A true story about the covert ops of former congressman Charlie Wilson and the efforts that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Roberts plays wealthy socialite Joanne Herring, Wilson's ex-fiancee who helped his clandestine cause.

With Charlie Wilson's War already getting Oscar buzz by the week leading up to its release on December 21, we were lucky enough to be on-hand while Julia Roberts recently chatted to the press about what it was like to play Joanne Herring, how roles have evolved for her in the last few years, her next project, and what it's like to be a mom.

Julia Roberts on whether she saw it as a challenge to play an older character:

"I didn’t. If they asked me to play 30 I would do it without thinking. She’s [her character] just so great, it’s not about stuff like that to get kind of hung up. If anything, I was just wanting to look as much like her as I could, and she is very open about that. She’s had plastic surgery and stuff, so I was trying to do things with my face to make it appear as though I was 50, but I had had some work done. So it was an interesting challenge to do that."

Julia Roberts on Joanne Herring:

"She’s so passionate, and I think she’s a woman that is really driven by her belief in fairness and justice and religion. She’s very Christian, she’s a true Christian Southern woman. So what I really respect about Joanne is that she absolutely has strong beliefs and does not deviate from those beliefs. She really stands up for things and we just don¹t see that a lot today. People kind of, yeah, I kind of think that and a little bit this, and she just knows exactly who she is and the way she was raised and how she views the world."

On not being publicly open with her own opinions:

"For me, I just don’t feel that it’s incredibly necessary or interesting. Why should anybody give two sh*ts what I think unless you are my friend or my neighbor. People do care what celebrities think, but it’s such a hollow care, really. I guess, you know what it is, I’ve seen actors on TV start talking about their politics or their this or their that or their religion and stuff, and I just think, ‘You are putting me off. I just want to see your inventions of things.’ I don’t need to know every single little thing. I remember that moment that I remember thinking that people don’t really want to know. And it’s nicer if you don’t. It’s nicer if you don’t have all those little voices in the back of your head when you are watching somebody in a movie."

Roberts on how her roles have evolved in the last few years:

"I think, as one gets older and more complicated I think the parts that come are sort of more interesting, complicated parts. Obviously 20-year-old girls can’t play Anna in Closer. So yeah, I really am enjoying the parts that I’m getting offered to play, and enjoying that I can just do a jewel of a movie like this and get to come out and support it in a way that a day of press is almost fun. When it’s something that’s very unusual for me to do now, and I can see my pals that I made this movie with that I get to support a movie I really loved making and I think is such a nice movie experience for people. And I get to see you guys."

On whether Charlie Wilson's War contains a message about today's culture in the Middle East:

"I think first of all to say - I think, if you are eluding to is there a message, like an after movie from the point that the movie ends, and I think there is a message from long before the movie begins, just a timeline of our world and the events and how things happened. But to me this movie is a total character piece. This is about people and heart and passion and chemistry and focus on the ability to accomplish things. This blew the doors off. I couldn’t believe that this happened. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t know anything about any of this. It’s phenomenal. And I think to look at these three people to see the different concepts of their power and what they do with it and who they are and how they lead their lives, I think it’s so fascinating and in a way, inspiring to say how much can really be accomplished."

On the elements that she wasn't expecting from the project:

"I just think it’s pretty incredible to imagine this socialite in Houston, really just with a passion and a conviction for what was going on in Afghanistan, and basically feeling like this is not a fair fight, that it would be un-Christian of her to be so aware of this and do nothing. And for that thought and that heart to compel her to such a degree that she basically got the ball rolling and got Charlie involved and all these other things, and how Gus came into play. Everything really just starts with the passion about something, whatever it is, good, bad, or otherwise. And she was just so strong willed and could not be deterred from what she thought was the right thing to do. I think it’s quite impressive."

Julia Roberts on whether the momentum of career has slowed down:

"Oh god, yeah. I wasn’t really cranking a lot of movies out anyway. I’ve just never really been that driven to go, go, go because I think you have to take time to recover and enjoy and do other things and keep sort of replenishing that well. And I think I’ve always been one to appreciate that luxury of being able to have a certain pace to things. But I think for sure now it’s just great to have my day so full and busy with such different kinds of things."

Julia Roberts Interview Page 2