There have been a lot of popular Julia Roberts movies over the years but her role in Erin Brockovich is amazing. It isn’t just the fact that her portrayal of a real person is spot on, it’s the fact that they do it without a lot of special effects.
Many people who have watched Erin Brockovich are amazed by every moment of the movie. That is why we put together some of the interesting facts about the movie so that you will know them the next time you see it.
Something that you may not realize is that the real life Erin Brockovich shows up at the beginning of the movie. She is a waitress in one of the opening scenes, when Julia Roberts and her children stop off for a snack.
Interestingly, she played a waitress named Julia while Julia Roberts was playing her in the movie. She said that it was like an out of body experience. She also claimed that she had butterflies out of nervousness.
Many people are aware of the cameo from the real-life Erin Brockovich but did you know that the real-life lawyer, Ed Masry
is also in the movie? In that same diner scene, he is in the background.
In speaking with the real-life Erin Brockovich, we learned that the film is about 99% accurate. It tells her story but there are some things that are left out.
For example, she may show some cleavage in real life but she never used her looks to manipulate anyone. It seems as if the movie is pointing in that direction.
She said: “I heard a lot of comments about, you know, the boobs, the cleavage, the way I dress, the language, whatever. I didn’t have time for that. People were poisoned, and they did it and they know it. So yeah, f**k off. That was really my stance.”
One mistake that was made in the movie is when they said that Erin Brockovich won the title of Miss Wichita. Actually, she was Miss Pacific Coast.
She also had a complaint about the movie. In a conversation she had with Julia Roberts, Erin said that her skirts in the movie were too long. That was confirmed by the film’s director, as he said ‘She said, ‘The only thing that was inaccurate is that the skirts weren’t short enough.’
Speaking of wardrobes, Julia Roberts had some struggles stepping into the wardrobe of someone else. She said: “When you take someone who — by my modest, conservative standards of dressing — is so visually provocative you don’t want to make it seem like a movie contrivance. ‘Oh, we hired someone with really long legs, so let’s give her the shortest skirts known to mankind.’ You want it to seem as much a part of her as her hair or voice or anything else.”
Even the crew needed time to get used to the transformation on screen. Roberts said: “I’d come into rehearsal in my T-shirt and sweatpants and flip-flops, and everybody was cool. Then I’d come on the set to shoot [in my costumes], and everybody on the crew would be like, ‘What happened?’ But once we all got comfortable with it, it was fine.”
George is another popular character, who is played by Aaron Eckert. He was inspired by Erin Brockovich’s real-life Mexican-American boyfriend, Jorge Halaby.
She said: “He lifted me up during a bad time and loved my kids. He used to always make me laugh. And he believed in me. Jorge was great. Yes, he wore the bracelets and had the ponytail. Boy, was he good looking. Gosh, he had the most beautiful hair. And Aaron Eckhart was also very good looking. He did such a good job.”
Erin Brockovich gave an interview in 2020 that revealed some details about Jorge that many people didn’t realize. He had a brain tumor and passed away.
She said: “Jorge and I, right at the time the film came out, weren’t together. Jorge had a brain tumor and there were a lot of things going on that I don’t think a lot of us understood. Jorge was a very unique man, and he was so great with my children.”
Would you like to know how much Julia Roberts made for the movie? She earned a paycheck of $20 million, which was a record at the time. When you watch the performance, however, you can tell that she earned it.
The real Erin Brockovich sold the rights to the story for $100,000 and the film was a huge hit. It made $250 million with only a $52 million budget.
There was a lot of debate over what to call the movie and many thought that the name ‘Erin Brockovich’ was stupid. When the real-life Erin asked the director what they were going to name it, he said: ‘Erin Brockovich.’
She said: “At that point, I was like, Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no because everyone was like, “What a dumb name for a movie.” That put me in a position that made me nervous.”
When they asked Erin Brockovich what her favorite scene in the movie was, she didn’t hesitate. It was the moment Julia Roberts used the line: ‘They’re called boobs, Ed’ She thought it was hilarious.
Today, Erin Brockovich is a media personality. She hosts the television show Challenge America with Erin Brockovich and the Final Justice.
She is also the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting, where she assists those with environmental issues. She is a consultant for New York law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, who specialize in personal injury claims related to asbestos exposure.
In 2024, she lived in California in a home she purchased with the $2.5 million bonus she received after the Hinckley settlement.
