The World According To Julia

After a lifetime in film, Julia Roberts is making a television series. Why, some will ask? Because she wants to

- Deborah Herd

When I started writing this article, I asked my 13-year-old daughter if she knows who Julia Roberts is. ‘Of course,’ she said, giving me that look that says ‘I may be a child but I’m not an idiot.’ Then she rattled off some of her recent films – Wonder, Mother’s Day, Eat Pray Love – as if to prove her point. ‘And Notting Hill. Or was that Sandra Bullock?’ she asked.

‘That was Julia Roberts,’ I confirmed. ‘What about Pretty Woman? Have you seen that?’

‘It’s a 16,’ said Jemima, who (long may it last) refuses to watch movies above her age limit.

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, googling the Pygmalion-inspired story of a prostitute (Julia) who falls for Richard Gere’s wealthy businessman. Jemima is right, but what surprised me more was the fact that the romcom that shot the actress to superstardom was made as far back as 1990. Julia Roberts has been the queen of Hollywood for almost 30 years.

Since then, she’s made no less than one movie a year. The only year she didn’t make a movie was 2005, after she and her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, welcomed twins Hazel and Phinnaeus. In 2007, when son Henry joined the twins, she made Charlie Wilson’s War with Tom Hanks.