Elsbeth Star Carrie Preston Finally Explains Why Julia Roberts Was 'Mean' on the Duplicity Set
Elsbeth star Carrie Preston says Julia Roberts purposely turned ‘mean’ on the Duplicity set to sharpen an intense scene — and it was exactly the push she needed.
Actors have all kinds of little tricks to get a scene where it needs to go. Carrie Preston just shared one that involved Julia Roberts warning her she was about to be... not friendly. And Preston says it was exactly the push she needed.
How we got here
On Jesse Tyler Ferguson's 'Dinner's On Me' podcast, the 'Elsbeth' star looked back at shooting Tony Gilroy's 2009 movie 'Duplicity' and an 'intense' day she spent opposite Roberts. Before cameras rolled, Roberts hugged her and gave her a heads-up that she was about to go cold.
'I saw her earlier in the day. She gave me a big hug and then she said, "I’m gonna be mean to you for the rest of the day." She gave me a fair warning; she was just like, "I’m gonna be mean. I’m just not gonna talk to you for the rest of the day." And it was exactly what I needed.'
The scene (quick refresher)
- Preston plays Barbara Bofferd, who confides in Roberts' character, Claire, that she slept with Ray, played by Clive Owen.
- Complication: Claire and Ray are rival corporate spies who are secretly a couple.
- So Claire has to swallow her fury and stay composed while Barbara spills the truth.
Why the cold shoulder mattered
Preston says walking into that setup meant high stakes and even higher pressure. She barely knew the crew, they had rehearsed the scene almost not at all, and she had to deliver a cry-on-cue moment while Roberts laser-focused on her with total, icy stillness. In her words, it felt like the most high-pressure acting day she had faced up to that point.
When the call came that the cameras were ready, she sat down, Roberts locked in, and the emotional thaw started. The tears came. The scene landed.
Mean on purpose
Preston and Ferguson both landed on the same read of Roberts' approach: it likely wasn't about Roberts protecting her own process so much as giving Preston the perfect environment to get to the right place emotionally. It sounds harsh, but in this case, the calculated distance worked like a scene partner doing you a favor by making your job a little easier, even if it feels tougher in the moment.