What with clashing egos, jet-set lifestyles, packed-out schedules and all the usual accruements of an A-list way of life, it's rare to find two bona fide superstars who can spare five minutes to be in the same room (that's if they can bear to be within 100m of one another, of course).
But as Larry Crowne, their second movie together, hits UAE cinemas, long-time besties, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks have been embarking on an all-out love fest, proving that sometimes in T-town, real friendships can be nurtured amid all the BS.
e+ delves into one of the strongest friendships in Hollywood…
Mutual Appreciation
Ask one of these stars about the other, and you'll be hit by a deluge of gushing, from Hanks spilling of Julia, "She's so easy to talk to… and she clearly delineates what's important in this world." While Julia calls Tom's talent "mind-boggling," adding, "He's really just kind of a perfect human being, just the ways he's composed his life is admirable on a lot of levels." And industry insiders claim that they've become so close because they've achieved the same levels of fame, leaving them comfortable with each other, with one insisting, "Julia and Tom are so alike success-wise, which immediately makes them comfortable with one another - the best springboard for a lasting friendship."
Tom's role gift for Julia
Tom has revealed that he created the character of Mercedes in Larry Crowne, specifically with Julia in mind - "There was never anyone but Julia" - with the actress spilling, "When I was in Rome, shooting Eat, Pray, Love, Tom sent me the script and said, ‘Tell me what you think'." Adding, "I spend a lot of the movie woozy. Why did Tom Hanks think of me when he thought of a drunken schoolteacher?" And 43-year-old Julia admits she was blown away by Tom's directing abilities, gushing, "He creates an environment where we're all happy and we feel like we're doing our best stuff."
Inspired by Tom
Despite dubbing the famously prickly Julia as "intimidating", the pair who first worked together on the set of 2007's Charlie Wilson's War, had met years previously, with Hanks joking, "We had said howdy-do at those famous-people-club meetings: ‘Hi! I'm famous, you're famous, and there's a camera on us now!'"
And Julia credits her actor buddy with keeping her on her toes, revealing of a recent dinner party at the Hanks house, "I'm taking piano lessons with my kids. We can blame this new frontier on Tom Hanks. I sat next to a musician at a dinner party at Tom Hanks' house recently, and then I started thinking about piano lessons."
