TORONTO – Julia Roberts is strangled to talk about it.

We're one day away from the beginning of her new film, "Ben Is Back," at the Toronto International Film Festival, in which she plays Holly, the mother of a 19-year-old opioid-dependent son (Lucas Hedges) . who comes back unexpectedly from the rehab on Christmas Eve.

"It was very intense when we shot," says Roberts, 50, who learned in his research that a parent like Holly was struggling to stay firm on one treatment strategy. "There is never" I do it well. "Because doing things out of love and hope and belief can be just for an hour, that day or this week, but so quickly the right thing to do could be:" You are not welcome in this House. "

"Ben Is Back", a film that could bring Roberts back to the Oscars this year thanks to his tour de force, is both fast and shameless: about 2 million people in America dependent on opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Guest Column: The opioid crisis is hitting the house. Mine.

Addiction is not unrelated to the Roberts family; Earlier this year, Eric Roberts, 62, Julia's older brother, admitted to being a victim of drug addiction for decades. But the connection ends there for Roberts and "Ben Is Back." "The position of the mother in this film is very different from that of a sister, a niece," she says. "So, for me, it was to explore all the parent relationships in those kinds of scenarios that I could find."

In the film, Ben becomes addicted to prescription drugs following a snowboard accident. Roberts, who has twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 13, and her 11-year-old son Henry, along with her husband Danny Moder, 49, oversees how children are prescribed in her community.

"Many of my friends who have older teenagers – older teens than my teenagers – are suffering concussions and people are hurting and children are playing football," she says, wearing a pair of caramel-rimmed glasses. . pulled in a braid molded side. "Fortunately, the stories I've heard have surrounded many doctors who say," It will be a disappointment, but here is an aspirin. Sit down, I will not prescribe anything for this teenager. ""

More: The opioid epidemic requires a new perspective on addiction treatment and new solutions

In Roberts-Moder's household, these often difficult teen years face a family unit.

"Luckily, we're all five of us very close and we dine every night every five nights, it's part of the family conversation:" Do you know what it is? Have you ever heard about this? "Well, have you ever done that?" she says. "It's about finding together."

That includes vaping, something that Roberts calls "a hideous monster in the culture now … Honestly, I did not know what it was that my eldest son passed a swimming test in a high school in a city neighbor and I went into the gym to get some water and there was a sign saying, "No skateboarding. No loud music. No vaping. "Like, a permanent sign! And I thought," What? "

"Homecoming" of Amazon stars Julia Roberts in television. (Photo: Hilary B Gayle / SMPSP)

So what does she say to her children?

"I do not understand it and I think that as a parent, I have to put aside my personal disgust and be able to discuss … as opposed to" Why is someone one? Actually, it's disgusting! "& # 39;"

This weekend, Roberts is at work in Toronto, where she also debuted her first television series, the upcoming psychological thriller Amazon entitled "Homecoming" (streaming November 2). Based on the popular podcast and directed by "Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, the 10-episode series, finds her as a psychologist working with veterans with PTSD, not knowing that darker motivations are at stake.

The Oscar-winner, who produced the series, admits that she is learning as she crosses the era of Peak TV.

"The first day I walked into the production office, I said," I do not understand those emails I receive. I do not know what that means! "Rit Roberts." So I quickly studied the language of television. "

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