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Cooking Lessons

LHJ: Similarly, Amy's character, Julie, got to spend most of the movie in sneakers and jeans. Was that liberating?

Adams: Absolutely, it's closer to home. It was great to not have to worry about if I looked attractive or not, because that can be a little overwhelming.

LHJ: I heard for this movie you all learned how to cook.

Streep: Yeah, I got a lot of good tips. Mostly what I learned has to do with equipment and how to use it right. You need a very good pan and if you don't have a really good pan, it's never going to work. And always cook at a high heat. The other thing I learned was, and I've been cooking for hundreds of years, that if you have garlic and onions on your fingertips, if you dip your hands in salt and then rinse them in cool water, the smell goes right away.

LHJ: That's a useful tip.

Streep: And always sharpen your knives, otherwise you can't cook right and everything takes 10 times longer and you get really mad.

LHJ: How hard was it to nail Julia Child's way of talking?

Streep: Nora said, "You're not really Julia Child, you're Julie's idea of Julia Child." So that gave me the freedom to not replicate her so much as to try to find the particular spirit that I kept reading about.

Ephron: One of her friends said that she was like a Christmas tree. She was joyful.

Streep: In a way, it was a perfect moment to pay tribute to my mother, who was sort of that person in my life. She was somebody who turned the lights on when she came into a room. I have a much more reserved side. But I've always wanted to be more like her, so playing Julia gave me the chance.

LHJ: Okay, so how much weight did you all put on making this movie?

Streep: I gained 15 pounds. I'm still trying to lose it. It was worth it.

LHJ: What about you, Amy?

Adams: I was very grateful that my character wasn't about her physique. Let's just put it that way.

Ephron: But you didn't gain a whole lot of weight did you?

Adams: No, but I ate a lot.

Ephron: Well that's one of the things that I said in rehearsal -- everyone had to eat in the scenes. These actors just really went for it.