Julia Roberts is Back as a Leading Lady Since 2001

[Brian Damage]

LOS ANGELES — In the last eight years, Julia Roberts has become a mother, dabbled on Broadway (in “Three Days of Rain”) and provided the voice for both a spider (in “Charlotte’s Web”) and an ant (in “The Ant Bully”).


Julia Roberts arriving at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 2004.
Next month, she turns up in what has become a surprisingly unfamiliar role for an actress who was the biggest female box office star in Hollywood for a decade: leading lady.

While many in the movie world have their heads turned toward the Academy Awards, Universal Pictures has been laying groundwork for its March 20 release of “Duplicity.” The film is a romantic romp about a couple of corporate security types working a con on the corporations and on each other.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who made “Michael Clayton,” one of last year’s best-picture nominees, it pairs Clive Owen with Ms. Roberts in her first real leading role since 2001. That year, Ms. Roberts capped a long string of roles in romantic comedy with performances in “America’s Sweethearts” and “The Mexican.”

That she is finally back has created a hopeful flutter among producers and filmmakers who have been yearning for some unbridled female star power. That’s been in relatively short supply since Ms. Roberts, who turned 41 in October, began to focus on raising her family and took a handful of strong roles in ensemble films like “Mona Lisa Smile,” “Closer” and “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Ocean’s Twelve.” She had a prominent role in the 2007 film “Charlie Wilson’s War” but shared the screen with Tom Hanks, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

“Nobody has stepped into the vacuum,” said one female producer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her future hopes of casting the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson. None of those actresses has yet approached the run of hits Ms. Roberts had in the 1990s with movies including “Erin Brockovich” (for which she won an Oscar), “Runaway Bride” and “Notting Hill.”

“Right now, people are desperate for the heir apparent to be Katherine Heigl,” the same producer said of that 30-year-old actress, who captured about half of a Roberts-size audience with her “27 Dresses,” and has another shot at the crown with “The Ugly Truth,” a romantic comedy set for release in July by Sony Pictures.

Last week Ms. Roberts declined through her publicist, Marcy Engelman, to discuss her decision to star in “Duplicity,” or her reasons for stepping aside, if not quite back, at the height of her box office appeal. A number of people close to Ms. Roberts said her marriage in 2002 to Danny Moder, who did camera work on “The Mexican,” and the demands of raising their three children had put limits on her acting career.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/mo...prod=permalink

[catlover79]

Should be interesting...

[MonarC]

I love Julia Roberts.

[Schmoopie]

Originally Posted by MonarC

I love Julia Roberts.

Me too, and she's definitely my favorite living actress. Audrey Hepburn is my all-time favorite. I like pretty much anything Julia Roberts is in, but there are definitely exceptions. Her new movie looks really good, so I'm anxious for it to be released on DVD.

Andrea