Julia Roberts Says This Is What’s Wrong With Hollywood Today
Hollywood has always been full of connections and family ties, but actors like Julia Roberts notice it’s gotten even harder for young actors to find their own path. Julia grew up in the business, coming after her brother Eric Roberts, who became famous for movies like King of the Gypsies. Her niece, Emma Roberts, is also a successful actress today.
Talking to Vanity Fair, Julia said the industry has changed a lot since she started. “We were talking about Mystic Pizza earlier, and I’m sitting here thinking to myself, It’s too bad that young actors coming up now will never get that kind of experience. The business is so different; you can never be that new girl that has that moment of ‘Where’d she come from?’ Those gradual steps that you get to take.”
She added that now there’s just “the express elevator and there’s rehab.” Julia explained, “It’s so awful; nobody gets a fair trial-and-error period that everybody deserves and everybody needs. I was lucky that I made a few movies in a row that people really responded to—not me particularly but the films as a whole were appreciated. Then you have a couple that aren’t when you think they’re going to be, and that’s OK. You can keep going. People can keep hiring you. But that doesn’t happen now, and it’s a pity because it is a way to develop yourself and figure out what kind of actor you are.”
Emma Roberts has grown up with family in Hollywood, so she knows how it feels to be a “nepo baby.” On the podcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, she said, “People definitely have preconceived notions of you. I think there’s two sides of the coin, you know. People like to say, ‘You have a leg up because you have family in the industry,’ but then the other side to that is, you know, you have to prove yourself more. Also, if people don’t have [a] good experience maybe with other people in your family, then you’ll never get the chance.”
Emma also said Hollywood loves a good story about someone coming from nowhere and suddenly becoming famous. “I think there’s something to be said where everybody loves the kind of overnight success story. And so if you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, you know there’s kind of an eye roll of like, ‘Well, your dad was this,’” she said. She even joked, “Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon.”
Julia and Emma Roberts show that having family in Hollywood can help, but it doesn’t make things simple. Julia misses the time when actors could grow slowly and learn from experience, and Emma points out how tricky it is to prove yourself even when doors are already open.
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