Julia Roberts has admitted her longtime friend and co-star George Clooney and his family helped save her from plunging into a world of "loneliness and despair" while filming "Ticket to Paradise" in Australia.
Roberts made the candid remarks in The New York Times interview that included Clooney. At the time, they were stuck in a pandemic bubble. Roberts was housed in a home by herself while Clooney, his wife Amal, and their kids stayed in a rental close by. Clooney recalled the setup to the Times.
"We started in Hamilton Island, with all these wild birds, and Julia had the house down just below Amal and me and the kids," he explained. "I would come out in the early mornings and be like, 'Caa-caa,' and Julia would come out and be like, 'Caa-caa.' And then we'd bring her down a cup of coffee. She was Aunt Juju to my kids."
Roberts then said, "The Clooneys saved me from complete loneliness and despair. We were in a bubble, and it's the longest I've ever been away from my family. I don't think I've spent that much time by myself since I was 25."
After arriving in Australia, the cast and crew had to quarantine, and Roberts admitted she went a bit "cuckoo" right around the 11th day.
"I was like, 'Who am I? Where am I? What is this room that I never leave?' she said. "It's a funny thing. I hadn't really anticipated all that."
Clooney and Roberts play a divorced couple in the upcoming film, which is directed by Ol Parker. The pair have starred in numerous films together, but this marks their first romantic comedy together. Clooney told the Times, it was "clearly written for Julia and I."
Despite this, though, it still took them nearly 80 takes to film a single kissing scene.
"It took 79 takes of us laughing, and then the one take of us kissing," Roberts said.
"Well, we had to get it right," Clooney joked.
"Ticket to Paradise" also stars Billie Lourd, Lucas Bravo, and Maxime Bouttier. The film is in theaters Oct. 21, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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