Julia Roberts is an insanely talented actress whose career, spanning over a long 24 years, means she has had the opportunity and rightly so, to showcase her talents, applying that to a very wide range of roles from strong-minded, determined women to those chasing after love.
I must have first seen her in one of my favourite films of all time, Pretty Woman. Audiences found themselves falling in love with her just as much as her famous counterpart, in a story that was a mixture of touching, funny and romantic- a comedy classic.
Sleeping with the Enemy is perhaps the most serious of roles I have seen her play and which stretched her to become a sweet but very afraid young woman who eventually leaves her violently controlling husband, plucking up the courage to flee and begin a new life elsewhere until the old one catches up with her. I shall leave it at that in case you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, in which case I recommend you do. A friend of my parent’s had a fair few years ago now and was instantly a favourite of mine, like many of Robert’s films.
My Best Friends Wedding plays havoc with her emotions and hotel mini-bars (who remembers falling off the bed, face masks, far too many cigarettes and chasing?!) and the flawless Notting Hill. Rhys Ifans is sheer comedy brilliance ("I have a joke that will make your balls shrink to the size of raisins!"- amazing) and is such a brilliant addition to the film. Roberts plays a successful actress like herself alongside Hugh Grant, the unlucky in love and hopeless romantic who has trouble climbing a fence, let alone maintaining a successful, long-term relationship.
Another (possibly all time) favourite amongst Robert's films, is the brilliantly directed and hugely critically acclaimed, Erin Brockovich, which based on a true story, tells the gripping (and sometimes amusing) tale of a woman who will stop at nothing whilst investigating the operation of a town's water board. Failing to obtain healthy standards and neglecting it's maintenance is causing the serious illnesses of young children and ripping apart the lives of many families living nearby. Although she has personal problems of her own and people preventing from doing her job, she lets nothing get in her way and fights for her beliefs and the small town until eventually, justice is done and those affected get the compensation they deserve. Seriously amazing viewing. No other actress could have played it as well as Roberts.
Like many of Robert's films, for me, Closer (interestingly swiveling around just the four main characters played by Natalie Portman, Jude Law and the handsome Clive Owen) and Mona Lisa Smile stand out. They both deal with controversial issues, confronting them truthfully and powerfully, in the same way the language brings this to life on screen.
Roberts is beautiful, hard-working and an inspiration, certainly to young actresses who want to become successful in film, aspiring to one day become as great an actress as she. Her expression and emotion shown on screen are the attributes which I feel prove her such talent as an actress and every character she plays, she does so with such vigour, making for a good film. She has always been my favourite and I imagine, always will be.
Self-Defense is not murder.
If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.
Notting Hill (1999)
Can the most famous film star in the world fall for just an ordinary guy?
She brought a small town to its feet and a huge corporation to its knees.
In a world that told them how to think, she showed them how to live.
It's about finding the love of your life. And deciding what to do about it.
Who knew it was so much fun to be a hooker?
Roberts is starring as the Evil Queen in new film The Brother's Grimm: Snow White, alongside Lily Collins as Snow White.
