Julia Roberts talks her struggles related to her ‘After The Hunt’ character

Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Julia Roberts couldn’t merge with her role in the new movie, After The Hunt, because of her contrasting personality.

Roberts initially found it difficult to get into the skin of a woman who doesn’t have a progressive or growing personality in the movie.

In an interview published on Thursday, September 18, with Variety, Roberts and her co-stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, and director Luca Guadagnino talked about their new academia-themed drama.

When the Oscar winner was asked about the hardest part, she said it was “not being sympathetic and empathetic.”

"For me as a person, it’s like, 'Oh, how can I hold her?' And she was not to be held. This was not the time," Roberts said.

The Golden Globe winner played a steely university professor named Alma, who navigates a sexual assault accusation levied by a student named Maggie (Edebiri) against Alma's colleague Hank (Garfield).

"I have a very hen-like personality; I want to gather, and I want to feed and care. And she’s just the opposite of every instinct I’ve ever had in my life," Roberts said of her character.

The actress further added that it was very exhausting for her because “the mental gymnastics of the way she lives her life [are] very unfamiliar to me."

By the end, however, she appreciated director Guadagnino, who allowed her to stay "on the right rails at all times.”

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