Jezebel 
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New York, 5:01 PM
Fri Nov 27
15 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/10/09
And I suspect, knowing that 'horrible' person as I do, that Ms. Ephron kept Julie away because she wanted to make a movie about a sweet, lost girl who was saved by Julia Child, not a movie about Julie Powell.
Julie Powell is a full-blooded, complicated woman who brilliantly and profanely cursed her way through the ENTIRE FUCKING COOKBOOK - not because she didn't love cooking - but because cooking French food every night for a year when you're broke and working a shitty job til 6 every night is HARD. And real lives don't have happy endings. Julia's husband (and Julia herself) died eventually. Does that ruin it?
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Stanley Tucci, who plays Child's husband, was on the panel, and he noted that her success was due in part to the fact that Paul Child was an older, accomplished, well-adjusted man who adored his wife and "allowed" her the freedom to explore her interest in French cuisine. (This was the '50s and '60s, so Tucci wasn't being patronizing).
One question that wasn't asked was whether it mattered that the Childs had no children. It's important to explore the conditions in which women can be creative. Most creative people need support and time.
08/10/09
This may be a movie about two women, but it's hardly a movie that appeals to women only. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Hollywood.
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Also: J&J had great-looking previews, including It's Complicated and The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock as an evangelical Christian lady who adopts a homeless black kid (who grows up to be Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens). I love love love that book, and am very interested in seeing the movie.
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One thing that totally jumped out at me was that they made the Julie character much less angry and much less profane than her persona in the blog. I suspect the profanity was to get the PG-13 rating (and Stanley Tucci gets the best cursing line in the movie!), which becomes confusing when [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER] it turns out that Child did not like Powell's work. If you don't know that Powell was cursing the fuck out of every single dish she made, you can't imagine why Child wouldn't be flattered by the project. My friend who hadn't read the book was confused.
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08/10/09
Apparently they had to keep the real Julie Powell away from Amy Adams during filming, because she's actually a horrible person. Plus the new book is all about her cheating on her husband. That kind of ruins it for me. :(
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Yeah, I can see that. But I think it contributes to what you said above, about her lack of enjoyment. What makes Julia Child so great was that she took SUCH joy in what she was doing. With Powell, it just seems so contrived - I'm going to do this gimicky thing to get a book deal, and even though I hate it, I'm going to curse and emotionally abuse my husband and force it to work! You know?
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08/07/09
I can put people in their proper historical place, but I always put Jimmy Stewart on the shortlist of dead stars I would love to have dinner with (as well as Bette Davis, though I wouldn't serve any liquor) and now that I know he would probably hate me..well it kind of sucks. But maybe all of that time in hell will have softened him up some.
08/07/09