Fresh off her 50th birthday, Julia Roberts is back on the big screen with a new heartwarming coming-of-age drama.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Based on the 2012 New York Times bestseller children's novel of the same name by author by R. J. Palacio, Wonder tells the story of August "Auggie" Pullman, a boy with Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by facial differences, who enters the fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time, having to deal with classmates' reaction to his condition.
Room breakout young actor Jacob Tremblay plays Auggie, while Roberts plays his mother Isabel, who has home-schooled him thus far and now supports him as he's tackling society's acceptance of him.
Going on almost three decades of stand out movies including Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding and Erin Brockovich, the latter of which won her the Academy Award, the new film's release finds Roberts has she is working on her first TV project as a series lead, an adaptation by screenwriter Sam Esmail ("Mr. Robot") of a podcast called "Homecoming".
According to her, family played a big part in agreeing to take part in the film.
"My kids were sort of the driving force behind it", said Roberts in an interview promoting Wonder, "We all loved this novel and one of them said, you know, do you think that they'll make this into a movie and I said oh, I'm sure they will and then my wheels started turning. Will they? Have they? And I called my agent and said has this been made into a movie? Will it be made into a movie because I would just like to, you know, put my name into the hat for the mom because we just loved the story so much and fortunately for me it was, you know, it had started going but hadn't gone far enough that they had already cast the parts and so I was lucky enough to get onboard".
Q: What has changed since your breakout role in Mystic Pizza?
"Well, I mean, all my characters are the same girl, then and now, 30 years later, a nicer blouse I'm sure than when we had a Mystic Pizza interview, or a T-shirt. I've graduated from T-shirt to blouse but I think one can't really imagine or dream up something for themselves that is quite as fulfilling as I have found my life's work to be. It's just deeply meaningful to me and I love it as much now as I did then and, I mean, it's just all together shocking that it's really been 30 years in the blink of an eye that I've been able to do this so. And never one moment of doubt. Not one. I think even with my doubt or my lack of confidence somehow there was always something that made me feel calm and made me feel like it will all find its way somehow".
Q: How did you celebrate turning 50?
"I celebrated with my family and I feel great and I felt great last year and I'm pretty sure I want to feel really good next year. So, I mean, I don't know the big hubbub of, you know, nobody got too excited when I was 47. I do appreciate the flowers, don't get me wrong but I am not quite sure the surgical, you know, investigation of turning 50 as opposed to just the celebration of any trip around the sun that we're all so grateful for".
