Amy Adams Feel-Good True Story Is Leaving Netflix
July is almost over, which means time is running out to check out Julie & Julia on Netflix. Based on a true story, the feel-good comedy stars Amy Adams as real-life blogger Julie Powell, who attempts to cook the entirety of one of Julia Child’s most famous cookbooks and write about the experience.
The movie is one of Amy Adams’ best, and if you’re a fan of either her or acting legend Meryl Streep, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie before it leaves the streamer on August 1.
The film combines scenes of Amy Adams as Powell in the present day with flashbacks of Meryl Streep as Julia Child in the ’50s.
Julie & Julia has the distinction of being the first movie ever based on a blog as well as the last movie directed by the late Nora Ephron. Along with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, the movie stars Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci as their respective spouses.
The movie is based on both Julia Child’s autobiography My Life in France and Julie Powell’s memoir Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. The mouthful of a title was later changed to Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously.
Both versions of Powell’s memoir consist of a year’s worth of blog entries detailing the young New Yorker’s attempt to cook every dish featured in Julia Child’s 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
The film combines scenes of Amy Adams as Powell in the present day with flashbacks of Meryl Streep as Julia Child in the 50s. The scenes in the present follow Powell as she navigates her rapidly growing online following while also attempting to keep her marriage from falling apart.
Meanwhile, flashbacks to a young Julia Child as she attends Le Cordon Bleu in France and decides to collaborate on a cookbook featuring French cuisine and aimed at American housewives.
Nora Ephron began filming Julie & Julia in 2008 based on her own screenplay. The director insisted that the actors really eat the dishes shown on screen and filmed their honest reactions upon tasting them. This led to Meryl Streep gaining close to 15 pounds during filming.
Unfortunatley that extra weight didn’t result in a height increase, and several tricks had to be used on set to make the 5’6″ Meryl Streep look as tall as the statuesque Julia Child who stood at a height of 6’2.”
The film marked the second collaboration between Meryl Streep and Amy Adams following the 2007 film Doubt. Both movies resulted in an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for Streep—both of which she lost, unfortunately. Julie & Julia was Streep and Ephron’s third project together after having previously worked on 1983’s Silkwood and 1986’s Heartburn.
The director insisted that the actors really eat the dishes shown on screen and filmed their honest reactions upon tasting them.
In real life, Julia Child wasn’t a fan of Julie Powell’s blog. The famous chef found Powell’s writing to be too crude and full of “four-letter words,” which Child declared a serious cook would never use to describe food.
Child’s disdain for Powell’s blog made it into the film as a journalist informing Amy Adams’ Powell of Julia’s opinion of her writing. The revelation initially hurt the blogger, but she eventually gets over it, choosing to focus on her love and gratitude for Child and the inspiration she provided instead of her harsh assessment of Powell’s work.
The movie was a success, grossing close to $130 million worldwide on a budget of only $40 million. Critics gave mostly positive reviews to Julie & Julia, with “Boosted by Meryl Streep’s charismatic performance as Julia Child, Julie & Julia is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy” being the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes.
As good as Amy Adams is in the film, most critics agreed that Meryl Streep was the movie’s shining and that her portrayal of Julia Child was transcendent.
The last day to stream Julia & Julia on Netflix is August 1.
Julie Powell passed away last year from a heart attack caused by COVID-19 complications, but her legacy lives on through her memoirs and the film that they inspired. Julie & Julia stands today as a snapshot of two women who refused to wait for society to dictate their destinies and instead went out an actively wrote their own stories. In Powell’s case, quite literally.
The true power of Julie & Julia comes from both women’s ability to take something like cooking, which is generally considered “a woman’s job,” and use it as a means to achieve independence and fortune in a patriarchal society. Do yourself a favor and check out Julie & Julia, starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, right now on Netflix before it’s too late!
