Toys covered the floor, and Mary Poppins sang softly on the TV when director Tony Gilroy arrived at Julia Roberts‘ New York City apartment in the fall of 2007. The actress, who has three kids with husband Danny Moder, seemed to have relegated herself to ensemble work, but Gilroy was determined to woo her back to the screen in a major way. They sat in her kitchen, sizing each other up. He told her why she’d be perfect in Duplicity, as a slick corporate spy who trades kisses and quips with an equally smooth Clive Owen. Then Roberts’ new baby, Henry, started burbling for his mama, 3-year-old twins Finn and Hazel woke from their naps, and the meeting took a G-rated turn. ”It started off, I thought, with me seeming very chic,” says Roberts, ”because it was just me and Tony sitting having a cup of tea. Then one by one they all woke up and came in until I looked like Mother Hubbard.”

Today, Roberts is tucked away in a suite at midtown Manhattan’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. Her kids are safely ensconced in another room, always near their mother, but shielded from the rigors of her public life. Roberts is in game spirits, and she takes a crack at writing the headlines that will inevitably trumpet her return to the spotlight — and question her relevance going forward. ”The Pretty Woman Is Back!” she teases. ”The Working Woman! Everybody’s talking about ‘Oh, this is her comeback’ and ‘Ooh, she’s 41 and she’s working and not a lot of girls in their 40s are working.”’ She shakes her head, her face sliding into that famous grin. ”Well, I’m baaaa-aaaack,” she says in a patient voice, free of any urgency. We might have missed her more than she missed us.

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