Julia Roberts hasn't made a romantic comedy for 20 years but she is set to make a remarkable comeback.
One of the main reasons the Hollywood superstar has been holding back was to star alongside old pal George Clooney. Another was that she was simply waiting for the right script to come along.
Luckily for fans of 1990s classics Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding and Notting Hill, the 54-year-old actress has managed to tick both boxes with her role in new movie Ticket to Paradise, which is out in October.
The film will see divorced couple Roberts and Clooney head to Bali to stop their daughter from repeating the same mistake they had made 25 years earlier.
Roberts, in a New York Times interview, almost seemed surprised herself at her two-decade long sabbatical from the types of movies that made her a Hollywood A-lister, questioning: "It can't be 20 years, can it?
"Here's the thing: If I'd thought something was good enough, I would have done it. But I also had three kids in the last 18 years.
"That raises the bar even more because then it's not only 'Is this material good?' It's also the math equation of my husband's work schedule and the kids' school schedule and summer vacation. It's not just, 'Oh, I think I want to do this'."
Roberts will have been married to cinematographer Daniel Moder for 20 years in July and they have 17-year-old twins Phinnaeus and Hazel and 14-year-old Henry. On her motivation for returning to her most recognised genre, Roberts added: "People sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by that I haven’t done a romantic comedy as my not wanting to do one.
"If I had read something that I thought was that Notting Hill level of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding level of madcap fun, I would do it.
"They didn't exist until this movie."
After reading the script by director Ol Parker and Daniel Pipski, she also reasoned: "This only works if it's George Clooney." Luckily, her former Ocean's Eleven co-star felt the same.
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