Let’s find out what radical decision Julia Roberts made after filming this movie.
Directed by Ryan Murphy, Eat Pray Love premiered in theaters in 2010. The film is an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.
The story follows 28-year-old New York writer Elizabeth Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts. On the surface, she has everything one could want: a husband, a spacious apartment, and a successful career. Yet one day she realizes she no longer recognizes herself and feels emotionally empty.
After a painful divorce and an unsuccessful relationship with a young actor, she sets off on a year-long journey — first to Rome, then to an ashram in India (a spiritual retreat for sages and hermits in ancient India), and finally to Bali. Over the course of this journey, Elizabeth rediscovers her zest for life and begins to experience genuine emotions, far removed from the pretense of her former existence.
Eat Pray Love follows Elizabeth Gilbert’s real-life experience of leaving her husband and home at the age of 32 before escaping to Bali, where she met a healer who predicted that she would return and work with him. After her divorce, Gilbert spent four months in Italy indulging in food, four months in India exploring spirituality through prayer, and concluded the year in Bali in search of love. During this time, she documented her journey, which later became the basis for her bestselling book.
How did the film change Julia Roberts’ life?
Filmed in the U.S. (New York), Italy (Naples), India (Pataudi), and Indonesia (Bali), the movie was shot on the actual locations described in the book, and the scenes were filmed in chronological order. This project had a profound personal impact on Roberts. Following the shoot, she converted to Hinduism. Moreover, Eat Pray Love became one of her major professional successes since Mona Lisa Smile, released in 2004.
