Julie Powell on ‘Julie and Julia’

After watching the movie, Julie & Julia, I craved butter. I craved lots of it. Amongst all the delicious and decadent food scenes in this movie, I craved butter. I wanted to eat a stick of it – which isn’t as bad as it sounds.

More than that, I had this appetite to pick the brain of the real Julie Powell. Portrayed in the movie by the always delectable Amy Adams, Julie is 29-years-old and she, like many of us at that age (including myself), is lost.

Julie Powell, the author of the book, The julie/Julia Project. (AP Photo/Little, Brown and Company)

Julie sets a goal to cook all 524 recipes in Julie Child’s (played by Meryl Streep in the film) acclaimed cookbook, Mastering the Art of French cooking and blog about it. It wasn’t necessarily an “A-HA!” moment for the real Julie Powell, but it was more of a project for herself.

“I didn’t know much about Julia when I started the blog,” says Julie. “I immediately started to glean as much as I could. I read her biography My Life in France and one of the things I was struck by was that she started cooking later in life. She started to cook when she was 37 and that was one of the things that inspired me. I was 29 – I thought my life was going to be over at 30 because I haven’t figured out who I was! This woman – a literal and figurative giant in our culture– didn’t even begin that journey until she was in her mid-30s. That was refreshing for me.”

While all of this is going on in the movie, it flashes to Paris where Julia Child is trying to find herself as well, making an interesting storyline that is joined at the hip.

Julie’s project wasn’t really just a hobby, it became more for her. As she plowed through her recipes, she was slowly coming into her own. I had a chance to chat with the real Julie Powell and she gave me some insight into how it was like working with the director and screenwriter, Nora Ephron and why boning a duck can induce a sweaty brow.

When you were writing your blog, did you immediately see a parallel between Julia Child’s life and your own?

As I continued through that year (of cooking) and working on the book, I tried to learn more about her by reading her archived letters. My book is not built the same way as the movie. The structure in the book tells her story up to that moment when she goes to Cordon Bleu Cooking School which is the moment that changes her life; whereas my story is from that moment of deciding to cook my way though Mastering the Art of French Cooking and forward. I do think there are parallels and I think Nora (Ephron) brings them up in the movie very well.

From the moment you heard this was going to become a film and throughout the whole process, how have you been feeling? Is it surreal?

Clearly it’s surreal! Once Amanda Hesser wrote that article in the New York Times about me, my world exploded that day – the “surreality” has been ramping up since. From my book deal to the movie to Nora Ephron being involved – surreal has been kind of normal for me. I’ve gotten to the point where I accept each new bizarre development as an addition to the “crazy family.” (laughs)

When you were watching Amy Adams play you, were you getting all nostalgic?

I actually didn’t spend time with Amy. I spent time with Nora early on when she was working on the script and it became her baby. When it came time to film, I think Nora, Amy and Chris (Messina), who plays my husband, Eric, all sat down and discussed how they wanted to approach it. They decided for clarity’s sake, they would develop the characters from the script and reading the book rather than meeting me. Amy Adams is a wonderful actress and I think she does a lovely job in the movie; but the Julie Powell of the movie is not me. It’s a fictional character that shares my name, history and experience. It’s a character in a romantic comedy. She’s “softer” than I am; nicer than I am – she doesn’t curse as much as I do (laughs). She sort of lacks a certain self-awareness that I, as a writer, had to have – and this is sort of necessary for the script and what Nora was doing. It was essential that I notice certain things about myself. Julie in the movie doesn’t need that in the movie. In fact, too much self-awareness in that character would get distracted and complicated in the movie.

Amy Adams playing a Julie Powell – apparently she doesn’t curse as much…

How did Julia Child’s book, My Life in France get thrown into mix?

When the movie rights were first bought by an independent producer named Eric Steel – he did that documentary, The Bridge. He’s this fascinating guy and we’re friends. He’s sort of a dark guy that likes to do these idiosyncratic things. It was going to be this little idiosyncratic movie. As soon as Nora came on and decided to weave in Julia’s book, we immediately knew it was going to be a different than my book – which is great. They compliment one another.

You started this blog in the infancy of the fad. How familiar were with blogging? And in the movie, Eric (the husband) says that blogging is a self-centered thing? What are your thoughts on that?

I was not familiar with the technology or the medium. The movie is almost a “period” piece. I knew less about blogs than the Julie in the movie knew about blogs. I wanted to be a writer. I was frustrated. I loved to cook so my subject matter was at hand. My husband suggested I start a blog and I was like, “I don’t know what that is.” It was some new thing. So I started it with zero idea of what I was getting into. It was a self-centered act – but using the word “self-centered” is disingenuous because (a blog) is focused on self, voice and tone. It was designed to help me. I had no idea what the medium could do. It was an online diary. I just got very lucky. I happened upon the medium in its infancy. I didn’t have to work very hard to get people to read me – I wouldn’t know how. (laughs) In its birth, for me, blogging was a way for people to sound their barbaric yawn and express themselves in any idiosyncratic way the wanted to. Now, blogging is a profession and a full time job. I think there are people who blog and there are bloggers. I’m a person who blogs. I just don’t have the wherewithal or fortitude to blog in the how it demands.

What was your favorite moment in that year of cooking?

Boning the duck. I was terrified. I was sweating. It was August and I bought this knife special. I was sitting there and I knew I couldn’t do it. It was the second to last recipe. When I did it; with minimal fuss it was like the skies opened up for me and the Hallelujah chorus played. It was really the pinnacle for me.

Julie & Julia is in theaters today.