Julia Roberts says there’s an ocean of difference between working with Clive Owen and her other recent costars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

She didn’t have to watch her back.

“What a relief. I didn’t have to check the toilet for anything or the light bulbs or the phone,” she says of the on-set pranks by her Oceans Twelve pals. “It was just good old-fashioned friendship.”

And fun. Roberts, 41, returns to the big screen in the romantic caper Duplicity, in theaters March 20, reuniting with her Closer costar Owen. She says Owen, 46, makes her laugh constantly, which helped sparked instant chemistry onscreen.

“We have a similar sense of humor,” she says. “Our list of priorities in our personal lives are not different. We are both happily married with families and lead a pretty normal, unaffected existence within in this odd universe of show business that we’ve both chosen to go into.”

Roberts and Owen play spies turned corporate operatives in the midst of an on-again and off-again love affair trying to scheme and seduce each other using quick banter.

“I’m Southern so I can talk really fast,” says the Oscar-winning actress. “I grew up on Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, His Girl Friday movies – that rat-a-tat-tat talking cadence and that rhythm. I love that kind of thing.”

One thing she doesn’t love as much, at least right now, is the thought of her three children – twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 4, and son, Henry, 1, joining her and cameraman dad Danny Moder in show business.

“My first instinct is that if my children wanted to be artists, that they wait,” Roberts says. “I would prefer that they just wait as long as they can.”

Katie Holmes aka Mrs. Tom Cruise had an interview with Glamour and talked about who her icons are and meantioned Julia:

Growing up, I always had my dreams set on being an actor, so I looked up to Julia Roberts, Audrey Hepburn. I also look up to Kate Winslet and Renée [Zellweger] and Cate Blanchett…and Diane Keaton—she’s a genius. I think it’s very inspiring to see these women attack such complex roles.

Julia Roberts seems to think she is no longer a target for the Hollywood paparazzi pack that follows the town’s hottest actresses wherever they go.

“Not many paparazzi follow me now,” she laughed, ensconced in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. “It’s just the slow ones who haven’t yet figured out I’m not the one to follow.” She obviously had not seen the swarm of photographers massing at the hotel entrance waiting for her exit, a testament to her enduring popularity and the interest surrounding the imminent release of Duplicity, a jaunty spy thriller in which she has her first starring role in nearly five years and which reunites her with her Closer co-star Clive Owen.

(more…)

‘Duplicity’ star Julia Roberts talks motherhood, fame and her sexy co-star Clive Owen with our own Lara Spencer! But first, she reveals her latest crush!

“I have such the White House crushes happening right now,” says Julia of President Obama and the first lady, along with Vice President Biden and his wife. “All four of them. I would definitely like to spend some time with them.”

The busy star is balancing mommy duties with movie star duties, and was fortunately able to bring her three young kids — twins Phinnaeus and Hazel and youngest son Henry — to the ‘Duplicity’ set.

“They really like Clive and [director] Tony [Gilroy],” she says. “It’s nice when people are welcoming in that way. It makes the working environment so much more relaxed.”

Julia just had baby Henry when she started filming the movie, and the storyline requires some serious skin on her part.

“It was kind of was what it was,” says Julia with a laugh. “I was still nursing. I put it out there — historically documented.”

In theaters everywhere March 20, ‘Duplicity’ finds Julia and Clive as a former CIA officer and MI6 agent, respectively, now working as corporate spies in order to cash in on a highly profitable cold war raging between two rival multinational corporations. Engaged in a secret love affair, they play a game of cat and mouse in order to secure the secret formula for a product that will bring a windfall fortune to the company that patents it first.

Julia also got to work with hubby Danny Moder on her next project, ‘Fireflies in the Garden,’ out around Father’s Day, and she says it was “just blissful.” But she also reveals, “I get nervous when I would have to act [in front of him]; I’d rather be like cooking a good dinner [and say] ‘What do you think of that?!’ It’s less nerve wracking.”

Julia’s niece Emma Roberts made an interview with Teen Vogue and meantioned Julia:

“Some people look at me and think, ‘She’s just Julia Roberts’ niece,’” Emma said in the April issue of Teen Vogue. “I’m not in competition with her; she’s one of the biggest movie stars in the world! I’m just doing what I love to do and having fun with it.”

LOS ANGELES – Julia Roberts has plenty of successful romantic comedy roles under her belt – but in an interview with Access Hollywood’s Tony Potts on Friday, she said she’s never kissed so much in a film as she does in her latest, “Duplicity.”

“I don’t think so,” she said, adding that it was easier thanks to reuniting with “Closer” co-star Clive Owen.

“In a movie that’s relying so much on chemistry and, you know, kissing, you want to be with your buddy,” she said. “It is awkward, when you’re not kissing your true love.”

Even more awkward for Roberts? A scene that called for nudity.

“I sort of… disrobed,” she said. “I’m like the G-rated actress!”

The star has spent more time with her husband, Danny Moder, and their children than on screen in the last few years, but she told Potts that it’s been time well spent.

“I’m not really one to work a lot,” she said. “I just want to enjoy [the kids] and be able to fully participate in what’s going on with each of them.”

And for Roberts, who had her third child, Henry, in June 2007, three is enough.

“We’re a trio,” she said.

And while life at home won’t find her kissing Clive Owen, the star seems at no loss for romance.

“Best thing about being a mom?” Potts asked.

“That Danny’s their dad,” she said.