Julia Roberts
"Extra" spent time with Julia Roberts to talk about her first movie in a year, "Mona Lisa Smile." But the superstar also opened up about being a celebrity, her mega-pay day, and working on the movie with husband Danny Moder.
Roberts and Moder actually went straight from their honeymoon to the set of "Mona Lisa Smile." Roberts says, "I think it is like any person that I've worked with that I have respect for. I respect their opinions and ideas, and I sort of strive to impress them."
The movie is set in 1953, and Roberts plays a free-spirited college teacher who inspires her students, played by Julia Styles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Kirsten Dunst. Roberts says, "They are really kind of hip and cool in a way that I never was. I think if I were their age, they are the girls I would hate. They are so together."
Roberts got a mind-blowing $25 million for this movie, which is a record for a female actress. She says, "Breaking down a barrier for salaries for women wasn't something that would even occur to me. It just was not part of the driving force for me."
In the past, Roberts said she was "a terrible celebrity." She says, "I see people and they look so calm and relaxed, and I think, when I'm in that same situation I feel like a bundle of nerves. My head is about to fall off, and I don't know how they do it."
But don't get the wrong idea, Roberts has adjusted to life in the spotlight. She says, "I have my head on straight, and I have really good friends and a strong family life. And I think that is something to be proud of 20 years in the business now."
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