SCANDALOUS FRIENDS…

Julia Roberts and Sean Penn sit down with Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos to discuss their new STARZ limited series, Gaslit. It’s the first time in both of their long careers and longer friendship that the two stars have shared the screen together. They play Martha Mitchell and John N. Mitchell, Martha was the most popular political figure of the Republican Party by 1970 due to her marriage to John, who was the attorney general for President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Martha was known as a flamboyant boisterous woman who loved to talk to the press and this would make her the most famous wife in Nixon‘s cabinet. Martha would go on to be the Watergate whistleblower, when alluding to the press that Richard Nixon had something to do with the break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Apartment Office Complex on June 17, 1972.

JULIA ROBERTS DISCUSSES MARTHA MITCHELL…

Stephanopoulos asks Roberts if she knew who Martha was before she decided to play her and if she was familiar with her story surrounding the Watergate scandal. When Roberts confesses that she didn’t know much about her or her involvement in the Watergate scandal, they both found it amazing because she was one of the most popular figures of that time politically, she was even requested more than Nixon to appear at Republican speaking engagements and appeared on the covers of LIFE Magazine, TIME Magazine, and People Magazine by the end of 1974. when watching the interview you can see those issues of the publications featuring Martha Mitchell on the cover on display on the table in front of Roberts, Penn and Stephanopoulos.

WHY START NOW…?

Stephanopoulos then asked both Roberts and Penn why they waited for so long to act on screen together and they both laugh not really knowing why but were just glad to have finally been given the opportunity to be on screen together in Gaslit. Stephanopoulos then asks Roberts what made her think he was the best actor for the role considering how much he doesn’t look like John N. Mitchell. Roberts explained that she just read the script and thought of Sean in the role because when she thinks of him acting, she can think of him in any role because he’s so phenomenal at it. George Stephanopoulos then asked Penn if he remembered the Watergate Hearings from when he was a kid and what he thought about playing John N. Mitchell.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME…

Stephanopoulos then discussed with Roberts and Penn their ability to take the conservative couple of the Republican Party and made them sexy on screen and showed how much Martha and John loved each other as well as how much their marriage was affected by the Watergate scandal due to their powerful scenes together that shows the deterioration of the marriage over time. Stephanopoulos then asked the two friends if they plan to work together again in the future and both Roberts and Penn say they plan to and have already discussed what kind of work they see themselves doing in the future. Stephanopoulos says that he hopes they do based on their amazing performances together in the great limited series, Gaslit.

You can watch the GMA Interview with Julia Roberts and Sean Penn in its entirety here:

AND THEN THERE WAS MORE…

If your curious to know more about Martha Mitchell before you watch the STARZ limited series, Gaslit, then you might want to watch the documentary, The Martha Mitchell Effect. It is an American Netflix original documentary film directed by Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy and was released on the fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate scandal break-in, June 17, 2022. Told through archival footage, the story is centered around Watergate whistleblower Martha Mitchell, the cabinet wife of President Richard Nixon‘s attorney general, John N. Mitchell, who was gaslit by the Nixon administration in an attempt to keep her quiet. That attempt included holding her against her will in a hotel room in Newport Beach, California on the night of the Watergate break-in. The 40 minute documentary is available now on Netflix.

You can watch the 2022 Official Trailer for The Martha Mitchell Effect here:

All 8 episodes of Gaslit are available through you local cable provider ON DEMAND now on the STARZ channel or through the STARZ app.