Unlike other recent food film releases, Julie & Julia is not trying to make a statement about rejecting corn syrup or starting a compost pile. As director Nora Ephron said in a preview for food and film bloggers yesterday (it officially opens on August 7), it's about the joy of cooking, eating, and living. And a lot of buttah. The French onion soup appears in a happy montage scene between Julie and Julia. "I've never gone through so much butter before," said food stylist and former Martha Stewart Living food editor Susan Spungen who worked on the film. But her biggest challenge was making cheese look melty on screen. It had to be hot enough to stretch "from the... More

Ladies Home Journal talk to actresses Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, and director Nora Ephron of the upcoming movie Julie & Julia about food, love, and their careers. Also, Meryl Streep's and Amy Adam's favorite Julia Child recipes. Related: Julie & Julia Trailer Now Available Online... More

Sure, it's blink and you'll miss it, but if you're keen on seeing some of the first bits of Julie & Julia, take a gander here (after the jump). At the end of Sunday night's Oscars, the show ran quick previews of 2009 movies starring 2008 nominees. Someone was kind enough to snip the eight-second reel of this Meryl Streep–Amy Adams project based on the Julie Powell book. [via The Food Section]... More

About a month ago I got an email from Nora's assistant, J. J., saying Nora wanted me to be an extra in the movie. How could I say no? In one of the emails, J.J. said something along the lines of "There's no speaking lines for you yet." To me, that meant it was only a matter of time until the brilliant Nora Ephron figured out what words she'd be putting in my mouth. More