The Razzie-winning movie that paid Julia Roberts $500,000 a minute: “We’ll make it work”
Julia Roberts has led some of the most beloved Hollywood movies over the past few decades, often starring in powerful dramas or heartwarming romantic comedies that have established her as one of the most recognisable faces in the industry. With early credits including Mystic Pizza and Steel Magnolias, Roberts seemed drawn to charming and uplifting stories, albeit ones with an emotional edge.
The actor broke through with a leading role in Pretty Woman in 1990, starring opposite Richard Gere as an escort. After Roberts’ Vivian is hired by Gere’s Edward to accompany him to various business engagements, they grow increasingly fond of each other’s company. It’s a classic ’90s rom-com, beloved decades later, but upon release, critics were much more divided. That didn’t stop the film from becoming a box-office hit, grossing a staggering $463million.
It was the biggest success of director Gary Marshall’s career to date, and while he would go on to direct Gere and Roberts in another box-office hit, Runaway Bride, nine years later, and even helm the incredibly popular The Princess Diaries and its sequel, the last three movies of his career were pretty poor. In fact, Roberts starred in two of them – Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, with the latter earning the Oscar-winning actor a Golden Raspberry nomination.
For some reason, Marshall spent the last few years of his career making holiday-themed movies with ensemble casts—the other entry in this unofficial trilogy being New Year’s Eve—none of which received good reviews. Yet, with their star-studded casts, featuring everyone from Taylor Swift and Ashton Kutcher to Shirley MacLaine and even Robert De Niro, it seemed no one was off-limits for Marshall’s interconnected tales of love and family.
Roberts appeared in Valentine’s Day as Captain Kate Hazeltine, who befriends Bradley Cooper’s character, Holden. While she didn’t earn a Razzie nomination for her role – which was the case when she starred in Mother’s Day, sporting a genuinely awful wig – the movie won Ashton Kutcher a Golden Raspberry Award for ‘Worst Actor’ and Jessica Alba a ‘Worst Supporting Actress’ title.
The movie also starred Kathy Bates, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx, Emma Roberts, Jennifer Garner, and Topher Grace, but none of these actors could save the dire screenplay. The movie attempted to explore various angles of romance, with stories of young and old love weaving together over the course of the runtime.
Discussing the opportunity to work with a large cast, Marshall revealed in an interview with Female, “You gotta take a moment to salute the business affairs – you know, salute them, and say, ‘Hey, you got these people.’ Because we didn’t know who was coming on certain days, and this and that. But since I am fearless of anything, I figured, ‘Whatever it is, we’ll make it work.’ And it was a challenge, but a challenge that was also – I could have fun with it. I didn’t have to address it seriously. I said, ‘Come on! We’re here, we’ll do this. How about this?’ And the actors were terrific.”
Impressively, Roberts earned $3m for her role—even though she only appeared in the film for around six minutes, meaning she was paid an incredible $500,000 a minute. It was a box-office hit, earning a massive $216.5m against its $52m budget, which is rather impressive for a film that was critically panned.
