Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges are starring in the Oscar hopeful “Ben Is Back.” That begs the question — who is Ben? And what is he coming back from? Deco’s Chris Van Vliet has the answers, we hope.
I’ll admit that when I first saw the title of this movie months ago, I thought it was supposed to be said like this: “Ben. Is. Back!” Then I saw it, and after wiping away the tears, I realized that it might be more appropriate to say it like this, “Ben, is back.”
Julia Roberts (as Holly Burns): “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”
Lucas Hedges (as Ben Burns): “Hi, Mom.”
That’s Ben, and he’s back — back from spending the last few months in rehab for a drug addition. It’s Christmas Eve, and he’s surprised his family by getting out early.
But not everyone is happy to see him.
Julia Roberts (as Holly Burns): “He’s clearly doing better.”
Kathryn Newton (as Ivy Burns): “Then why are you hiding everything?”
Julia Roberts stars as Ben’s mom, Ben is played by Lucas Hedges, and the movie is directed by Lucas’ real life dad, Peter Hedges.
Chris Van Vliet: “I think that people assume that if it’s your dad directing this film, that you’d be in the film, but it was actually Julia. You suggested that Lucas should be in the film.”
Julia Roberts: “I’m going to take full responsibility for you being in this film. When I read it, I pictured Lucas doing it. He was fantastic in my mind, and I was like a dog with a bone, I couldn’t get away from it.”
As the story unfolds, we see how much Ben’s battle with addiction has torn apart his family, and some of those scenes are heart-wrenching.
Chris Van Vliet: “What is the mood like on set when you know that you’re going to have a really emotional scene?”
Lucas Hedges: “I use music a lot, and I just like to sort of engineer that in a way so that when I get there, I feel like the canvas is prime.”
Lucas Hedges (as Ben Burns): “You need to go home. If you really knew me, you’d be done with me.”
Julia Roberts (as Holly Burns): “I know you.”
Lucas Hedges (as Ben Burns): “No, you don’t, mom. You don’t know me.”
The movie shows us a turbulent 24 hours where we learn that no matter what Ben does, his mother won’t give up on him.
Chris Van Vliet: “If you pulled into that driveway and saw a character from your past on your front doorstep, who would you most likely want to see there and who you least likely want to see there?”
Julia Roberts: “I guess I would most want to see in my driveway Daisy from ‘Mystic Pizza.’ I have some questions. I want to see how it’s going for her.”
Julia Roberts (as Daisy): “I’m not going to be slinging pizza for the rest of my life.”
Chris Van Vliet: “And who, if you saw them in your driveway, would you go, ‘Oh, no. I don’t want to have to talk to her.'”
Julia Roberts: “My character from ‘Mother’s Day.’ She was nice, but super chatty.”
Julia Roberts (as Miranda Collins): “Also a trait to hold on to.”
And I think I’d be remiss if we went this whole time without addressing Julia’s unicorn sweater.
Chris Van Vliet: “What a fantastic sweater, by the way.”
Julia Roberts: “Thank you.”
Chris Van Vliet: “It’s very nice.”
“Ben Is Back” opens in South Florida theaters Dec. 21. I was so curious whether Julia Roberts was going to name her “Pretty Woman” character as one of those. I’m thinking she’d be happy to see her. It did get her an Oscar nomination.
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