She’s just a girl, standing in front of an industry, asking it to make better rom-coms. Julia Roberts recently told the New York Times that there’s a pretty straightforward reason that she hasn’t starred in a romantic comedy in 20 years. “Here’s the thing: If I’d thought something was good enough, I would have done it,” she said. She told the Times that people sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by as a sign that she doesn’t want to do the genre. But in reality, she said she simply never read any scripts that achieved Notting Hill’s quality of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding’s “level of madcap fun.” Now, after two decades, Roberts has finally found a movie that meets her standards. She’s set to star alongside George Clooney in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker’s upcoming rom-com Ticket to Paradise. Even that project, however, could easily have been a skip for Roberts. “I thought, Well, disaster, because this only works if it’s George Clooney,” she said. “Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me. Somehow we were both able to do it, and off we went.” Talk about a slow-burn — after 20 years, we hope this love story will be worth the wait.
