Vindicating her then-unprecedented $20 million fee, Julia Roberts won most of the major acting awards, including a Best Actress Oscar, for her performance as the eponymous heroine of Erin Brockovich in 2000.
The movie has the star playing against type, as a ballsy blue-collar legal clerk who takes on the financial might of a power company accused of contaminating the groundwater of a small California town.
Potty-mouthed, with a brassy armour of cleavage-enhancing tops, miniskirts and high heels, Roberts’ Erin seems an unlikely crusader.
But her weapons – a mind like a steel trap, barrels of determination and limitless compassion – are potent.
And, as the story was based on a real case that was only a few years old (the final settlement was in 1996), the portrayal of both the main character and the events had to be spot-on.
Consequently, director Steven Soderbergh insisted on an unusually high degree of faithfulness to the facts for Hollywood. Screenwriter Susannah Grant spent a year following her subject around, and the result is a film that the real Brockovich described as “probably 98 per cent accurate.”
The story’s roots lie in 1991, when former beauty queen (Miss Pacific Coast in real life, Miss Wichita in the film) and single mum Brockovich, then a file clerk for the law firm Masry & Vititoe in Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley, came across some alarming medical records related to a real-estate case.
She was curious enough to travel to the small Mojave Desert community of Hinkley, where residents were suffering from ailments ranging from nosebleeds to cancer – allegedly as a result of chromium pollution in their water supply.
The ensuing lawsuit brought its 650 claimants a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric.
As much as it’s a tale of a victory for ordinary people over a faceless corporate monolith, it’s essentially a portrait of a remarkable woman.
Erin Brockovich
Julia Roberts Dr Jaffe
David Brisbin Rosalind
Dawn Didawick Ed Masry
Albert Finney Donald
Valente Rodriguez Brenda
Conchata Ferrell Los Angeles Judge
George Rocky Sullivan Defending Lawyer
Pat Skipper Defendant
Jack Gill Mrs Morales
Irene Olga López Beth (8 months)
Emily Marks
Julie Marks Matthew
Scotty Leavenworth Katie
Gemmenne de la Peña Waitress
Erin Brockovich-Ellis Anna
Adilah Barnes Babysitter
Irina V. Passmoore George
Aaron Eckhart Donna Jensen
Marg Helgenberger Brian Frankel
Randy Lowell Scott
Jamie Harrold Ashley Jensen
Sarah Ashley Shanna Jensen
Scarlett Pomers David Foil
TJ Thyne Tom Robinson
Joe Chrest Mandy Robinson
Meredith Zinner Pete Jensen
Michael Harney Bob Linwood
William Lucking Laura Ambrosino
Mimi Kennedy Mike Ambrosino
Scott Sowers Pamela Duncan
Cherry Jones Annabelle Daniels
Kristina Malota Ted Daniels
Wade Williams Rita Daniels
Cordelia Richards Beth (18 months)
Ashley Pimental
Brittany Pimental Charles Embry
Tracey Walter Nelson Perez
Larry Martinez Judge LeRoy A. Simmons
LeRoy A. Simmons Ms. Sanchez
Gina Gallego Kurt Potter
Peter Coyote Theresa Dallavale
Veanne Cox Ruth Linwood
Sheila Shaw
Director
Steven Soderbergh
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Potty-mouthed, with a brassy armour of cleavage-enhancing tops, miniskirts and high heels, Roberts’ Erin seems an unlikely crusader.
The story’s roots lie in 1991, when former beauty queen (Miss Pacific Coast in real life, Miss Wichita in the film) and single mum Brockovich, then a file clerk for the law firm Masry & Vititoe in Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley, came across some alarming medical records related to a real-estate case.
