During the early years of her career, Julia Roberts had a reputation for being a little bit difficult to work with.
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The star famously clashed with director Steven Spielberg during the filming of "Hook" in 1991, where Roberts played Tinkerbell. It was later claimed that Roberts was referred to as “Tinkerhell” on the set.
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When asked about this rumor in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that same year, Roberts said she had “never heard” the nickname. But she didn’t deny that she may have rubbed people the wrong way on set, adding, “But I'm a normal person. I mean, if I sit in my trailer for six hours doing nothing, I'm going to say, 'What the fuck is going on?’”
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Spielberg also fueled the fire during an interview on "60 Minutes," where he said, “It was not a great time for Julia and I to be working together.” When he was asked if he would ever work with her again, he retorted, “This is a '60 Minutes' question, isn’t it?”
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After the interview aired, Roberts told Vanity Fair, “I saw that, and my eyes popped out of my head. I couldn't believe that this person that I knew and trusted was actually hesitating to come to my defense."
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But the drama didn’t stop with Spielberg. In 1994, Roberts admitted to not getting along with her "I Love Trouble" costar Nick Nolte. Since then, it has been reported that she has clashed with everybody from Hugh Grant to Meryl Streep.
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And in a new interview with director Richard Curtis for British Vogue, Roberts addressed the conscious decision she made not to be “too friendly” on movie sets.
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Roberts and Curtis worked together on the 1999 rom-com "Notting Hill" and have remained good friends ever since. But partway through the chat, Curtis admitted that he was “scared of” Roberts when they first met.
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The comment was triggered when Roberts told the director that they “have better, more fun conversations now than we had 25 years ago.” In response, Curtis said, “I was scared of you then. Do you remember what you said to me on the final week of Notting Hill?”
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He continued, “You said you have to be careful on movies, careful you’re not too friendly.”
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While Roberts didn’t appear to remember this conversation, she didn’t deny it either, and asked Curtis if she’d said at the time why that was. He replied, “Because you said someone will always slightly take advantage of it. That someone will always suddenly ask you to meet their mom and come to dinner and everything.”
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“You just felt you had to focus on your job,” Curtis added before asking, “Do you still sometimes feel that you have to hold back? Because people are reacting to you not as a person but as a famous person?”
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Roberts acknowledged that the situation can be “tricky,” explaining, “I feel I sometimes have to hold back because there’s too many question marks over what the space will expand into.”
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She shared, “And sometimes people are so familiar with me. I’ll say, ‘Hi!’ ‘Oh, my god, hi!’ I have hugged, warmly, total strangers.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, Roberts acknowledged that because of her personality, she can sometimes come across as “really harsh” — but she insisted that she never intends to hurt people’s feelings.
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“I think I speak very plainly,” she said. “That’s kind of how I see myself. I’m very forthright. There are a lot of personalities in the world that don’t accept that easily, and it can seem really harsh, even if I feel like I’m just being honest about something and just saying this is how I see it. I never am trying to be unkind.”
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And part of Roberts' frankness was reflected in the making of "Notting Hill," with Curtis revealing in the interview that Roberts made him change part of the script in hopes of increasing the value of subsequent movie offers she received.
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In case you didn’t know, Roberts plays a world-famous Hollywood actor called Anna Scott in the film, and at one point the character is asked, “Last film you did, what did you get paid?”
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Anna says, “$15 million.” In her conversation with Curtis, Roberts said that he initially “lowballed” her character, with Curtis revealing in response, “I lowballed you, but you insisted on me changing the script so that your price for your next movie would go up.”
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And Roberts proudly owned this savvy business move, simply stating, “Because I am a feminist.”
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