom soup casseroles and embrace French cooking...from scratch.
I found her recipes very complicated but I adored her anyway. I used to watch reruns of the old shows on PBS when I was a child. She made cooking seem fun. When I was older, I read more about her life story and it was inspirating.
The first weekend of a movie's release is very important.
Here is the TRAILER. The movie is based on two true stories. Have great weekend!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
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24 comments:
I can't wait to see this movie. I love to eat and I love films that embrace my kind of audience-- foodies, women, francophiles, whatever-- maybe we are all frenchy, feminist eaters?? (On that note, I am looking forward to GI Joe.)
I wish it wasn't so hot because now I have an urge to make souffle.
Nice piece.
moscerina - have you seen the trailer for GI Joe? :)
I'm with you on the heat. It's cooled off a little bit. I took the bus to the Trionfale market (too hot to walk). I was so tempted to buy some yummy stuff. Then I remembered I would have to cook it so I bought some fruit instead.
I am a Julia Child adorer, groupee, and would be a cyber stalker if she were still with us in the flesh. She isn't but she lives on in all of us who have even attempted to duplicate any of her recipes. I adore her (I already said that, I know). Her recipes ARE complicated but that is because she truly believed in the ART of French cooking and lived it in every sense. Can you imagine? She was palling around the South of France with James Beard?
This movie is going into my private, very small collection of DVD's.
My grandfather was a sauce chef in NYC at a well known French restaurant. He often told the story of the day a very tall woman came in, towering over the saucepans, asking very detailed questions about how the sauces were made. Julia made it her business to know what the best people were cooking and how. She was the master chef, the perennial student, and literally got a kick out of just living and being.
I really want to see this movie too. I never really got into Julia Child as her recipes (and French cooking in general) is not really vegetarian-friendly. But from what I've learned about her in reading about this movie, she sounds like an admirable lady. Did you read the Nora Ephron profile in the New Yorker a few weeks ago? I have a digital subscription and can send it to you if you want it.
diana - The spirit you've described stood out to me back in the day. She seemed so comfortable in her own, very tall, skin.
michellanea - I agree, French cuisine is not very vegetarian friendly. It's so interesting how she worked for what became the CIA, lived overseas and married "late" in life.
I heard about the New Yorker article! I would love to read it. grazie.
Oh this looks great!!!!
I hope it's out in Belgium soon.
I read somewhere that this is also the first movie based on a blog (or a book based on a blog). The Julie/Julia Project I believe. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
I am *so* excited to see this movie. Julia Child has always been one of my heroes, even long before I was involved with cooking. I loved her energy and humor and clear, keen intelligence.
I'll be at a family wedding through the weekend, but when I hit town, I hit the theater! Wooohoo!
I'm also so glad that you keep reminding everyone about the discrimination that exists in Hollywood in so many ways.
Woman make a up a decent chunk of revenue for movies...what a bunch of crapholes...
I am kinda interested but I would definitely go alone since my husband would scoff at this fast. Netflix.
For years when films written by women, or the so called 'chick flicks' do well at the box office Hollywood seems surprised. That surprises me because women do make up the majority of film goers and have for a while.
Why don't the majority of film studio heads just read the current news to see what is a hit instead of making the same old crap and putting a 2, 3, or 4 at the end of it
I am also glad that you point out the sexism in Hollywood.
I love Julia Childs and used to watch her as a kid and then bang around with empty sauce pans! ( Oh how I miss PBS) I can't wait to see it but there are not original language movie places in Bergamo..sigh. Guess I'll have to make the trip to MIlano.
Have you ever seen the actual show were she makes omelette? The recreation is shown in the trailer. She makes quite a few before getting it right. Can you imagine any of the tv chef's doing that today.
Julia is on my dead or alive dinner list for sure. Especially if she cooks!
I can't wait to see this movie, Arlene! It looks so inspiring for a foodie like myself =)
Lilacspecs - I assume it will be coming out in your next of the woods this fall.
joanne - yes the second story (the Amy Adams one) is based on the book based on the blog the Julia/Julie project.
jen - I hope the film captures that great energy. How funny is that Meryl Streep is doing so well now? Of course some of the suits will say this movie is going to do well because it's based on two popular books. hmm
skywalker - we do! but according to market research older women (meaning over 25) tend to read reviews and are pickier about what they spend their money on. Since the studios would rather make movies that are "critic proof" you see where that leave us.
j. doe - I know there have always been remakes and sequels but it's getting ridiculous. Enough already.
scattered moments - no I haven't seen that episode. She's on my list as well.
stephanie - I really hope it opens big today and has good legs. It will be easier to get more quality female driven material set up/made.
Don't forget the other book on which the movie is based, Julia Child's autobiography, My Life in France. Like Michellanea, I'm not a cooking nut and have never tried a Julia Child recipe, but I borrowed the book from a friend -- and it's now on my all-time favorites list. What an amazing story -- and you're right, Ragazza, when reading the book, I about fell off my chair when I read she was 37 and living in Paris before she even decided to go to the Cordon Bleu so she could cook a decent meal for her husband!! I was 37 myself at the time and just marveled to myself: Julia Child only *started* learning to cook when she was 37 years old!!
If that doesn't speak to outstanding special acts, I don't know what does!
So I hope that her book will also get more attention from the movie, although it doesn't figure in the title.
This movie is going to be absolutely delicious - it's going immediately on the NetFlix list for the next time we're in the States - I can't WAIT to see it.
Meryl Streep is about 5'2" - I love the bed in the trailer; they must've made a special kiddie size bed because wasn't Julia 5'12"+?? When I read MS was going to play JC I though nunh-unh, it'll never work. It HAS worked magnificently, you can see that just in the trailer. I bet Julia would've gotten a huge kick out of this whole thing - and I bet she would've had a cooking blog. Thanks for the heads-up!
I saw the film at an advance screening a month ago and loved it--at least the part featuring Julia Child.
Need I say that Meryl Streep was sublime? I honestly think she's a national treasure, and I adore the way she's kept her private life private and full for decades, while still continuing to do amazing and varied work long after the point when Hollywood actresses are supposed to die professionally.
I will confess here that when Michael Jackson died, I confused friends by blurting out, "Wait, is Meryl Streep okay? How about Prince? Still kicking it in Minneapolis?" Ha!
The Julie character seems factually, if not characteristically accurate. I've met the real life Julie at a couple of readings and she was a bit of a pill and kind of sour to boot. The film Julie is a perky Hollywood confection designed to make your teeth ache with her squeaky-voiced sweetness.
As a foodie, serious cook, and professional baker I was all over this flick. I realized that I'd read books by four of the women featured in the film--Julie, Julia, Judith Jones, and Amanda Hesser of the New York Times. Hello, food and book nerd!
That said, while I think Julie Powell has taken some inappropriate bashing from foodies for the blog that launched it all, I feel free to loathe her for a NYTimes piece she wrote bashing all folks who care about healthy, organic, and local foods as elitist and anti-minority. As a "minority" who shops farmers markets and actual farms in addition to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. no matter how fat or empty my wallet is, I think she's a bit of a clueless douche on that point.
Her forthcoming book about her love affairs with butchery and a man who was not her husband seems to confirm this view. She's pretty straightforward about her, um, shortcomings. I don't begrudge her success, but who am I not to agree with her less than flattering assessments? (Meow!)
But I digress....
This film is Meryl Streep's second outing with the always perfect Stanley Tucci (after The Devil Wears Prada) and they are to die for. Again. Such chemistry!
And..the G.I. Joe movie. Can someone explain the career of Channing Tatum to me, please? How does this robotic 'actor' keep getting work?
And...that's enough from me. ;->
kimb - My life in France is on my very long list of books I must read. Her father wanted to marry a nice banker and live in Pasadena. She found herself in Paris without any direction and then ate a certain meal and the rest is history.
fern - I read they built platforms on the set so Meryl would look like she was 6'2!
yvonne - your comment rolled me. ha. Thanks for explaining some of the Julie bashing. I wondered if it was just jealously similar to what Diablo Cody had to deal with.
I agree with you, eating well is not elitist or anti-minority. Poor people in Italy eat well too. It pisses me off that a fast food burger at mickyD's cost less than some carrots. I blame big argibusiness.
Anyway this movie looks so fun. I'm bummed I have to wait until October to see it.
It looks like a dlightful film. I love Meryl Streep, so I'll check it out. Oh and Julia Childs kicked butt.
I really want to go see this film and I'm bummed I can't go in the opening weekend because I loved Julia Child. What an icon on so many levels.
I can't wait to see it. I don't care what male critics say, I just hope it gets the box office success it deserves.
I also hope the film's popularity may induce publishers to consider cookbooks more...
:)
Ciao
Lola xx
I like bioflicks, and I was considering seeing this one. Now that I've read about the Nora Ephron bashing I'll make a point of going.
Thank you for stopping by the Miami Herald book blog and leaving a comment on my feature!
lenox ave - yes she does.
los angeles - The positive word of mouth after it's first weekend is pretty strong, so hopefully the movie will play in theaters for a few weeks.
lola - It's interesting, the only magazines not doing poorly (in the states) because of the recession are the cooking magazines. I wonder how that impacts books.
Liane - you're welcome. I enjoyed reading it.
Well the food bloggers are divided too. They love the Julia Chiild bit but are not so keen in the Julia Powell.
glamah16 - I have read articles about how many in the food blogging community are not feeling Ms. Powell.
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