NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 03: Julia Roberts and Sam Esmail appear on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show at Mandarin Oriental Hotel on 3 December 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Julia Roberts, who stars in the new apocalyptic comedy-drama "Leave the World Behind", says the end of humanity would be a good time to indulge herself.
Streaming on Netflix starting Friday, the film also stars Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke, and was produced by former American president Barack Obama.
Roberts plays an egocentric wife who finds the modern world collapsing around her while on a luxury break.
She spoke to AFP about what really scares her and why she had a pair of very rude socks made after making the film.
Q: What would you do with your last day if the world was about to collapse?
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Roberts: If I've got 24 hours, I'm piling in with my family, lots of cheeseburgers, an enormous amount of alcohol, chocolate chip cookies, hugs and kisses and wait… maybe sleeping pills! But it won't happen.
Q: Many things go wrong in the film. Which would terrify you the most in real life?
Roberts: Natural disasters, because they're more realistic and also because, you know, Mother Nature, she just doesn't care what anybody thinks.
Q: One of your first lines in the movie is, "I fucking hate people". Was it fun playing that kind of character?
Roberts: It was very fun playing with that, because I actually love people and I think I'm very open and friendly, so I love that opening speech.
I now have socks that say "I fucking hate people". And I love the idea of playing someone who has adopted this kind of mantra and what it really means. How do you carry yourself through a world of humans with this feeling inside of yourself?
Q: You have played a few unsympathetic characters in your career, was it a choice?
Roberts: I don't think it's a choice where I thought I'm choosing to play someone likeable or unlikeable. I think it's what's in that whole broth. It's not about friendly or unfriendly, it's more about how it fits with what's happening within the whole thing.
Q: What is the message of the movie?
Roberts: I think that we're all in it together. Just the sense that we really are a thousand-and-one versions of one good thing, which is humanity.
Oh, and cooking! (Francois BECKER)
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© Agence France-Presse
