Julia Louis-Dreyfus struggled by hilarious scenes with the legendary Jeannie Berlin while filming You Hurt My Feelings.

Nicole Holofcener, director of Enough Said and co-writer of 2022’s The Last Duel, penned and directed the brand new comedy-drama which stars Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as middle-aged married couple Beth and Don.

Berlin portrays Beth’s deadpan mom Georgia, who not directly offers help when Beth overhears Don admitting she hated his spouse’s new guide.

“She’s in this movie called The Heartbreak Kid, 1972,” Holofcener mentioned of the Hollywood veteran.

“And that made me want to make movies. It’s brilliant, and I idolized Jeannie so it was one of those moments I was like, ‘Wow! I can’t believe this is happening.’”

Much of the movie was improvised in rehearsals, together with an incidental second between Beth and Georgia involving an surprising Broadway present.

“The whole thing about the Beetlejuice play is improvised,” the director revealed. “It was improvised in our rehearsal.

“She just nailed it, this playbill was on the counter, and she was like, ‘What beetle?’

“I don’t think the audience laughs as much, the coverage isn’t as good. And people wonder if she has dementia and if they should laugh.

“But we were on the floor. She just has great comic timing.”

Although the movie is basically a comedy, Holofcener subtly explores the darkness driving Beth’s writing profession, together with the verbal abuse she skilled as a toddler that impressed her memoir.

“I wasn’t ever going to explore it more,” she mentioned. “But I felt like it’s a really serious thing.

“And I hope that as the movie progresses you see the damage that it caused her. And maybe why she’s so insecure.

“People don’t take verbal or emotional abuse as seriously,” the filmmaker continued.

“And I guess I was making fun of it and taking it really seriously at the same time.

“I feel like, maybe, it’s a joke in the beginning. But you’re moved by it, and it informs the character in a deeper way.”

This element could have been partly impressed by Holofcener’s personal expertise as a toddler, as Beth’s overly-supportive method to parenting their son Eliot provides much more rigidity because the movie goes on.

“It’s funny, because my mother was, I would say, a very critical person but also very supportive,” she shared.

“So, it’s this mix of wanting to get her approval, but then there’s too much approval so I don’t believe her sometimes. It’s tricky, and it’s tricky being a parent pulling that off.”

You Hurt My Feelings is out there to stream on Prime Video now.