Julia Roberts: 'When I'm in crisis I speak to Obama'

Julia Roberts, winner of the Premio Donostia 2010, on Monday afternoon presented her latest movie Eat Pray Love at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The film features as part of the Festival''s Official Section, though it is not competing. Roberts was joined by her co-star Javier Bardem. The two have become the darlings of this year''s Festival and showed a united front during the press conference, in which both refused to accept any questions regarding their personal life.

Julia Roberts, who smiled throughout the conference, also answered a question from eitb.com. The question, sent in by Maitane Lagarreta via Facebook, was regarding the responsibility of an actor when portraying a real person, as the actress does in her latest movie (playing Elizabeth Gilbert) as well as in several previous ones, including Erin Brokovich, for which she won an Oscar. (For the answer, watch the related video).

During the conference, Roberts also recalled an incident in which Javier Bardem almost ran her over with a car, and received a txapela (Basque beret) from (Eitb TV program) ''Euskadi Directo''. With regard to the near-death experience, Bardem light-heartedly insisted that directors never believe him when he says he doesn''t drive and always include a car in his movies.

Roberts said that, like the main character of Eat Pray Love, Liz Gilbert, she is in a state of continual crisis. In order to get her through, she said she "speaks with Obama" adding "I hope I don''t get into trouble with Mrs Obama!"

Directed by Ryan Murphy and also starring Richard Jenkins, Eat Pray Love is based on a bestseller of the same title written by the writer and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert. The film tells the story of a woman who embarks upon a journey, both real and spiritual, around India after her divorce. Roberts said she first read the book in 2006 and later, "during dinner" with Ryan Murphy, was offered the role.