  Julia Roberts as "Elizabeth Gilbert" in Columbia Pictures' EAT, PRAY, LOVE.
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NAPA VALLEY, Calif. -- Julia Roberts has been around. But Eat Pray Love took her to new territory.
And she's not talking about the globe-trotting required to film author Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir of travel and self-discovery.
"That was one of the first situations I've been in that called for a lot of emotional availability," says the 42-year-old actress, who portrays Gilbert in Glee creator Ryan Murphy's film. "You have to find a way to relate to all of it -- and her particular journey."
It's a memorable trip. Eat Pray Love (in theatres Friday) follows a successful but depressed Manhattan writer who flees her unsatisfying marriage to spend a year roaming from Italy to India to Indonesia in search of physical, spiritual and romantic rebirth.
Roberts' personal journey with Gilbert's story began four years ago.
"I read the book before it became hugely popular," she says, holding court in a Napa Valley hotel. "I was glad about that, because I am very suggestible. So I'll be swayed. I'll be determined not to like something, or I'll be determined to like it better than four million other people."
When it came time to rework Gilbert's words (which were read by far more than four million other people) for the screen, Murphy and Roberts were determined to shoot in the same places where the events occurred -- and in the same order.
"It was a great luxury to shoot it in chronological order (for the character's) emotional evolution," says Roberts.
"And what was hugely interesting and ultimately gratifying for all of us was really making every effort to go to those places and have a more authentic experience to try to portray."
Here's what Roberts, director Murphy and castmates Javier Bardem and Richard Jenkins recall of those experiences and travels -- internal and external.
I: Eating in Italy
After recreating the dissolution of Gilbert's marriage to impulsive hubby Stephen (played by a hilariously bitter Billy Crudup) and her rebound romance with actor David (James Franco) in New York, the crew decamped for Rome, where the real Liz began to rebuild by learning to speak Italian -- and indulging in pasta, pizza, vino and gelato. Roberts may not have mastered Italiano, but she did OK with the eating.
"Ryan keeps telling people I put on 10 pounds," she says. "It was a little less than that. But I loved every pound ... They went to great, elaborate lengths to make amazing food that I had to eat endlessly. They hired people to be in charge of making it look great and taste great (and) it was all delicious."
Well, mostly.
"We went to where she had eaten pizza in Naples and got there at eight in the morning," she says, "and I proceeded to start my day with eight entire slices of pizza in 45 minutes. So the deliciousness of something wears a tiny bit after piece seven. I ate an entire slice in a take. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea."
Murphy does. The scenes of Roberts eating are "the most controversial ever captured on film," he says, only half-kidding. "Culturally right now, there's so much guilt around food. Everybody's on a diet or talking about diets. So just to have this scene where a woman eats with unabashed joy is amazing and lovely and revolutionary."
Adds Roberts of the weight: "Everyone said, 'Oh, it's going to drop right off in India. I didn't get that memo."
II: Praying in India
From Italy, Gilbert journeys to an ashram in India to seek enlightenment from a guru, but ends up getting more guidance from a wisecracking Texan played by Jenkins.
The Oscar-nominated character actor -- perhaps best known as the dead father from Six Feet Under -- says the Indian experience helped realize a childhood dream.
"I grew up watching movies in this small midwestern town," he says. "And when I became an actor, I thought, 'I'm going to see everywhere,' and I ended up seeing Toronto and Vancouver. But this is what I thought it would be like. That you would go everywhere, not just a soundstage somewhere."
Roberts -- who travelled with kids in tow -- doesn't make it sound quite as meaningful.
"Well, let's just say this," she explains. "I, as a mother, packed a 10-pound box of medicine and Band-Aids and Tylenol and things -- which I never had to open -- and a 10-pound box of snacks. That was my favourite sight -- every time I turned to that little box late at night for a granola bar."
III: Loving in Indonesia
Finally, in Bali, Gilbert hopes a kooky, Yoda-like medicine man will help her balance pleasure and devotion. Then she literally runs into Felipe, an equally love-damaged divorcé played by Oscar winner Javier Bardem. While their characters are unsure if they'll ever love again, it was a no-brainer for the stars.
"I was a little terrified to be around him after No Country for Old Men," laughs Roberts. "But Javier showed up and it was like deciding to get a puppy.
"He came in with all this gusto and enthusiasm and excitement and 'Let's have lunch' and 'Do you want to read from these scenes and go over some stuff?' and you just go, 'Nooooooo!' And then you realize, 'Oh wait, this is good. Yeah, let's have lunch, let's go over the scenes.' His excitement was so contagious.
"I said to him near the end, 'You know, I thought you'd be so intense and brooding and weird and I would have to be handling you and stuff. And you're so sweet and funny and this is so easy.' And he goes" -- she launches into a perfect impression of Bardem's deep, dark deadpan -- " 'I am not normally. I just wanted to try it once to see how it works.' "
Bardem lobs all the credit for his good mood back at his co-star.
"When you come to a set that has been working for three months, it has become family," says the Spaniard in his ragged English. "You are the new kid in town and you are insecure for hundreds of possible reasons, especially if you're working in a foreign language.
"But the moment I met her and the moment I was was on the set with her, I felt ... relaxed. It is great for an actor to feel like you are working with somebody that is creative and challenging and generous, but also makes you feel like you are there and you are part of the journey -- especially when you are working with somebody who is carrying the whole weight of the movie. Because if I were her, I would be a motherf---er."
Hey, Roberts isn't the only one who's been around.
darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca
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