Julia Roberts is opening up about her latest project, After the Hunt, a thought-provoking thriller directed by Luca Guadagnino. The film, which also stars Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, recently premiered at the New York Film Festival and has already sparked plenty of conversation for its layered story and unanswered questions.
A Story of Power, Relationships, and Uncertainty
The film follows Maggie, a promising PhD student played by Edebiri, who accuses her professor Hank (Garfield) of sexual misconduct. Julia Roberts plays Alma, Maggie’s mentor and Hank’s longtime friend, who is caught between loyalty and responsibility. The drama explores the messy consequences of these events within the world of academia, leaving much of the truth deliberately unclear.
The cast agrees that the ambiguity is part of the film’s strength. Garfield described the story as one where each character believes they are the hero of their own narrative. “There are moments of reckoning, moments where these characters are forced to look in the mirror and see things they hadn’t faced before,” he explained.
Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays Alma’s psychiatrist husband, compared the experience to watching a “slow-motion train wreck.” He added that the uncertainty kept both the actors and the audience on edge, which made the process both difficult and rewarding.
Exploring Ambiguity
Edebiri praised the rehearsal time at Roberts’ home, where the cast and director explored multiple ways to interpret the script. She said those early conversations gave them the freedom to “fill in the blanks” where needed, while still leaving space for mystery.
Roberts herself kept quiet about how she personally interpreted the film’s central conflict but pointed to music as a key to understanding the story’s themes. “There’s a song that plays throughout the film about forgiveness,” she shared. “I think that’s what the film is truly about—love, forgiveness, and understanding who we really are beneath the surface.”
Conversations Beyond the Screen
Screenwriter Nora Garrett, who developed the story, said Alma’s character was the starting point. She envisioned a woman with outward success but inner self-denial, and wanted to explore what happens when that denial begins to break apart.
Garrett and the cast welcome the ongoing debates about the film’s meaning. “Everyone will see this through their own lens,” Stuhlbarg said. “The important thing is that it gets people talking.” Garrett agreed, saying the creative team never expected to control how audiences would interpret the story—only that it would leave a strong impression.
Release Details
After the Hunt is produced by Amazon MGM Studios alongside Imagine Entertainment. Following its festival debut, the film will open in New York and Los Angeles on October 10 before expanding nationwide on October 17.
With its layered performances and refusal to provide easy answers, After the Hunt is already proving to be one of the year’s most talked-about films—an exploration of power, morality, and ultimately, the possibility of forgiveness.