Following her breakout role in Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts starred in a series of movies that failed to repeat Pretty Woman“s success and, except for the occasional showing on late night cable, are rarely seen today (Flatliners, Dying Young, Sleeping with the Enemy). But as Roberts reveals in the new issue of InStyle, the opportunity to star in a movie as successful as Pretty Woman was available to her in the early 1990s, she just couldn’t make it work.
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“I’d been offered Sleepless in Seattle but couldn’t do it,”; Roberts says. “[Meg Ryan] and Tom Hanks are just such a jewel of a fit in that. I guess what they did for that moment in time is sort of what Richard [Gere] and I were doing across town [in Pretty Woman], you know?”;
Having to turn down the role of a lifetime would crush most actors, but Roberts says she doesn’t beat herself up over it: “I always feel like there is room for everybody. I don’t consider myself really all that ambitious. When I didn’t get a part – even when I was younger and needing to pay my rent – I would think, “Oh, someone else got it. She’s going to be so good.’ I never felt sour grapes.”;
Roberts also opens up about her reputation as one of Hollywood’s classic beauties. “I think I’ve always sort of been on the more boyish spectrum of girls,”; she reveals. “For example, I’ve never been chosen as ‘one of the top-five hottest actresses in a bikini.’ And honestly, it’s a Godsend. When I was younger, I’d think, ‘Oh, I’m the prettiest one. It’s not Halle Berry. It’s not!’ But it is, you know?”
The full interview is available in InStyle“s September issue.
