16 facts you might not know about 'Julie & Julia'

Hey, some movie was going to do it. Some movie had to be the first based on a blog. That ended up being Julie & Julia. The film is partly based on Julia Powell’s blog, wherein she chronicled her efforts to prepare every recipe in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. All 524 of them.

In addition to the blog inspiration (and also technically Powell’s memoir based on the blog), the film is adapted from Child’s autobiographical book My Life in France, co-written with Alex Prud’homme.

Streep and Adams play Julia and Julie, respectively. They don’t share scenes, but they do share lead roles in this film. It’s not the first time the two have worked together. The two co-starred in Doubt, a decidedly less cheerful movie.

Streep and Tucci play a loving married couple in Julie & Julia. Their relationship is definitely better than the first time those two costarred. Tucci plays art director Nigel Kipling in The Devil Wears Prada, and since Streep played the titular Devil (a.k.a. Miranda Priestly), needless to say, they didn’t always get on swimmingly.

Ephron wrote and directed Julie & Julia. While Ephron had never directed Streep before, the two were not entirely unfamiliar. The actor had previously starred in Silkwood and Heartburn, both written by Ephron.

At 5’6’’, Streep is not short for a woman. The only issue? Child stood 6’2’’. To try and account for that, Streep wore particularly elevated high heels when she could, and countertops were lowered to create the sense Streep was taller.

In real life, Paul Child was 10 years older than his wife, Julia. However, Stanley Tucci, who plays Paul, is 11 years younger than Streep.

Maybe Powell had the gift of foresight. In her memoir, Steep and Tucci are referenced. They would, in turn, end up playing the Childs in the film partially based on that memoir.

The bridge teacher in the film is played by Julia Prud’homme. She’s not related to chef Paul Prudhomme, but she is related to Julia Child. The actress is her grandniece.

The song “Stop the Train” on the film’s soundtrack is by the musician Henry Wolfe. His full name is Henry Wolfe Gummer. If you know anything about Streep’s family life, you likely know she has been married to Don Gummer since 1978, and they have four children. In addition to three acting daughters, the couple’s eldest child is Wolfe.

Obviously, this is a film built heavily on food. Ephron wanted the actors to really eat the food and authentically react to how the food tasted when they ate it.

Don’t worry about the lobsters that Julie prepares in the film. The ones in the tank were real, but the ones that Julie handles are fake. By the way, it was evidently Chris Messina, who plays Julie’s husband, who came up with using “Psycho Killer” for that scene.

Not being based on IP and not being a sequel by 2009 was not ideal for a film’s upside. However, Julie & Julia still opened second at the domestic box office (behind G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, speaking of IP). In the end, it would make $94.1 million domestically and $129.5 million worldwide with a budget of $40 million.

People love Streep, and award bodies love to show her their affections. Critics groups and other assorted award blocs nominated her left and right. She was also the only nominee for an Oscar from this film. While Streep didn’t win an Oscar, she did win a Golden Globe.

When Streep was nominated for Best Actress for Julie & Julia, it was her 16th Oscar nomination. However, she lost to Sandra Bullock’s pseudo lifetime achievement award, a.k.a. her win for The Blind Side. This was the 12th time in a row that Streep had not won when nominated. That set a new record for the Academy Awards. Hey, it’s an honor just to be nominated, right?

She wrote films like When Harry Met Sally… and My Blue Heaven. She wrote and directed films like Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. Ephron was a force in movies for decades. Alas, Julie & Julia would be her last effort. In 2012, the writer and director passed away at the age of 71.