'I'm Growing Up' Says Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts has said that she is trying hard to find challenging roles as she is "growing up".

Having made her name in largely formulaic romantic comedies such as My Best Friend's Wedding and Pretty Woman over the course of her career, the 43-year-old star thinks it's a tad strange to be playing silly roles at her age.

She told W magazine: "I think it’s called growing up. Light and funny has a more compelling quality when you’re younger. But I haven’t abandoned the genre: I love falling down; I love Lucille Ball. It’s just that a lot of those stories revolve around problems that I can’t convincingly portray at this age."

This is something that also rings true with her co-star on her latest movie, Larry Crowne, Tom Hanks, who told the magazine: "I told my agents that I wasn’t going to play pussies anymore. I was tired of playing, ‘Oh, boo-hoo - I was in love, but oh, boo-hoo-hoo.’ There comes an age when you can’t do that any more. I wanted to play men instead of boys. In your mid-30s, it’s time to start playing guys of compromise. And as you get older, men of bitter compromise."

When asked about the upcoming movie, Tom replied: "The movie is about combating cynicism. People are naturally optimistic, but you have to choose to walk away from cynicism. You have to say, I am going to combat cynicism today. I had this idea about a unique guy who loses his job and then, at the end of the movie, realises that it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He thought he was going to die, but it turned out great!"

Larry Crowne is released on July 1.

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