Julia Roberts Reflects on Erin Brockovich and Albert Finney

NEW YORK, NY — Julia Roberts reflected on her role as Erin Brockovich during an interview on The Late Show on November 6, 2025. The actress, who starred in the 2000 biopic, shared fond memories of her late co-star, Albert Finney.

“You’re determined to make me cry,” Roberts, 58, told host Stephen Colbert, 61, while discussing Finney. “When I think about that movie, you know, I do think about Albert.” Finney, known for his talented performances, received an Oscar nomination for his role as Ed Masry alongside Roberts.

Roberts reminisced about the ease of working on the film and the camaraderie within the cast and crew. “It doesn’t take an enormous amount of effort to do acting… But it was so easy, that movie. Everybody was so easy. There was just a flow,” she said.

During filming, Roberts described their living arrangements at a Holiday Inn in a small town. “In the center of this big parking lot where the Holiday Inn was, there was a one-screen movie theater,” she shared. “Our director, Steven Soderbergh, would bring movies sometimes for us to all go watch because there was really not a lot for us to do on the weekends.”

Roberts recalled one memorable weekend when Soderbergh screened the film Animal House. “Albert showed up in his bed sheet fashioned like a toga and was like, ‘I thought it was a thing. I thought that we were all gonna do this,’” she said, laughing. “And I would have just walked across the parking lot — maybe changed. Albert just sat down with his popcorn and, there we were.”

Erin Brockovich, the film’s namesake, was a whistleblower in 1993 after noticing health problems in Hinkley, California, linked to pollution. Three years later, the case was settled, making headlines for its record-breaking settlement. Brockovich’s efforts have inspired many and were immortalized in the award-winning film.