Julia Roberts Says Her New Movie With George Clooney May Be “Terrible”

When it was revealed last month that Julia Roberts would be returning to romcoms for the first time in 20 years, the response was, as expected, immense. Notting Hill and My Best Friend’s Wedding remain two canonic romantic comedies, so it seemed likely that her new film, Ticket to Paradise, would find a place right beside those successes. Throw in George Clooney as a costar and you’ve got a recipe for romcom excellence. But to Roberts, all of expectations are the exact reason why she thinks Ticket to Paradise could be a complete flop.

“It’s probably going to be terrible because there’s too much potential for it to be great,” Roberts said in an interview with Variety at the Cannes Film Festival. “It’ll just implode on itself.” To be fair, Roberts isn’t necessarily saying the script or movie itself is bad, more that the expectations could get so high they can’t possible be met. Because of that, she seems to be working hard to dampen presumptions.

“I think that should be the commercial for the movie: ‘It’s probably going to be terrible,’” she joked, adding “I’m so glad my publicist is on a plane right now.”

Unfortunately for Roberts, no matter what she says, we’re still going to be excited for this film, which stars Roberts and Clooney as exes who fly to Bali together to stop their daughter from marrying a local and thus making the same mistake they made 25 years prior. The reunion of Roberts and Clooney is too much to pass up, and Roberts is partly at fault for that. She previously told The New York Times she would only do the movie with Clooney. “Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me,” she said. “Somehow we were both able to do it, and off we went.” So, whether it’s good or bad, it will have an audience at the ready, no matter what Roberts does to convince us otherwise.