Julia Roberts: ‘I had no business playing happy hooker in Pretty Woman’

Julia Roberts still can’t believe she landed the lead in Pretty Woman because the odds were stacked against her from the start.
In a new Variety interview, the actress learned fellow Oscar winner Patricia Arquette also auditioned for the hooker-with-a-heart role, and revealed she had “no business” landing the role that launched her career as a Hollywood superstar.
And when the studio behind the film folded three days after she got the job, Julia felt sure her dream role would never see the light of day.
“By Monday, I didn’t have a job…,” she laughed, “(but) there was one producer that stayed with the script – and then it went to Disney.
“I thought, ‘went to Disney? Are they going to animate it? Like, how does this become a Disney movie?'”
Then director Garry Marshall came on board and decided to meet with the young actress who had initially landed the role: “I think because he’s a great human being, he met me just because I had once had the job and he felt it would only be fair to at least meet me, since I had this job for three days and then lost it,” Julia said.
The rest is history – the 1990 film became a huge hit and launched Roberts’ career.