The early auditions that Julia Roberts would rather forget: “I’m sure it was a disaster”
While we might look up to the people in the spotlight and see them as having everything figured out, there are numerous failures and hurdles that line the road to success.
Most of the Hollywood heavyweights who we now consider legends and icons of cinema were once servers with huge dreams, struggling to make ends meet and earnestly working on their craft every chance they got. While they might have been in possession of raw talent, no one is a star from day one, with most improving over the years and steadily learning from each experience.
For many, the process of auditioning is a learning curve that highlights your flaws and shortcomings, with each rejection and hard ‘no’ encouraging you to get better and avoid a future bout of humiliation. As a result, sometimes the early jobs we miss out on are the ones we later become thankful for not getting, with the thought of being given a job you weren’t very good at becoming a very cringe-inducing one. This was certainly the case for Julia Roberts, who described her feelings of embarrassment over her early auditions and the roles she was glad not to book.
Roberts was one of the ultimate Hollywood stars of the 1990s, with leading roles in Notting Hill, Pretty Woman and Erin Brockovich that catapulted her to the top of the industry and cemented her as one of the most beloved leading ladies of her generation.
After becoming the face of the rom-com through her tepidly vulnerable portrayal of Anna Scott to her sneaky interference with her best friend’s wedding, the actor later expanded into a different realm of cinema through darker roles in Mike Nichols’ Closer and her upcoming collaboration with Luca Guadagnino, taking the lead role in his highly anticipated drama After The Hunt.
While she appears to be the pillar of success and composure, it is something she has achieved after years of hard work, with the actor describing her early nerves over auditions and the roles she is glad to have missed out on.
When asked about her first audition, Roberts said, “Oh my gosh. We’d have to get in a time machine. No, I mean, I’m sure it was a disaster. I’m so deeply thankful for all the jobs that I didn’t get because I auditioned for a lot of really terrible commercials and not quality television. And so, I think it was a lot of good fortune that no one wanted me. I look back on it with real good feelings now.”
Sometimes the opportunities we don’t get turn out to be the biggest blessings in disguise. We might only be ready for the roles we’re truly meant for much later in life, something that Roberts can see with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that while she might have wanted them at the time, she perhaps wasn’t ready or the right person for them. The actor eventually found her breakout role in Steel Magnolias, which ended up being a hugely challenging experience that she perhaps needed extra time to prepare for, with a harsh introduction to Hollywood that helped her find the grooves she was meant to nestle into.
