Why Julia Roberts Passed on 'Sleepless in Seattle'
And what the actress thinks of Meg Ryan's performance in the classic film.
— -- Julia Roberts, 46, has a laundry list of iconic performances -- "Pretty Woman," "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Erin Brockovich," and tons more.
But it looks like "Sleepless in Seattle" could have been added to that list, but Roberts chose to go a different way.
Meg Ryan eneded up playing Hanks' star-cross lover and everything worked out fine. Here's what Roberts told InStyle magazine about the offer.
Read: Julia Roberts Finally Breaks Silence Over Death of Half-Sister
Related: Julia Roberts Reveals Who Gets to See Her Without Makeup
“I’d been offered Sleepless in Seattle, but couldn’t do it," she said. "[Meg Ryan] and Tom Hanks are just such a jewel of a fit in that. I guess what they did for that moment in time is sort of what Richard [Gere] and I were doing across town, you know?"
Roberts was talking about making "Pretty Woman" with Gere around the same time -- the early 1990's -- while Hanks and Ryan made their own classic. The Oscar winner added that this philosophy is how she feels about all movies, not just "Sleepless."
"I always feel like there is room for everybody," she added. "I don’t consider myself really all that ambitious. When I didn’t get a part – even when I was younger and needing to pay my rent – I would think, 'Oh, someone else got it. She’s going to be so good.' I never felt sour grapes."
Aside from missed opportunities, Roberts also talked about balancing work and home life.
“[The question I’d never want to be asked again is] 'how do you do it all?'" she said. "Because (a) I’m not nearly as busy as people think. (b) Half of everything just doesn’t get done. As long as no one is in tears, nobody smells bad and everyone’s sleeping peacefully, I’ve done my job. And (c) I have a supportive group of girlfriends, a great husband and an understanding family. The rest gets done with grit, spit and a whole lot of duct tape.”
The September 2014 issue of InStyle hits newsstands Friday, August 15th, 2014.
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