“Ambition has a bad connotation”: the 1988 lie that launched Julia Roberts’ career
Julia Roberts has held a tight grasp on Hollywood since the 1980s, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and quickly nabbing roles in movies like the classic rom-com Mystic Pizza and the star-studded Steel Magnolias, which earned her an Academy Award nomination.
Many critics were impressed with how fast Roberts’ rise to fame was, but the fact that it took her such a short amount of time from making her film debut in 1988’s Satisfaction to landing the lead role in 1990’s Pretty Woman is simply a testament to her commanding screen presence – that great big smile of hers looks like it was practically made to be plastered across posters and movie screens.
But how did Roberts get so lucky? Well, it seems like it was a mixture of talent and ambition that got her where she soon ended up – and it helped that her older brother, Eric Roberts, was already starting to make waves in the industry. She’d never studied acting, though, but soon a modelling contract came her way after she was discovered on the street, and that’s what led her to the silver screen.
One of her first acting experiences came in the cheaply done Blood Red, which starred her brother, but it wouldn’t see the light of day until 1989, when Roberts had already bagged her part in Steel Magnolias. With this movie failing to receive a timely release, Roberts didn’t know where her career was going. But it’s rare that your first experience of a new job is going to be everything you’d hoped it would be and more. Roberts needed to keep going – and maybe pull a few strings to get there.
Her manager, Bob McGowan, told her that she needed to tell a few white lies if she wanted her career to move forward. So, when it came to auditioning for an instrument-playing role in Satisfaction, he pretended that Roberts was way more capable than she was.
“Julia is a musician,” he told the casting agents (via the Los Angeles Times), but Roberts wasn’t in the slightest.
After taking some drum lessons, it was actually the role of a guitarist that she somehow managed to win, and it proved to be a major stepping stone for Roberts… Just like that, she’d made it to Mystic Pizza, and then, thanks to Meg Ryan dropping out of the role, she scored Steel Magnolias – there was no going back for the star, she’d made it.
“I wouldn’t be in this business if I wasn’t [ambitious],” the actor admitted, although she doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to harness plenty of determination to succeed, especially in an industry where it often seems futile, like wishful thinking, to expect that you’re going to succeed. She sees it differently.
Roberts added, “But ‘ambition’ has a bad connotation. People don’t understand all the hues. It’s not just money, greed, fame. My ambitions are to seek out challenges, to discover new things about myself – maybe some things I haven’t wanted to deal with.”
Concluding, “I also want to be part of a group I respect, from whom I can get an influx of ideas and creativity.” It’s safe to say that she has achieved that.
