The Truth About Julia and Brad's Bed Scene

In The Mexican, which hits theatres Friday, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt face enough romantic woes to confound even Oprah Winfrey's fave relationship guru, Dr. Phil McGraw. Amusingly enough, Roberts is actually a diehard Dr. Phil aficionado. "I watch Oprah and I enjoy Dr. Phil," confesses the actress, who also includes the daytime soaps among her TV viewing guilty pleasures.

In fact, one particular sudser indirectly inspired Roberts to appear sans makeup in The Mexican's opening scene, which finds her lying beside Pitt in bed. "I'm a notorious Days of Our Lives watcher," she reveals. "So I see all these beautiful people waking up with lipstick and eye shadow on, [and] that bothers me. I only like to look glamorous when it's called for. So when I shot my scene with Brad, I just did it au naturel."

To hear Roberts tell it, setside camaraderie came naturally to her and Pitt as well. "I guess I was surprised that every day I just liked him more," she shares. "Actually, I've always liked him, but to really kind of like him and respect him a little bit more every day so surpassed my wildest dreams of what the experience with him on a day-to-day level would be like. He's a helluva guy."

Appropriately enough, Roberts's Mexican character is abducted by a small-time hitman — played by none other than The Sopranos's top mobster, James Gandolfini. As it happens, her kidnapper takes his work so seriously that he won't even permit his hostage to visit the ladies room without him. After the toilet trauma, Roberts couldn't help but be reminded of her weirdest fan encounter.

"I was in the bathroom, and somebody put a piece of paper under the stall while I was peeing," the actress recalls. "It said, 'Girl in stall number one, were you in Mystic Pizza?' I said, 'Yeah.' I stopped peeing to answer. And she said, 'Can you sign this for me?' I went, 'I'm just the tiniest bit busy right now. Not the best place to ask for an autograph when someone is on the loo.'"