Julia Roberts has defended her new #MeToo-themed film, After the Hunt, from accusations that it revives anti-feminist arguments, saying humanity was at risk of “losing the art of conversation”.
The Oscar-winning actor is making her Venice film festival debut with the psychological thriller from the Italian director Luca Guadagnino. It premieres out of competition on the Lido on Friday evening.
The drama is set in the world of higher education and stars Roberts as a beloved professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (the Bear’s Ayo Edebiri) makes an accusation of assault against her friend and colleague (Andrew Garfield). The cast also includes Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny.
Unsurprisingly, the film’s exploration of conflict and power dynamics spilled into a press conference on Friday, where the first question to Roberts was whether the drama undermined feminist principles.
“Not to be disagreeable because it’s not in my nature,” Roberts responded with a smile. “I don’t think it’s just reviving an argument of women being pitted against each other or not supporting each other. There’s a lot of old arguments that get rejuvenated in this movie in a way that does create conversation.
“The best part of your question is that you all came out of the theatre talking about it. That’s how we wanted it to feel. You realise what you believe in strongly because we stir it all up for you. So, you’re welcome,” the star said jokingly.
Guadagnino added: “We are looking at people in their truths. Everyone has their own truths. It’s not that one truth is more important than another.
“And from the perspective of film-makers and artists, how do we see the clash of truth, and what is the boundary of these truths together? It’s not about making a manifesto to revive old-fashioned values.”
There were several more questions about the film’s politics and whether it was attempting to stoke controversy. Roberts and Edebiri were also asked what had attracted them to playing “troubled women”.
“Trouble is where the juicy stuff is,” Roberts said. “It’s like dominos of conflict, once one falls, then suddenly everywhere you turn, there’s some new piece of conflict and challenge. That’s what makes it worth getting up and going to work in the morning.”
“That’s how you grow,” Edebiri said. “That’s the type of movie I enjoy watching.”
Roberts explained that working on After the Hunt reminded her of Bruce Beresford’s 1983 drama Tender Mercies, which followed a former country music star whose career and relationship with his ex-wife and daughter are wrecked by alcoholism.
“I just thought there was something magical about the idea that a camera just landed in a place and happened to document what was going on where it landed. That’s how I feel about this movie,” she said.
“It’s not so much that we’re making a statement. We’re just sharing these lives for this moment, and then we want everyone to go away and talk to each other. That, to me, is the most exciting bit because we’re kind of losing the art of conversation in humanity right now.”
Elsewhere, Guadagnino was asked why the opening credits appeared to hark back to the classic font used in the credits of many films directed by Woody Allen. “The crass answer would be why not,” he replied.
“When I started thinking about this movie with my collaborators, we couldn’t stop thinking of Crimes and Misdemeanors or Another Woman, or even Hannah and Her Sisters. And there was an infrastructure to the story that felt very linked to the great oeuvre of Woody Allen between 1985 and 1991.
“It also felt like an interesting nod to thinking of an artist who has been facing some sort of problems with his being. And what is our responsibility in looking at the work of an artist that we love like him? And by the way, that font is a classic,” Guadagnino said.