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Queen Julia
Posted Tue, 13 Feb 2001
An Oscar for Best Actress raised her paycheck to over $20-million per film, Julia Roberts is the highest paid female Hollywood superstar in existence.
Let's give credit where credit is due: Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock are engaging romantic leads. Jodie Foster is a fine actress. But can any of these women compare to the ubiquitous Tom Cruise in box-office clout?
In a word, no. Who can? Why, Julia Roberts, of course.
A young, aspiring Julia Roberts played second-fiddle to her actor-brother, Eric ("Runaway Train", "The Best Of The Best"), in the '80s. But in the '90s, she joined a select handful of male stars, consisting of the aforementioned Cruise, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Shwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, and Jim Carrey, in becoming a powerful figure whose name could ensure a film's success world-wide.
At the youthful age of twenty-four, Julia already had two Academy Award nominations under her belt. She received recognition for her supporting role in "Steel Magnolias" (1989) and for her lead role in "Pretty Woman" (1990).
It was "Pretty Woman", co-starring Richard Gere, that launched Julia's career into overdrive. The actress who made her big screen debut with "Mystic Pizza" (1988), soon found herself in two back-to-back smash-hit thrillers, "Flatliners" and "Sleeping With The Enemy".
Her next project, "Dying Young", was deemed too depressing by her popcorn-munching fans, and "Hook", in which she starred as Tinker-belle to Robin Williams' Peter Pan, proved only moderately successful on the strength of director Steven Spielberg's name.
Off-camera, Julia's rising star was being scrutinized to the nth degree by the paparazzi: After being romantically linked by the press to partners as diverse as Sean Penn and Matthew Perry, Julia was all set to marry "Flatliners" co-star, Kiefer Sutherland in 1991. At the last minute, she backed out of the marriage, leaving Sutherland literally stranded at the altar.
Her frenetic public life seemed to allow her only a brief cameo in veteran filmmaker, Robert Altman's stylish "The Player" (1992), in which she plays herself. While working on Altman's film, Julia met Lyle Lovett, a singer/actor whom she eventually did marry. But the two separated after a brief 21 months.
In 1993, she returned to the number one spot at the box-office with the John Grisham thriller, "The Pelican Brief". But then she teamed up again with Robert Altman in the disappointing "Pret A' Porter". This was followed by the poor "I Love Trouble" with Nick Nolte. The moderate success of "Something To Talk About", with Dennis Quaid, highlighted Julia's resilience.
She furthered her acting chops starring in more weightier fare: "Michael Collins" sees Julia attempting an Irish accent opposite Liam Neeson. In "Everyone Says I Love You", she holds her own as the object of Woody Allen's affection. And "Mary Reilly" has her playing chamber-maid to John Malcovich's Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde.
Then, in 1997, she returned to her favourite genre - romantic comedy: "My Best Friend's Wedding" proved a resounding success. Julia manages to pull off playing a loveable character who, in effect, is the film's villain. "Conspiracy Theory", opposite fellow megastar Mel Gibson followed. And after that came the tearfully tender "Stepmom" with Susan Sarandon.
With "Notting Hill", Roberts proved why she's the biggest female star in the world with, easily, her best performance to date. And "Runaway Bride", in which Julia re-teams with Richard Gere and Gary Marshall, co-star and director of "Pretty Woman", affirms her cream of the crop status.
After a decade in the limelight, it seems as if Julia Roberts has come full circle. With her 20 million dollar paycheck for "Erin Brocovich", Julia Roberts will enter the new millennium as the undisputed queen of the big screen.
Numerous critics judged her performance as a working single mom in Steven Soderbergh's "Erin Brockovich" (2000) to be her finest performance to date, and it surprised few when she was awarded the Best Actress Golden Globe Award in January 2001, and then the Best Actress Oscar the following March.
She teams up with heartthrob Brad Pitt in the romantic comedy "The Mexican" to be released in May.
