Julia Roberts Explains Why She’s Turned Down Rom-Coms for 20 Years

Julia Roberts says she turned down roles in romantic comedies for 20 years because she did not like a single one of the scripts she was offered. The actress made a name for herself in rom-coms in the 1990s, but she’s right in saying that she hasn’t been in one at all since 2001 – and even that was a supporting role. Now that she is promoting Ticket to Paradise with George Clooney she is reflecting on the genre a bit.

Roberts spoke to The New York Times ahead of her return to the rom-com genre and she said that she didn’t avoid it for two decades on purpose. She said: “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. They didn’t exist until this movie that I just did that Ol Parker wrote and directed.”

This is heavy praise for Ol Parker and his new film Ticket to Paradise. It stars Roberts and Clooney as “a divorced couple that teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago.” It also stars Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Lucas Bravo, Amanda O’Dempsey, Rowan Chapman and Vanesa Everett.

When her interviewer asked directly if Roberts felt that she was not offered a single good rom-com role after 2001 – “there wasn’t a single good script, not one” – she replied: “Yeah… Here’s the thing: if I’d thought something was good enough, I would have done it.” However, she also admitted there were other factors involved during those years.

“But 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,” she explained. “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.”

Even Ticket to Paradise nearly ended up on the chopping block because Roberts felt that it would only work if she were cast alongside her friend and frequent collaborator Clooney. “Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me. Somehow we were both able to do it, and off we went,” she said.

Roberts also said that she did not want to avoid working altogether because she wanted to set an example for her children where she could. She said: “As they get older, and particularly with my daughter, I do have a sense of responsibility for showing my children that I can be creative and that it’s meaningful to me – so meaningful that for periods of time I will choose to focus on that almost more than my family, which has been hard for me to come to terms with.”

Roberts is returning to the rom-com at last, but not for a while. Ticket to Paradise is currently slated for release on Oct. 21, 2022. It looks like it will debut only in theaters.