Julie And Julia Page #9

---

in a plaid jacket."

- So...

- You and Avis have never met?

We're just pen pals.

You don't know each other?

Well, we do. We write.

But how did you start writing one another?

That's a long story.

Avis' husband, Bernard De Voto, now dead,

was a wonderful, wonderful writer.

He wrote an article in Harper's Magazine

all about stainless steel knives

- and how he absolutely detested them.

- Yes.

And so I wrote him a fan letter

because he was 100% right

and Avis wrote me back.

And so I wrote her back.

And she wrote me back.

Well, it's been eight years, I think.

- Avis.

- Julia.

- My darling friend.

- Look at you.

Brilliant friend. Bless you.

This is a very impressive undertaking,

Mrs. Child and Mrs. Beck.

Well, thank you very, very much.

And your editor loves it.

I do. I think it's brilliant.

There's really nothing else like it

on the market.

- The problem is not just the length.

- It's 700 pages.

- Yes, we know. It is long.

- Yes, we know it's long.

You have 700 pages

of just sauce and poultry recipes.

We were thinking that you could publish it

in a series of volumes.

Volume One, Sauces.

- Volume Two...

- Poultry.

Yes.

Volume Three, Fish.

Meat, vegetables, and desserts.

That's one, two, three... That's six volumes.

Eggs.

- Eggs.

- Eggs. Seven. Seven volumes.

But we don't want to publish

an encyclopedia.

I thought this was intended for housewives.

Yes, housewives want something quick,

with a mix.

Like this.

But if I may speak for everyone,

if you were willing to revise it,

I'm sure we would all be interested.

Simca, I am so sorry.

You just picked the wrong collaborator.

Yes, I should have worked with this woman,

"Baked Alaska in a Flower Pot."

We'll just take the book away from

Houghton Mifflin and find another publisher.

We have just begun to fight.

Julia, your book is a masterpiece.

What is Marshmallow Fluff?

And keep the advance, by the way.

Keep the entire $250.

Don't give them back a penny of it.

Why did we ever decide to do this anyway?

What were we thinking?

Who can remember?

I can.

We wanted to write a French cookbook

for American women who do not have cooks.

So then, that's what we'll do.

We'll just do it all over again.

And that's that. It'll be easy.

It will. The dessert section is done.

Thanks to Simca, it is brilliant.

Thank you.

I just haven't typed it up yet.

But that will give me something to do

in Oslo.

Eric, come see

the world's most beautiful chicken.

Naughty.

Wow.

Oh, my God.

It feels so good. No, I'm serious. I love it!

I just want to savor this moment.

The moment when anything is possible.

The moment that you can just imagine

they're going to love everything you did

and it's going to sell a million copies

and change the world.

Yes. But I think

it calls for a great bottle of wine.

- Don't you think?

- Yes.

What's for dinner?

What if she doesn't eat pork?

She's a food writer. Of course she eats pork.

You'll be fine. You'll be fine.

You're right. I know you're right.

I'm sure you're right.

- Is she early?

- She's right on time.

- I'll finish, I'll finish.

- Thank you, thank you.

You are a terrible human being.

And very difficult to live with.

Who is it?

Amanda Hesser from The New York Times.

Come in.

You have such a sense of Julia

when you do something like this,

as a teacher, as a voice.

I have conversations with her

while I'm cooking.

And I feel like she is there with me

in the kitchen.

She's like your imaginary friend.

Yes.

And, of course,

she is the person I write for every day.

Although, I don't think she ever reads it.

I don't know.

I'm dying to meet her.

I would like to be a bridesmaid

in her wedding in 1946.

I realize that that would take

an inexplicable episode of time travel,

but that is the sort of thing

that I think about.

We're planning a pilgrimage

to Julia's Cambridge kitchen

in the Smithsonian museum

when this is over.

But first, I have to finish.

I have 15 days and 24 recipes,

and I still have to bone a duck.

I read somewhere that it was bad form

to say "yum" while you're eating, but "yum."

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,

this is Julie Powell. Please hold.

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,

this is Julie Powell. Can you hold?

- Yes.

- Great.

- Lower Manhattan Development...

- Julie, it's Sarah.

The New York Times. I can't believe it!

I know. I know, I know, I know, I know.

Can I call you back?

I have to call you back. Hold on.

Hello, this is Julie Powell.

How can I help you?

- Hi.

- Hey.

Guess what? Messages on machine?

Sixty-five.

- Sixty-five?

- Sixty-five.

If this is the Julie Powell in this morning's

New York Times, this is Judy Clain.

I'm an editor at Little Brown

and I wanted to talk to you about

whether you were interested

in writing a book.

You can call me at (212) 049-0067.

Hi, this is Sarah Chalfant.

I am a literary agent.

I don't know if you have an agent,

but I would love to talk to you

about representing you.

- I'm a producer at the CBS Morning News.

- Eric, I'm going to be a writer!

You are a writer.

This is Ruth Spungen,

I'm an editor at Food & Wine Magazine.

Please give me a call at (212) 157-3245.

- I have to make a pear tart.

- Later.

Hi. It's Mom. You're in The New York Times!

I can't tell ya, everybody is calling.

And Aunt Jessie's cousin Dorrie in Abilene,

the one with the husband

who won the pie-eating contest

and is a crossword puzzle nut,

they have a subscription to

The New York Times. They saw it in Abilene.

Everyone is so excited!

This is Ken Dryer.

I'm an editor at Random House,

and I just read your blog and it's great.

And we'd love to publish something.

I'm an editor at Bon Apptit.

Hi, I'm a producer at the Food Network.

We'd love to meet with you.

- Talk to you.

- We have some ideas.

I don't know whether you're thinking of

turning this into...

- A book.

- A movie.

- A television series.

- A one-woman show.

- Call me.

- Call me.

Call me.

Thank you, God.

Gimlets.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

- Hi, this is Julie.

- And Eric.

- And we are busy cooking.

- And blogging.

And other stuff, so leave a message.

- You make them better.

- I just make them stronger.

Hi, it's Barry Ryan

from the Santa Barbara News-Press,

and I'm writing an article about

Julia Child's 90th birthday

and I asked her about your blog,

and, frankly, she was kind of a pill about it

so I thought maybe you'd want to comment.

Hello?

Yes, it is.

She said that?

Julia Child said that?

Has she read my blog?

No, I don't really wanna comment.

But thank you for calling.

Julia hates me.

Jule?

They hate us.

Who?

Houghton Mifflin.

- They don't hate you.

- They do. They absolutely do.

No, they say the book is good.

But they don't want to publish it.

Well, they think it's too expensive.

They think it's "economically prohibitive."

Eight years of our lives

just turned out to be something for me to do

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes