Across the UniverseEvan Rachel Wood says making
Published on March 04, 2026 EDT The star of 2007's Beatles musical says she and costar Jim Sturgess were actually tripping during the "I Am the Walrus" scene.

Making the 2007 movie Across the Universe was a real trip, Evan Rachel Wood says.

"During the 'I Am the Walrus' scene, any moment you see myself and Jim Sturgess, we are actually tripping," Wood explained in a virtual introduction to Saturday's Cinespia's outdoor screening at L.A.'s Hollywood Forever Cemetery, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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She said that director Julie Taymor didn't know exactly what her lead actors were up to.

"When I told her that later on, she said, 'Oh. That makes sense!'" Wood said.

Wood played Lucy and Sturgess was Jude in the story of the romance between an upper-class girl and a working-class artist, which was inspired by the Fab Four, and the soundtrack was, of course, stacked with familiar songs sung by the cast, from the title track, by Sturgess, to Wood's "Blackbird."

The movie was nominated for an Oscar, for Albert Wolsky's colorful costumes, and for best comedy or musical movie at the Golden Globe Awards.

She noted, too, that the entire movie was not beloved by the higher-ups.

"The heads of the studio wanted to change quite a bit," she said, "They wanted to remove anything political, anything queer and anything psychedelic. So, pretty much every cool part of this film would have ended up on the cutting room floor if it wasn't for our amazing director Julie Taymor. She stood her ground and got the entire cast to back her up and say we would remove our names from this film if they were to gut it in that way."

Wood's latest project is Backspot, in which she plays the sadistic coach of an all-star cheerleading squad.

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