PERHAPS it was playing of a woman ten years her senior – the powerful socialite, political activist and businesswoman Joanne Herring in Charlie Wilson's War – but unlike many actresses, Julia Roberts, who turned 40 last year, is not only embracing the ageing process, she's celebrating it and crediting it with helping her to land dream roles.
"Getting older to me is nice," she said in an interview last week. "You are released from certain concepts.
"Plus, as you get older and more complicated, the parts that are offered to me are more interesting and varied. It's great."
It appears
for some beautiful actresses craving more serious roles (something her award-winning performance in Erin Brockovich proved Roberts more than capable of) that ageing may be something of a blessing in disguise.
While her youthful good looks and 1,000 watt smile brought her early fame – quite literally as a Pretty Woman, as well as in My Best Friend's Wedding and Runaway Bride – Roberts, who described turning 40 as "great", took on a more demanding role in the staunchly conservative, cosmetic surgery-favouring love interest of Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War. It is the kind of part she is keen to investigate further.
And while the Oscar-winning triple A-lister may have lost her crown as Hollywood's highest-paid actress to Reese Witherspoon, 32, Roberts, also a mother of three, remains a industry power player.
Her upcoming roles include playing a corporate spy in Duplicity alongside Clive Owen and writer Elizabeth Gilbert in an adaptation of Gilbert's best-selling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love. The plot follows a woman whose apparently perfect life leaves her dissatisfied, so she chooses to get divorced and travel around the world.
However, many actresses in Hollywood are less enthusiastic about growing older gracefully. Catherine Zeta-Jones, 38, recently vowed: "I'm not going to be playing old grannies any time soon. In my next movie, you'll be seeing a lot more of me, put it that way. I haven't actually reached my sexiest point."
It will be interesting to see which of the two are getting the best roles a decade from now.
The full article contains 364 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
