What pisses off Julia Roberts ?

Portofino Poet

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Dec 17, 2003, 2:03:48 PM12/17/03

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Don't get her dander up.

Dave http://www.geocities.com/daily_dose_of_dave

Julia Roberts Disputes 'Chick Flick' Label
Wed Dec 17,10:38 AM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mention the phrase "chick flick" to Julia
Roberts (news) or any member of the largely female cast of her newest
film, "Mona Lisa Smile," which is set in a girl's school and you are
more likely to get a frozen frown rather than an enigmatic smile.

"I don't think we made a chick flick. We just made a movie," quipped
Roberts, 36, during a recent news conference to promote the film about
an independent-minded art history teacher who joins the faculty of
elite Wellesley College, steeped in the conformity in the 1950s.

Roberts, who co-produced the drama that opens nationally on Friday,
said she was fascinated by the period because it "was right on the
cusp of the revolution of the woman's voice in society."

But even without seeing the movie, some people have already poked fun
at it, dubbing it the "Dead Housewives' Society," likening it
unflatteringly to the 1989 Oscar-nominated "Dead Poets Society,"
starring Robin Williams (news) as a professor who also encourages his
male students to go against the status quo.

In a year when more women than ever are running Hollywood studios and
there has been a plethora of well-received movies directed by females
about females, like "Thirteen," "Lost (news - web sites) in
Translation," "Sylvia," and "Under the Tuscan Sun," the label "chick
flick" still haunts films about women, provoking shudders among
serious-minded actresses.

"What is a chick flick?" asked Julia Stiles (news), another star of
"Mona Lisa Smile." "It's weird, because 'Master and Commander' is not
'a guy flick,' is it?," she said, referring to Russell Crowe (news)'s
latest film about bravery on the high seas.

Stiles is one of four up-and-coming actresses in the film who play
students struggling to define themselves at a time when an engagement
ring is considered a bigger accomplishment than a bachelor's degree.
The other students are played by Kirsten Dunst (news), Maggie
Gyllenhaal (news) and Ginnifer Goodwin.

GUY DIRECTOR

"Mona Lisa Smile," was actually directed by a male. London-born Mike
Newell, whose credits include "Four Weddings and a Funeral," and is on
board to film the next "Harry Potter (news - web sites)" film, said he
was intrigued by the film's exploration of a time when individuality
was frowned upon.

"There was a great deal of debate in the story about what women should
and shouldn't do with their lives, most of which had never been
publicly discussed before," said Newell, who made the cast attend a
"charm school" for the film.

While the "chick flick" label clearly offended many of the film's
stars, some like Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden (news), who plays an
elocution teacher embodying the staid conservatism of the time,
approached it more philosophically.

"When people say 'chick flick' it seems like people are talking about
movies about slumber parties and girls in cute little negligees,"
Harden said.

"This is not that. It's just a movie that may appeal and hopefully
will appeal to women, but that does not mean it won't appeal to men.
No audience should be eliminated," she said.

Indeed, Roberts, said the film's validation of women is applicable to
both sexes. "This movie is about the struggle of the individual, male
or female. Everyone is looking to find their proper place in life,
where they can serve the most and be at their best," she said.

Indeed, Roberts, whose million-dollar smile has helped her earn north
of $20 million per film, seemed to be content with her place in
Hollywood and at home, which she shares with her husband Danny (news -
web sites) Moder.

AFTER "PRETTY WOMAN"

The Georgia-born actress said she made a stand after taking the world
by storm with her breakout success in the 1990 film "Pretty Woman,"
and decided to choose her roles carefully.

"After "Pretty Woman' and the success of that movie, just a lot of
scripts that I read, I felt were really uninteresting and sort of
tedious and not well-written, fully-realized parts," Roberts said.

"I started just passing on everything, and what started off as just me
thinking, well, I'll just wait for something good, turned into an
over-two-year wait," she says.

The next film turned out to be Alan Pakula's "The Pelican Brief" in
1993. "It was a great reintroduction into movies," said the actress,
who has starred in many films since then, a few of them clinkers, but
went on to earn an Oscar for her performance as a crusading paralegal
in the 2000 film, "Erin Brockovich."

Roberts, who has said she would like to soon have a child, said she
finds juggling career and marriage to be relatively easy.

"In my experience, there's a real ease to it. But I think that's in
part because I've been able to have a lot of great career
opportunities and have been able to build on them over a long period
of time. So the kind of attention, maintenance and focus that I give
to my career as it were can be sporadic and of my choosing," she said.

"I'm very fortunate and I can really devote myself to my family," she
said.

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sassinak

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Dec 17, 2003, 7:46:49 PM12/17/03

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"Portofino Poet" <portof...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5358ff53.03121...@posting.google.com...

> Don't get her dander up.
>
> Dave http://www.geocities.com/daily_dose_of_dave
>
> Julia Roberts Disputes 'Chick Flick' Label
> Wed Dec 17,10:38 AM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

<snip>

Oh, that's easy. Everything.

Tina

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Dec 17, 2003, 10:07:22 PM12/17/03

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>"What is a chick flick?" asked Julia Stiles (news), another star of
>"Mona Lisa Smile." "It's weird, because 'Master and Commander' is not
>'a guy flick,' is it?," she said, referring to Russell Crowe (news)'s
>latest film about bravery on the high seas.
>

<snip>

I don't know why she would be offended by her movie being called a chick flick.
Like Marcia Gay Harden said, it's an innocent way to describte a movie that
would appeal mainly to women -which it is. Not that a man wouldn't want to
learn more about a women's issue but I'm sure they'd much rather go see a
manly-man movie like Master and Commander.

Sounds like Julia Stiles has been hanging around Julia Roberts too much.

::::::Tina::::::

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