Julia Roberts Gives Brutally Honest Response On Whether She Would Have Accepted Pretty Woman Today

5 days ago 9

Pretty Woman- Richard Gere and Julia Roberts

Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.

Julia Roberts gives a candid response to the question of whether she would make the movie that kick-started her career today, the milestone rom-com Pretty Woman. Directed by Garry Marshall and co-starring Richard Gere, Pretty Woman follows a corporate businessman (Gere) who hires an escort (Roberts) to act as his date at events, but ends up falling in love with her.

Roberts, at this point in her career, had already earned an Oscar nomination for her turn in 1989's Steel Magnolias. She had also starred in Mystic Pizza and Blood Red. However, Pretty Woman is regarded as Roberts' breakout role, propelling her to a new level of fame and potentially making many of her later roles possible. While Gere was more established, his career was also boosted by Pretty Woman.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Roberts was asked if she would take on the role in Pretty Woman today (assuming she were the right age). However, Roberts responded that, now that she is much older, she doesn't think she has the "innocence" needed to play Vivian Ward anymore: "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?"

Read Roberts' further comments on this below:

I mean, not weight of the world, like, negative, but just all the things that we learn, all the things that 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, a kind of…I guess it’s just being young.

Richard Gere as Edward witting with Julia Roberts as Vivian in Pretty Woman

Additionally, Roberts responded to how she might not have taken the role because Pretty Woman itself probably wouldn't be as well-received today. Since its debut, the movie has been reevaluated, with many being more critical of the transactional, damsel-in-distress narrative. Roberts commented: "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," the star continues, "you would look at them now and just be like, 'How are people saying these things, doing these things?'" Pretty Woman is hardly the only old rom-com that could now be interpreted as problematic, and may be written differently today, if it were released at all.

Pretty Woman was also compared to Anora, last year's Best Picture winner, which has a similar premise but depicts a much darker take. But despite the harsh realities of rewatching Pretty Woman, it had a huge impact on Roberts' career. She was again nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Pretty Woman, and following the hit, went on to star in Flatliners, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Notting Hill throughout the 1990s.

Roberts finally won her Academy Award for 2000's Erin Brockovich, and landed even more iconic roles in the 21st century, including those in the Ocean's franchise, Valentine's Day, Eat Pray Love, and August: Osage County. In 2025, Roberts starred opposite Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri in Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt; the movie struggled critically, but Roberts still earned praise for her lead performance.

There is much discussion surrounding the merits and problems of Pretty Woman as a movie, and Roberts may not have done something like it today, but she doubtlessly made her mark on cinematic history with it then.