Ryan Murphy Talks ‘Eat Pray Love’

(Ryan Murphy): I think a typical example of this movie is the Thanksgiving dinner scene with Julia. I think she’s so fantastic in it. In the book, [Elizabeth Gilbert, author] doesn’t really write about what they [who are around the table with her in Rome] gave thanks for, so I spent time with all the actors and I said, “Look, in character, write what you’re thankful for. I’ll roll the cameras and we’ll see Julia’s reaction to it because it will be happening as we shoot it.” The theme of that scene is generosity. That’s an example of how I like to work. I like to have people throw things up, and as long as you keep the template as your own, I really enjoy that.

MakingOf: Music is such a big component of “Glee,” obviously, but also I felt in ‘Eat Pray Love.’ The music was so powerful to me, especially in certain scenes. How do you incorporate music into your movie?

 (RM): I’m just the ultimate fan. I do a lot of music on “Glee,” and some of the things in this movie I love is that, many times when you hear the music it’s Liz Gilbert music. When we were shooting the Thanksgiving scene in Rome, I thought, “What can I play in this scene to get Julia in the mood?” and Liz told me a story about how when she was there during the Thanksgiving scene, she played the Neil Young song [“Harvest Moon”] over and over that’s in the movie and she suggested that I play it for Julia. I did, and she loved it so much that we kept it in the film.

MO: When you read the book, you probably had all sorts of ideas and now that the movie is finished, what was the biggest surprise for you in this project?

(RM): The biggest surprise to me was how much it changed my life. I felt that I ultimately went through a very Liz Gilbert-like journey of my own, and I think I became a better person at the end of the movie than I was when I started it. I’m really thankful for that. It became more than a book or a movie to me, it became a life-changer.