Julia Roberts was the ‘it-girl’ of 90’s movies. Specifically, she was the queen of rom-coms.
Roberts was the face of all our favourite romantic comedies such as Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Notting Hill.
While Roberts hasn’t ditched the film industry altogether, she has notably avoided rom-coms for the past few decades.
Now, Roberts is starring in her first rom-com for a while, alongside Hollywood legend George Clooney in Ticket to Paradise.
Why Roberts avoided rom-coms
Simply, Roberts told The New York Times that she has failed to read any compelling romantic comedy scripts.
‘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,’ she said. ‘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.’
Roberts also added that, in her time away from rom-coms, she has had three children. This means that she has to be careful about which projects she takes on because, ‘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’.’
Ticket to Paradise
Ticket to Paradise sees a divorced couple travel to Bali after learning their daughter is planning to marry a local she just met. The parents come together to sabotage the wedding in hopes of preventing their daughter from making the same mistake they made twenty-five years earlier.
Roberts and Clooney are teaming up again to lead this film. The two first worked together on Oceans Eleven (2001), going on to star in other films such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) and Oceans Twelve (2004).
When asked about acting with Clooney again, Roberts told Variety: ‘I think it’s so funny and George is so funny and George and I together, it’s probably going to be terrible because there’s too much potential for it to be great, it’ll just implode on it itself. I think that should be the commercial for the movie: “It’s probably going to be terrible”.’
Other cast members
Emmy Award nominee Kaitlyn Dever plays Roberts’ and Clooney’s daughter, Lily. Dever shot to fame in 2019 starring alongside Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart. She also spearheaded Netflix’s Unbelievable, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Billie Lourd also stars in this film. Lourd is the daughter of legend Carrie Fisher. However, she has made her own name in shows such as American Horror Story and Scream Queens.
Ticket to Paradise will be in UK cinemas on 16 September 2022 and in US cinemas on 21 October.