‘It’s impossible’: Julia Roberts wouldn’t star in Pretty Woman now

Julia Roberts believes it would be “impossible” for her to appear in a movie like Pretty Woman now.

Julia Roberts wouldn’t star in Pretty Woman if the film were made today.

The 58-year-old actress played prostitute Vivian Ward in the 1990 rom-com but claims that it would be “impossible” for her to appear in such a picture now because world views have changed.

Julia told Deadline: “Oh, it’s impossible. I have too many years of the weight of the world inside of me now that I wouldn’t be able to kind of levitate in a movie like that, right?

“I mean, not weight of the world, like, negative, but just all the things that we learn, all the things we put in our pockets along the lane. It would be impossible to play someone who was really innocent, in a way.

“I mean, it’s a funny thing to say about a hooker, but I do think that there was an innocence to her, kind of… I guess it’s just being young.”

Opinions on Pretty Woman – in which Julia’s character forms a relationship with wealthy corporate raider Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) – have shifted over time and Roberts can understand why some are now uncomfortable with the movie.

The Erin Brockovich star explained: “Well, I think anytime you have a huge passage of time and cultural shifts…

“Think about all the movies and plays of the ’20s and ’30s and ’40s – you would look at them now and just be like, ‘How are people saying these things, doing these things?'”

Julia added: “I think these are the choices that we make as artists, as art appreciators and people that love to read books and go to the theatre and yeah, times change, people change, ideas change.”

The Oscar-winning actress also starred alongside Hugh Grant in the 1999 film Notting Hill, in which she plays a Hollywood star who falls for a London book shop owner, and admits that she thought the premise was “stupid” when she was first approached for the project.

She said: “Gosh, I just remember when my agent called me about Notting Hill and I thought, ‘Well that sounds like the dumbest idea of any movie I could ever do. I’m going to play the world’s biggest movie star and I do what? And then what happens? This sounds so f****** stupid.’

“And then I read the script, and I was like, ‘Oh. This is so charming. It’s so funny. Oh, s***.’

“And then I went to lunch with Richard (Curtis) and (producer) Duncan (Kenworthy) and beloved Roger Michell, may he rest in peace.”

Roberts admits that she was still planning to turn down the part during the lunch meeting.

The Ocean’s Eleven star said: “(I was going to tell them), ‘No, this isn’t going to work. I’m passing on this movie.’

“And they were just so charming and sweet and funny. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is really going to happen.’ And we had a beautiful time doing it. It was cast to perfection (by Mary Selway), all the friends, everybody. It was so great. And we had a beautiful time.

“And I think Roger, he just created the film in a way that it just, at every turn, it succeeded. It accomplished its goals with every…

“Alec Baldwin! That’s brilliant casting.”