WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.640 So before she ever even stepped onto a movie 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.459 set, right, before the world knew her name, and 00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:08.080 long before she became the highest paid actress 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:10.419 on the planet, her very first day on Earth was 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:12.820 actually paid for by Coretta Scott King. Oh, 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.279 wow. Yeah, that is, I mean, that's just one of 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:18.359 those facts that forces you to completely reevaluate 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:20.379 everything you thought you knew about a person. 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:23.300 Exactly. I mean, welcome to today's Deep Dive, 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.660 everyone. We are really glad you're here. And 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:28.829 today... we're relying on a remarkably comprehensive 00:00:28.829 --> 00:00:32.049 source, which is the Wikipedia biography of Julia 00:00:32.049 --> 00:00:36.289 Roberts. Right. And our mission today is to decode 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:40.649 the existential fact of Julia Roberts. We want 00:00:40.649 --> 00:00:43.709 to understand how a girl from Georgia fundamentally 00:00:43.709 --> 00:00:45.929 reshaped the economics of Hollywood and, you 00:00:45.929 --> 00:00:48.609 know, constructed this meticulously guarded public 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:50.649 persona. Yeah, because you might know her for, 00:00:50.710 --> 00:00:53.109 well, you know, that trademark mega -watt smile. 00:00:53.130 --> 00:00:54.670 Well, I'm gonna have to get comedies. Exactly, 00:00:54.890 --> 00:00:57.530 the rom -coms. But the true story of how she 00:00:57.530 --> 00:01:00.030 actually engineered her career and how she advocated 00:01:00.030 --> 00:01:02.740 for her own worth is... It's just an absolute 00:01:02.740 --> 00:01:05.140 master class in wielding power. It really is. 00:01:05.180 --> 00:01:07.760 Yeah. So let's get right into those unlikely 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.099 beginnings. It's 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia. And 00:01:11.099 --> 00:01:14.180 her parents, Betty, Lou, and Walter, they ran 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:16.980 a theater troupe. Right. But the source points 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:19.260 out a really critical detail. They were running 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:21.920 the only racially integrated theater troupe in 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:24.560 the region. Which is huge. I mean, in the American 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:28.200 South in the 1960s, The social and the political 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.859 weight of that decision really cannot be overstated. 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:33.280 By choosing to integrate, they were basically 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.000 making themselves a target, but they were also 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.980 providing this rare safe haven. Exactly. And 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.280 because of that haven, they actually ended up 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.379 coaching the children of Martin Latier King Jr. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:46.760 and Coretta Scott King. Wow. Yeah, Walter Roberts 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:48.780 was the acting coach for their daughter Yolanda. 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:51.709 Right. When Betty Lou is pregnant with Julia, 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:55.549 the Roberts family is facing like severe financial 00:01:55.549 --> 00:01:57.230 difficulties. They literally couldn't afford 00:01:57.230 --> 00:02:00.310 the hospital bill. Oh, man. Right. So Coretta 00:02:00.310 --> 00:02:02.409 Scott King steps in and pays the hospital bill 00:02:02.409 --> 00:02:04.930 when Julie is born, basically as a thank you 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:07.189 for their service to her kids. That's incredible. 00:02:07.420 --> 00:02:09.379 It just immediately tells you that her roots 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:13.439 are not grounded in that typical Hollywood nepotism. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.340 Not at all. She's brought into the world, intercepting 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.819 with this massively significant civil rights 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:20.780 narrative. But growing up, she didn't even seem 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.219 destined for the screen. Like she played clarinet 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:25.259 in the high school band. She actually wanted 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:28.240 to be a vet. Wait, a veterinarian? Yeah. It isn't 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.360 until after high school that she just pivots. 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:32.860 She moves out to New York City, signs with a 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:37.069 modeling agency. and starts taking acting classes. 00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:40.150 And that leap to the screen happens so fast. 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:42.310 Super fast. But I think we need to look at why 00:02:42.310 --> 00:02:44.710 it happened so fast, because it wasn't due to, 00:02:44.710 --> 00:02:47.909 like, years of methodical, classical training. 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:51.090 Right, because by 1988, she gets this breakthrough 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:54.150 in the indie film Mystic Pizza, and the film 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:56.870 critic Roger Ebert reviews it, and he specifically 00:02:56.870 --> 00:02:59.289 knows that she was a major beauty with a fierce 00:02:59.289 --> 00:03:02.780 energy. A fierce energy, yeah. Yeah. And then 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:05.259 just a year later, she's in Steel Magnolias. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.759 Which, by the way, the director Herbert Ross 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.199 was notoriously tough on her. Sally Field actually 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:13.800 said he went after this newcomer with a vengeance. 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:17.599 Wow. That's intense for a new actor. OK, let's 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.400 unpack this. Because early Julie Roberts wasn't 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.000 some, like, polished Hollywood diamond. She was 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.259 just raw kinetic energy. It was like watching 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:29.340 a local garage band suddenly get booked to play 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:31.719 a massive stadium. Like they aren't perfect, 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.479 they miss a few chords, but you absolutely cannot 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:37.280 look away from the sheer unbridled potential. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:40.819 What's fascinating here is how that raw, unpolished 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:43.840 energy translated into a universally relatable 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:46.379 vulnerability. Audiences immediately latched 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:48.300 onto it. You know, she wasn't a highly technical 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:50.120 actor like a young Meryl Streep. Right, right. 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.860 But that untrained vulnerability is its own specific 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:55.620 type of cinematic skill. When Ebert mentions 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:57.919 that force energy, he's talking about an unguarded 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:00.379 quality that just made her feel accessible, like 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:02.740 someone you actually knew. And that accessible 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:06.159 vulnerability is exactly what she takes and, 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.210 well, weaponizes. She uses it to completely rewrite 00:04:10.210 --> 00:04:12.509 the rules of Hollywood economics. Absolutely. 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:16.310 Which brings us to 1990 and the explosion of 00:04:16.310 --> 00:04:19.069 Pretty Woman. Now, she only earned $300 ,000 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:22.290 for that role. Which is wild in retrospect. Right. 00:04:22.629 --> 00:04:25.110 And it was a role turned down by massive stars. 00:04:25.350 --> 00:04:27.649 Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, they all passed. 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:30.589 But then the film goes on to see the highest 00:04:30.589 --> 00:04:34.500 number of U .S. ticket sales ever. for a romantic 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:37.339 comedy. It was a global phenomenon and that kind 00:04:37.339 --> 00:04:40.540 of return on a $300 ,000 talent investment is 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:42.819 staggering. It gave her immediate leverage. Right, 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.860 because fast forward a decade to the year 2000, 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.540 and she commands a record -breaking $20 million 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.860 to play the real -life activist in Erin Brockovich. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.860 Becoming the very first actress to ever reach 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.019 that specific pay milestone. Exactly. But so, 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.480 what does this all mean? Was her astronomical 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:01.759 pay purely the result of having a great agent, 00:05:01.939 --> 00:05:04.279 or did she fundamentally change the structural 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:06.540 math for women in the industry? If we connect 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:09.259 this to the bigger picture, she was the defining 00:05:09.259 --> 00:05:12.339 proof of concept for gender pay equity in Hollywood. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.959 She forced this totally male dominated industry 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:19.240 to quantify a woman's box office draw on the 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:21.939 exact same scale as Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks, 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.420 which they just weren't doing before. Not at 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.420 all. The source notes her agent at the time credited 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:30.240 her with being a literal rainmaker for women's 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.000 films. She proved to studios that women could 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.829 lead films and guarantee opening weekend audiences 00:05:35.829 --> 00:05:38.350 just as successfully as the men she basically 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:41.230 brought the receipts and I really want you listening 00:05:41.230 --> 00:05:43.689 to this right now To think about your own career 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:45.990 here. Like how do you quantify your own value? 00:05:46.250 --> 00:05:49.069 Are you afraid to demand what you are statistically 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:51.170 worth? That's a great point because she looked 00:05:51.170 --> 00:05:53.470 at the math saw she was bringing in Tom Cruise 00:05:53.470 --> 00:05:56.670 numbers and said, pay me Tom Cruise money. But 00:05:56.670 --> 00:06:00.329 having reached that absolute pinnacle of power 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:03.069 and wealth, how does a star actually protect 00:06:03.069 --> 00:06:05.329 herself? Yeah, the creation of the public persona. 00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:07.889 Right, because we have to talk about the backlash 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:10.550 that comes with setting boundaries. The critics 00:06:10.550 --> 00:06:13.470 started debating her acting skills versus her 00:06:13.470 --> 00:06:15.990 sheer movie star wattage. Yeah, John Anderson 00:06:15.990 --> 00:06:18.709 from Newsday famously called her an actress who 00:06:18.709 --> 00:06:21.069 has never really been required to act. Ouch. 00:06:21.629 --> 00:06:23.970 And others noted her characters often embody 00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:26.610 traits that are just, you know, very similar 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:29.269 to her own, which led to this concept coined 00:06:29.269 --> 00:06:33.129 by critics called Julianess. Julianess. It's 00:06:33.129 --> 00:06:35.449 such a specific term. It really is. It was used 00:06:35.449 --> 00:06:38.189 to describe this overwhelming display of confidence 00:06:38.189 --> 00:06:41.259 and charm that borders on arrogance. Right, there 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:43.000 were all those rumors of her being quote -unquote 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.759 difficult on set. Exactly. But the source highlights 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.819 a 2024 interview with Richard Curtis where she 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:52.319 finally addresses this. She explained that she 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.220 consciously chose not to appear overly friendly 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:58.139 on sets. Interesting, why? To avoid being taken 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:00.480 advantage of. She said she never intended to 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.959 hurt anyone, but she had to set a hard line. 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:05.100 And here's where it gets really interesting. 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:08.660 Julianess acts as a celebrity suit of armor. 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:11.819 A suit of armor. I like that. Right. She uses 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:15.480 that famous megawatt smile, not as an invitation, 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:18.519 but as a dazzling shield to keep the industry 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.040 at arm's length. This raises an important question 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.699 about the gender dynamics of likeability. If 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:26.399 a male star sets strict boundaries on set to 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.360 avoid exploitation, he's just focused, right? 00:07:29.379 --> 00:07:31.980 Oh, totally. He's a genius. Exactly. But when 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:34.699 Roberts does it, she's labeled difficult or edgy. 00:07:34.889 --> 00:07:38.569 the industry demands women be perpetually accommodating, 00:07:38.730 --> 00:07:41.089 she refused, and they punished her reputation 00:07:41.089 --> 00:07:43.670 for it. But she survived it. And what's fascinating 00:07:43.670 --> 00:07:45.889 is how she transitions away from that protective 00:07:45.889 --> 00:07:48.470 armor later in her career. She starts actively 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:52.220 dismantling that image to find... Well, new artistic 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:54.839 and personal truths. Yeah, the pivot post -eat 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:57.060 -prey love is really striking. She totally moves 00:07:57.060 --> 00:07:59.220 away from the rom -coms. She starts taking on 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:02.199 these complex, sometimes really unlikable character 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:05.519 -driven projects like August, Osage County, the 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.699 show Homecoming, and recently Leave the World 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:10.519 Behind. She's actively stripping away the America's 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:12.660 sweetheart expectation. And her private life 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.079 is full of these really deep explorations, too. 00:08:15.139 --> 00:08:17.600 Like, she converted to Hinduism for spiritual 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.589 satisfaction. Right, following the guru Neem 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.230 Karoli Baba. Yeah, and she even gave her children 00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:26.370 new names after Hindu gods, which is just this 00:08:26.370 --> 00:08:28.709 massive shift from the safe, conventional box 00:08:28.709 --> 00:08:30.889 people put her in. It really is. And then in 00:08:30.889 --> 00:08:33.789 2023, she goes on the show, Finding Your Roots, 00:08:34.309 --> 00:08:36.529 and she makes this shocking discovery about her 00:08:36.529 --> 00:08:40.169 DNA. Oh, the surname thing? Yes. She finds out 00:08:40.169 --> 00:08:43.210 her biological paternal great -great -grandfather 00:08:43.210 --> 00:08:46.169 was a man named Mitchell, meaning her real surname 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:49.549 isn't Roberts at all. Imagine finding out your 00:08:49.549 --> 00:08:52.809 globally famous brand name isn't even your biological 00:08:52.809 --> 00:08:55.990 name. Wild, right? But she also learned her ancestors 00:08:55.990 --> 00:08:59.250 owned slaves, and her reaction was so grounded 00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:01.929 she noted you simply cannot turn your back on 00:09:01.929 --> 00:09:04.539 history. That takes a lot of maturity to sit 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:06.840 with that kind of painful historical reality. 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:08.980 And she's also stepped into the political fray 00:09:08.980 --> 00:09:11.960 recently. Now, as a critical reminder to everyone 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:14.019 listening, we are strictly reporting what is 00:09:14.019 --> 00:09:16.159 in the source material here. We're absolutely 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.000 not taking aside or endorsing any political figures' 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:20.500 viewpoints. Right. We're just looking at the 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:23.340 facts presented in the biography. Exactly. The 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:26.500 source knows that in 2024, she made public political 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:29.539 endorsements, actively rallying for Kamala Harris 00:09:29.539 --> 00:09:33.379 and Joe Biden. which actually drew public criticism 00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:35.919 from Donald Trump. Which just shows she's willing 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:38.460 to risk alienating segments of her audience to 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:41.720 voice her convictions now. She is just so fluid, 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.039 like someone the public thought they knew completely 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:46.740 is constantly discovering new things about her 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:49.480 own name, her history, her faith. And her ability 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:52.620 to maintain a strict separation between her acting 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:54.860 career and her personal life for all those decades 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.840 is precisely what makes these glimpses into her 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.580 true self so impactful. Because she kept the 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:03.200 wall up for so long, when she does speak out 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.679 on faith or politics or her ancestry. It carries 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.220 immense weight. It really does. So let's just 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:11.039 sort of wrap up this incredible arc we've covered 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:12.919 today. I mean, we started with a hospital bill 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:16.340 paid by MLK's family to watching her become the 00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:18.460 highest paid actress in the world, shattering 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:21.279 glass ceilings and continually redefining herself 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:23.620 completely on her own terms. It's the arc of 00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:26.759 a master strategist. It truly is. And I'd love 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.570 for you, the listener. to think about the armor 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:31.929 that you wear in your own life. Like, how do 00:10:31.929 --> 00:10:34.629 you balance being approachable with fiercely 00:10:34.629 --> 00:10:36.429 protecting your own boundaries and your own worth? 00:10:36.850 --> 00:10:39.370 It's a tough balance for anyone. Julia figured 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:42.649 out how to use our biggest asset as a shield. 00:10:43.490 --> 00:10:46.429 What's your shield? And given all of this, I'll 00:10:46.429 --> 00:10:48.129 pass it to you for a final thought. Yeah, I'd 00:10:48.129 --> 00:10:50.620 leave you all with this to ponder. Given that 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:53.039 Roberts successfully maintains such a strict 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.220 impenetrable wall between her private life and 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:57.899 her public persona, could a movie star with the 00:10:57.899 --> 00:11:00.399 sheer mystique universal power and untouchable 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.120 aura of a 1990s Julia Roberts ever be created 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.159 again in today's era of mandatory social media 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:09.460 oversharing? Man, that is a great question because 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:12.679 it really feels like that era of the true untouchable 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:14.700 movie star might be gone forever. Thanks so much 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:16.019 for joining us on this deep dive.