One part of his brain is stuck in a screwball-ish snow-globe of the 1960s, its focus whirring around a plucky female standup, her story taking on both Jewishness and second-wave feminism.
“She invented the modern cooking show as we know it,” he was saying about the woman at the heart of his series. “She is guileless, a teacher at heart … has that twinkle. Doing it all on the other side of 50. But she is also full of contradictions, which is why she was so fun to write. On one hand, she is a very determined woman of a certain age who did it her way and was very forward with her thinking … some might see her as a feminist.
His own acquaintance with Julia? It came as a kid. His mother would cook from her recipes and later even wrote a cookbook herself. Mainly, he was aware of the superstar chef through the infamous Dan Aykroyd impression on “Saturday Night Live,” as well as her “hilarious and amazing David Letterman appearances” — an inextricable part of pop culture at the time. He was not, however, that familiar with her show “The French Chef” and, in preparing to create “Julia,” he dove deep into its archives.
In terms of giving it further life, the casting of Sarah Lancashire was the secret sauce . Full stop: the English actor is a delight in the role, nailing the flutiness of Child and her optimism, while adding depth and pangs of vulnerability. Goldfarb added: “She has incredibly expressive eyes. Can convey conflicting thoughts simultaneously. You can see the wheels turning and she can play the interior life of Julia, which of course you cannot get from the documentaries about her.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)