Julia Roberts Not Acting Like A Pretty Woman
So here's an interesting tidbit to chew on this morning with your toaster tart: Julia Roberts has come back in a big way with a new film, Duplicity...but she acted with Animosity towards Roger Friedman from Fox when he showed up at the premiere:
Is it important for entertainment journalists to write nice things about movie stars? Do they even read their own press? Or are they so much in their own world that they just let their publicists tell them what’s going on in the world. Once, Warren Beatty, whom I do consider the smartest guy in Hollywood, told me: “The biggest mistake you can make is to think no one’s reading what you write.” But that’s Warren, he’s in a different league, and he knows everything going on around him. Not so Julia Roberts, apparently. Mother now of three kids, she probably doesn’t have the time to read anything. She certainly doesn’t read this column. When she saw me last night at the premiere of her sleek new thriller, “Duplicity,” Roberts didn’t hesitate to cut me dead. She was rude, downright nasty, and dismissive. She snubbed me in front of other people to make her point, and later cut in between me and director Tony Gilroy to make her point. Her behavior was unexpected and chilling. So what was the problem? Her officious publicist, Marcy Engelman, said: “She knows you broke the embargo on her play and wrote bad things about her.”Woah! Claws out, me-ow! But wait...just what is the backstory here? Roger had gone to see Julia just before she was to open on Broadway in Three Days Of Rain back in 2006, and he wrote a review in which he not only mentioned the enthusiastic response from the audience but a few other nice things as well:Indeed, a top agent at the party said, “Julia said, 'that’s the man who writes bad things about me.'”Wait: you’re thinking, even if that were true, would a gracious person do such a thing in public? That’s something to consider. In any case, another producer, a long time friend of Julia’s, then proceeded to tell me she’d absolutely remembered me writing something terrible about Roberts. “I know you did,” she said.
I was stunned. For the record: When Roberts was a week away from opening in “Three Days of Rain” on Broadway in April 2006, she was getting terrible advance buzz in the local newspapers. The gossip snipes said she looked bad, and couldn’t act. As an ardent fan of Roberts, I thought I’d go over and see what was happening. After mentioning the enthusiastic audience and the celebrities who’d already come to see her, I wrote: “As for Julia: She was very good on Saturday afternoon. We heard her clearly in the last row. She has a strong stage presence and I suspect it will just get better and better as she warms up for opening night. She is funny and charming when appropriate, somber and grim with conviction too. She has all her lines digested and you cannot take your eyes off of her. She actually injects some life into that first-act character with some real Roberts sarcasm. It's most welcome. In the second act, though, she combines her best riffs from her performances in "Steel Magnolias" and "Ready to Wear," among others. And she does not look thin, gaunt or unhappy. Quite to the contrary, she has a supple energy. Our audience went wild for her, with a standing ovation and cheering. So there. As our usher said, she's already very good and by opening night, pow! So retract those claws, kitties. And get ready. No, she's not Cherry Jones or Phylicia Rashad — yet. But she's a movie star and can act circles around anyone, and she's going to be a sensation in the papers on the morning of April 20. My guess is this will open the door for her to alternate doing plays and movies, and that can only be a good thing.” This may be the ultimate example of ‘a good turn will not go unpunished.’After the play actually opened, he wrote this about her:
Most reviewers, in fact, did not care for Roberts when the play opened. She got creamed by the regular theater critics. The morning after opening night I wrote: “If anything, she seemed more relaxed on stage this time around, and significantly improved. It will be interesting to go see her at the end of the run in June ... When Roberts returns to Broadway in a couple of years — which she will undoubtedly do — I hope it’s in a romantic comedy or a farce where she can show off her real talents.”Um....and? So where's the terrible and bad things? He said she wasn't Phylicia Rashad...but then, who is? Ain't nobody like Claire Huxtable, child, so just give that sad idea up. But other than that...? I can't say as he was overly impressed, but he hardly decimated her, unlike some of the critics at that time. So, was there something in the original article that she didn't like? I took the time to look it up (because that's just the kind of hard-edged investigative journalist I am). Here's a bit of the meat after I trimmed off some of the fat (you know, the typical gushing over which celebs had gone to see her and all that rot):
Richard Greenberg wrote "Three Days of Rain," and it debuted off Broadway in November 1997 at the Manhattan Theater Club. Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery and Bradley Whitford originally played the roles now taken over by Roberts, Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper. The play was nominated for a Pulitzer but didn't win. You can see why. The first act can be tedious no matter who is in it. Reading reviews from many different productions confirms that. And the woman's role in that act is thankless. The second act of "Three Days" is more of a showcase for the actress in the trio. Reviews show that in every case, after trudging through the monotony of the first act, the actress playing Lina gets to shine. It's usually hers for the taking. The character sports a Southern accent, gets to be a little bit madcap and is generally quite winning. I'm sure Julia responded to that. Reports from the first preview — very unfair to do that — were that Roberts was having trouble being heard in the back of the theater. People said she looked thin or scared. Someone said she came off like Erin Brockovich. I really had trouble believing any of this, so off to the box office I went for a sneak peek. This is not a review (I know the press agents are all swallowing Mylanta right now). But safe to say, "Three Days of Rain" will be a critical hit to accompany its ticket sales. The men are accomplished and do just as you might expect. Paul Rudd can do anything, so you never have to worry about him. Cooper, whom I know from television, is fine. I say this without giving detailed analysis. As for Julia: She was very good on Saturday afternoon. We heard her clearly in the last row. She has a strong stage presence and I suspect it will just get better and better as she warms up for opening night. She is funny and charming when appropriate, somber and grim with conviction too. She has all her lines digested and you cannot take your eyes off of her. She actually injects some life into that first-act character with some real Roberts sarcasm. It's most welcome. In the second act, though, she combines her best riffs from her performances in "Steel Magnolias" and "Ready to Wear," among others. And she does not look thin, gaunt or unhappy. Quite to the contrary, she has a supple energy. Our audience went wild for her, with a standing ovation and cheering. So there. As our usher said, she's already very good and by opening night, pow! So retract those claws, kitties. And get ready. No, she's not Cherry Jones or Phylicia Rashad — yet. But she's a movie star and can act circles around anyone, and she's going to be a sensation in the papers on the morning of April 20. My guess is this will open the door for her to alternate doing plays and movies, and that can only be a good thing.Basically, what he said was he had a problem with the script, not the actress, that Julia would get more comfortable, and he even went out of his way to praise her. So maybe there was a problem with the actual opening night review of the play (again, after I trimmed off the typical celeb-butt-kissing)?
Opening night performances are generally not for the public, so this added to the sardine-like crush going on in every direction. The show got a standing ovation at the end, but I have to admit the response was a tad muted after that wildly enthusiastic matinee I went to 10 days ago. Also, no one from the audience offered Julia roses, which I think she deserves for bravely jumping into such an overwhelming project. If anything, she seemed more relaxed on stage this time around, and significantly improved. It will be interesting to go see her at the end of the run in June. In the end, though, “Three Days of Rain” was a strange choice for Julia Roberts to make her Broadway debut. The first act is tedious at best and the second act, while more lively, doesn’t explain much about the characters. When Roberts returns to Broadway in a couple of years — which she will undoubtedly do — I hope it’s in a romantic comedy or a farce where she can show off her real talents. You may be interested to know that Julia’s Playbill notes, which are very short, give us a clue about her favorites among her films. She lists "Ocean’s Twelve," "Closer," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Full Frontal," "Ocean’s Eleven," "The Mexican," "Erin Brockovich" and "My Best Friend’s Wedding." They are weird choices considering that "Ocean’s Twelve," "The Mexican" and "Full Frontal" are completely awful; she had a bit part in "Confessions"; and Cameron Diaz came close to stealing every scene in "Wedding." Where is her signature film, "Pretty Woman" or "Mystic Pizza," "The Runaway Bride," "The Pelican Brief," "Notting Hill," "Steel Magnolias" (Oscar nomination there), "Conspiracy Theory," "Mona Lisa Smile" or "Stepmom"? Julia, no one would blame you for having a long resume!And once again, his issues seem to be more with the play itself than with Julia, whom he goes out of his way to praise and offer support for. Perhaps Roger was confused with some other, harsher critic? Apparently, Movie Stars (note the capitals and emphasis...apparently Julia is One, so we're told) don't actually take the time to read their own press or have brains and thoughts of their own. Oh no. They have "people" to read their press for them, just like they also have "people" to tell them their opinions and they have "people" to tell them when they are getting bad press and when they are getting good press, and who to fawn over and who to snub:
In any case, I wouldn’t have thought that what I wrote about Roberts in her play could have justified the scene at last night’s party. It was not pretty, and it was meant to be devastating. Her associates said, “This is what she was told.” And that’s even worse: to think that most people in Hollywood start many conversations with these words: “I was told you wrote (blank).”
But then, I guess Julia can't read her own press, because she's so blind that she can't see when she's parking in a handicapped spot. I can totally see why she needs "people".
So, the next time you're snubbed at a chi-chi swanky-swanky party thrown by some of the Beautiful People by a genuine dyed-in-the-wool Movie Star, don't take it personally. Their "people" told them to hate you. At least, that's what I tell myself as consolation.
And Julia, one last thing...my grandma always told me "pretty is as pretty does".
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