Julia Louis-Dreyfus Shares Why She Identifies With Her ‘You Hurt My Feelings’ Character

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in You Hurt My Feelings, playing the role of Beth, a writer from New York City. Beth is deeply hurt when she finds out her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) has been lying to her for months. It wasn’t an affair or financial troubles that he was covering up – it was that he secretly despises the book Beth has been writing.

Telling New Stories

“This causes quite the rupture in their relationship and their marriage… I immediately related to that as a creative person–it feels like a betrayal, almost worse than infidelity,” Louis-Dreyfus shared.

“I would be utterly devastated if I found out [my husband] hadn’t been telling me the truth. And I think he would feel the same,” she continued.

Nicole Holofcener, the director, wrote the part specifically for Louis-Dreyfus. “She could relate to it, and I think that’s why women our age will go see it because it’s about us. It’s about aging and a lasting relationship and parenting adult children and the mistakes we’ve made.”

Building New Projects

The former Seinfeld and Veep star was drawn to this project because it was quieter than most big-screen productions currently being created.

“Nobody writes female characters like Nicole Holofcener,” Louis-Dreyfus shared. “There are no tropes. I would say that her writing goal is not to write female characters in all caps. Her goal is to write human beings who happen to be female. And I think that’s a distinction.”

Beth is the main focus of the story You Hurt My Feelings, but it also takes a look at the lives of those around her. Her sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) is going through an uninspiring career and trying to help her husband, who has recently lost his job. Georgia (Jeannie Berlin), Beth and Sarah’s mother, is also part of the story and their relationship is strained.

You Hurt My Feelings plays in theaters May 26.

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