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Julia Roberts Is Ready for Weird

Julia Roberts spent decades carefully crafting an image. Now, she’s actively dismantling it. She wants to do things that scare her, and that includes working with filmmakers who push boundaries.

“I really felt this desire to just… disrupt,” Roberts says, sitting in a sun-drenched room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. She’s talking about her recent choices in projects, a noticeable shift from the rom-coms and dramas that defined much of her career. She’s currently promoting Gaslit, a Starz series were she plays Martha Mitchell, a socialite and whistleblower in the watergate scandal. It’s a far cry from pretty Woman.

Her collaboration with Luca Guadagnino on an upcoming, as-yet-untitled project is a prime example. guadagnino, known for films like Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria, isn’t known for safe, mainstream fare. “Luca is fantastic, and he’s just… a little bit of a madman,” Roberts laughs. “And I like that. I really like that.”

Roberts admits she used to be more concerned with maintaining a certain level of control over her public persona. Now, she’s embracing the unexpected. “I think I was at a point where I just wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t try to steer the ship so much,” she explains. “I’m not going to spend my time doing things that don’t feel creatively stimulating.”

This isn’