Julia Roberts as Martha Mitchell in 'Gaslit'| CREDIT: STARZ

Julia Roberts played an exceptional part in Gaslit, the story of a political happening, yet more rooted in the failure of a high profile marriage owing to a political scandal. The Oscar winner is in the lead of the drama show about a marriage, a love story, and the political scandal that brought the great couple down.

The Starz Watergate drama employs Julia Roberts in the role of Martha Mitchell. Martha was married to president Nixon's attorney general and campaign manager John Mitchell. Played with utmost authenticity, the characters show an impressive insight into the scandal that came with the revealing of the betrayal of the Watergate incident. John Mitchell is played by Sean Penn. 

It is amazing to see how the stars bring the heartbreaking tale of betrayal that is the relationship of Martha Mitchell and John Mitchell to the screens. 

And yet, things were not that bad in the beginning. Martha Mitchell strongly relied on her relationship with John Mitchell for her strength and inspiration.  The two were extremely in love with each other and had a great start to their relationship. 

But her trust in the same relationship and the dynamics was what brought her down in the end. As the two had to separate due to the political scandal that was brought about by the onset of Mitchell's betrayal of his president. In the end, Martha Mitchell was no one without her husband and was lost with him gone. 

Roberts took immense pains to play the part of Martha Mitchell. She undertook a great deal of research under her own wings beginning with learning about the Arkansas life of the public figure, her life as a socialite, and her bold stance when it came to speaking her mind. 

Her research was helped a great deal by the fact that there has been a lot of media coverage when it came to Martha Mitchell. She got her hands on a lot of source material, archival footage, and more that helped her understand Martha at the core level. 

Her interviews were nice for Julia Roberts to pick up her style of speaking, her gait, and even the way she chose to dress. All these little pieces of her from the media helped paint the bigger picture which was Martha Mitchell. 

The creator of the show Gaslit, Robbie Pickering, was also stunned by the hard work that Roberts points behind when getting to know the character of Martha. With Julia being such a big star, even her guest appearances hold a lot of value. 

The actress could simply leave all the dirty work to the screenwriting team and just enjoy her time as a celebrity but instead, she chose to find more about her role and go deep into her portrayal. Still, it was pretty lucky, said the creator, to have the phenomenal actress in the series. 

Not only does Martha play the victim of a political scandal that her relationship with John Mitchell turned out to be, but she also focused on the initial happy marriage that the two had going on. She channels all of her romantic comedy energy as such from the films like Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Pretty Woman into her role to show how happy their marriage was in the initial years. 

Then she creates as much suspense and drama as she brought forward in thrillers like Sleeping With the Enemy which shows how greatly in trouble the character is at the time. 

All in all, the creator shares that Julia Roberts was the perfect pick to partner up with Sean Penn to display the rusting wheels of a dark political marriage which was once all rainbows and sunshine. It did not take a lot of time for their happy, blissful haven to turn into rotting hell. 

Talking about the casting process of Julia Roberts in Gaslit, Pickering shared that while he wasn't sure that the actress would say yes, it did not take a lot of convincing on their part to get the actress on board. In fact, she was so involved in the whole process that she specifically asked the show creators to bring in Sean Penn as the John Mitchell actor. 

Julia Roberts and Sean Penn have been great friends for a long time now. They had always wanted to play a spectacular pair together and Gaslit gave them the perfect opportunity to realize their dreams. 

Roberts appreciated Sean Penn's talent and prowess in acting by claiming that he is the best at his game. The actor also served as the executive producer on the Starz series. 

Sean Penn and Julia Roberts in 'Gaslit'| CREDIT: HILARY BRONWYN GAYLE/STARZ

Penn was hooked on his role as soon as he got it and played it with surprising authenticity and genuinely. The actor would sit through rounds of prosthetic and makeup sessions to look like John Mitchell with keen eagerness and then they together walked down the road to explore the marriage of Martha and John Mitchell. 

YOu can watch Gaslit on Starz each Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.