Julia Roberts has a new rom-com out with George Clooney, called Tickets to Paradise. It’s delightful! In interview, the two A-listers have been asked about why they wanted to do another romance movie at this stage of their careers. For Roberts, it was simple: get paid to hassle Clooney.
That’s what she told The AU Review when asked about joining the project. “Just the chance to be really snarky to George jumped out at me,” she says, laughing. “Just to see him so pathetically in love with me.” It being Clooney, who wouldn’t want to be opposite him as he’s completely devoted to you?
In the comedy movie, Roberts and Clooney are divorced parents who make a quick trip to Bali to stop their daughter from impulsively marrying someone. While their marriage failed, they call a truce to stop their child from making a big mistake. Perfect excuse for Clooney and Roberts to just riff at each other, and it sounds like they did just that.
“We met with Steven Soderbergh, and we sat on the floor of a hotel and made jokes for about five hours. For us it’s always been fairly easy, you know?” Clooney says. “I remember reading [Ticket to Paradise] and calling Julia and I said ‘It only works if you do it’, and she said the same thing, so luckily it worked out. It was lucky nonsense. But it’s fun to work with friends. And Julia.”
As Clooney suggests, they have a history. They worked together, as ex-lovers no less, in thriller movie Ocean’s Eleven. They did the sequel together, Ocean’s Twelve, but haven’t crossed paths again, until now.
Ticket to Paradise is directed by Ol Parker, from a script written by he and Daniel Pipski. You can catch it in cinemas now. Have a look at our list of the best adventure movies for more big screen vacations.