Julia Roberts says her romantic-comedy hiatus was not through choice

Julia Roberts says her rom-com hiatus was not through choice (Ian West/PA)

Julia Roberts says it is not through choice that she has failed to appear in a traditional romantic comedy for more than 20 years.

The Oscar-winning actress said she needed to find a script that was the same level of “madcap fun” as the rom-coms in which she starred in the 1990s.

Roberts appeared in a string of classic films including Notting Hill, Pretty Woman and My Best Friend’s Wedding.

“People sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by that I haven’t done a romantic comedy as my not wanting to do one,” she told the New York Times magazine.

“If I had read something that I thought was that Notting Hill-level of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding-level of madcap fun, I would do it.”

Roberts appeared in a string of classic films including Notting Hill, Pretty Woman and My Best Friend’s Wedding (Yui Mok/PA)

Roberts has recently broken her hiatus on rom-coms, and is set to appear opposite George Clooney in Ol Parker’s Ticket To Paradise, scheduled for release later this year.

“I thought, ‘Well, disaster, because this only works if it’s George Clooney,’” she said, speaking about being approached for the film.

“Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me. Somehow we were both able to do it, and off we went.”

She added: “I love to laugh and be funny. You get into that mode of those endorphins going off when you’re clever and people going, ‘Oh.’

“Then that becomes this automatic thing where you’re always thinking in terms of creating fun.

“It’s a joy to play in that sandbox. It has been a long time.”