'It's Even More Beautiful Than What You Imagined'

Julia Roberts read Wonder, the story of a boy who doesn’t quite look like everyone else, to her own children – and they all loved it. Inevitably, the story was snapped up by a film studio, and Julia jumped at the chance to play the boy’s mum. 

- Steven Goldman

In Wonder, Julia Roberts stars as Isabel Pullman, a woman who’s devoted her life to raising a child struggling with facial differences and who must now step aside as he enters a mainstream school for the first time.

Based on the inspirational New York Times bestseller by RJ Palacio, Wonder, directed by Beauty and the Beast screenwriter Stephen Chbosky, co-stars 10-year-old Jacob Tremblay (breakout star of the critically acclaimed Room) as Roberts’s son, August, Izabela Vidovic (The Fosters) as daughter Via and Owen Wilson as husband Nate.

‘I was a huge fan of the book,’ says Julia of her initial attraction to the project. ‘I’d probably read it three times by the time I’d even read the script.’

Following her breakout role in Steel Magnolias in 1989, Julia has received three Golden Globe Awards (from eight career-nominations) and one Oscar (from four career-nominations) for her performance in Erin Brockovich in 2000. Her films include such popular hits as Pretty Woman (1990), Hook (1991), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Eat Pray Love (2010) and August: Osage County (2013). Most recently, she’s starred opposite Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor in Secret in Their Eyes, marked her fourth collaboration with Oceans co-star George Clooney in Jodie Foster’s Money Monster, returned to children’s animation with Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), and is gearing up for her first TV series proper with Today Will Be Different, currently in development at HBO.

I spoke with Julia about her career and the making of her latest film, from her home in Los Angeles.

What was it about RJ Palacio’s novel that first caught your eye?