Julia Roberts stunned by 'wallop' Sean Penn gave her during Gaslit fight scene

Julia Roberts has dished on the “wallop” Sean Penn delivered in Gaslit’s fight scene.

Reflecting on the sequence during a recent appearance on The Jess Cagle Show, the Oscar-winning actress revealed she was “stunned” by Sean’s first blow while filming the political drama.

“He gave me the… that was the first fight that we had was when we slapped each other, and he slapped me first,” Julia recalled. “And I remember saying to him, ‘You know, well, you kind of have the harder part because you have to start it. You have to slap me. I just respond.’”

The 54-year-old added, “I just answer, and I was kind of feeling bad for him and he gave me such a wallop. I was stunned.”

In addition, Julia recognised that the greatest marker of her performance during that scene “is that I continued to perform and didn’t just go, ‘Oh my God, that really hurt.’ You know, it was astonishing.”

As to whether Sean, 61, thought she walloped him back: “I don’t even remember. He told me it seemed to come from the shoulder, so I guess I really had a strong response.”

Elsewhere, Julia stressed how much trust two actors must have with each other during a physical scene.

“Sean and I have known each other since I was a teenager. And so, I knew that I could trust whatever he was gonna do,” she continued. “I was gonna survive… he has my husband and children to account for, you know, but I’ll tell you, he wasn’t, it wasn’t a little kiddie soft paws slap.”

Gaslit, which delves into several untold stories related to the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, is set to premiere on Starz on 24 April.