From “Pretty Woman” to “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” Julia Roberts has dominated the realm of romantic comedies.
Now, the actress is opening up why she hasn't starred in one for more than 20 years, noting that it wasn’t her choice to veer away from the genre that brought her so much success.
The “Eat, Pray, Love” star explains that the real reason was a lack of promising projects.
“People sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by that I haven’t done a romantic comedy as my not wanting to do one. If I had read something that I thought was that Notting Hill level of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding level of madcap fun, I would do it,” the 54-year-old told the New York Times Magazine.
She explained that if she “thought something was good enough, I would have done it,” but she was also prioritizing being a mother.
“I also had three kids in the last 18 years. That raises the bar even more because then it’s not only Is this material good? It’s also the math equation of my husband’s work schedule and the kids’ school schedule and summer vacation. It’s not just, Oh, I think I want to do this. I have a sense of great pride in being home with my family and considering myself a homemaker. For so much of my children’s younger life they would see their dad go off and I would work a little, but they almost didn’t notice,” she explained.
But finally, after decades, Roberts is making her rom-com return in Ol Parker’s “Ticket to Paradise,” which is set to debut in October.
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The stars aligned, according to Roberts, who was drawn in by the script but noted there was a caveat: “I thought, ‘Well, disaster, because this only works if it’s George Clooney.’”
She continued: “Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me. Somehow we were both able to do it, and off we went.”
Despite taking a break from rom-coms, she didn’t have any problem jumping right back in.
“I love to laugh and be funny. You get into that mode of those endorphins going off when you’re clever and people going, ‘Oh!’ Then that becomes this automatic thing where you’re always thinking in terms of creating fun. It’s a joy to play in that sandbox. It has been a long time,” she explained.
Roberts, who celebrated her 19th wedding anniversary with husband Danny Moder in July 2021, previously told “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert that the secret to a successful real-life romance was “kissing.”
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