Julia Roberts was ‘picked on’ by ‘Steel Magnolias’ director: ‘It was awful’
“Steel Magnolias” helped shape Julia Roberts’ career as a leading lady in Hollywood.
However, according to co-star Sally Field, the late director of the 1989 dramedy, Herbert Ross, was “very, very, very hard on Julia.”
Field, 77, opened up in an interview with Vulture about filming the beloved movie and how she and the cast — Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Olympia Dukakis — kept an eye on the now-56-year-old actress on set.
The “Forrest Gump” star noted that Ross “picked on” Roberts.
“If you ever talk to Julia, she’ll tell you,” Field said in her profile.
“We would all rally around Julia, because she was the baby. She was sort of the newcomer. And she was wonderful, and he just picked on her,” the Oscar winner continued. “It was awful.”
“The Secret of My Success” director — who died in 2001 — “could be a real son of a bitch,” Field joked.
“Some people just need to have somebody they pick on,” she said.
“But we all came to her aid, and I remember Dolly once just turned on him — always with humor, but usually the most vulgar humor you ever heard, so that it was like, you just literally don’t have a leg to stand on,” the “Mrs. Doubtfire” actress added.
Field also explained that Ross treated her differently “because he dared not.”
“I mean, I don’t mind notes, but I will argue if it doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “But if you’re gonna be mean to me, then you’re gonna find a warrior. I may be small, but you don’t want to do that.”
“Steel Magnolias” is an adaptation of Robert Harling’s 1987 play of the same name and chronicled the exploits of a group of tightknit women in the South.
The story was then adapted into a 2012 Lifetime movie, starring Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, Alfre Woodard, Phylicia Rashād and Lance Gross.
Latifah, 53, told The Post at the time why she was hesitant at first to re-create the 1980s classic.
“Obviously, I took pause,” she sighed, adding that she was “lassoed” into the production by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.
The “Bringing Down the House” star portrayed M’Lynn, the role played by Field in the original movie.
“I wasn’t intimidated at all,” Latifah told “Good Morning America” in 2012. “I was really excited, especially when we got the cast that we did.”
“It’s such a great story about friendship and family and relationships and being with each other through the ups and downs,” she said.
