Steven Spielberg was already on the prime of his recreation within the early ’90s following the discharge of Indiana Jones and the Final Campaign, and he appeared untouchable. On the identical time, Julia Roberts had simply exploded into superstardom after Fairly Lady. Hollywood didn’t get the possibility to have sufficient of her, so when it was introduced that the 2 powerhouses have been teaming up for Hook in 1991, the expectations couldn’t have been greater.
Robin Williams had landed the lead position of Peter Pan, Dustin Hoffman had one other legendary efficiency ready within the wings as Hook, and Julia Roberts flitted in to painting Tinkerbell. Nice expertise, proper? It ought to have been an satisfying, magical trip. As an alternative, it grew to become a manufacturing Spielberg would relatively overlook. And he’s made that clear greater than as soon as.
Julia Roberts, Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams on the set of HOOK (1991). pic.twitter.com/r7bgxSCsdw
— All The Proper Films’ Podcast (@ATRMPodcast) February 22, 2023
Hook’s Field Workplace Success Didn’t Match The Expectations
The movie ultimately hit theaters in December, incomes an honest chunk on the field workplace. It was not a flop, incomes $119 million in home market and $300 million worldwide on a $70 million funds (per Field Workplace Mojo), but it surely wasn’t the house run folks anticipated both. Audiences didn’t rush to it the way in which they’d for Spielberg’s earlier blockbusters, and critics weren’t sort both.
Famend movie reviewer Roger Ebert famously known as it bloated and clunky, and Spielberg himself has by no means pretended to like the ultimate product. Even years later, he admitted he didn’t really feel comfy making it, misplaced confidence halfway by means of, and leaned too closely on massive units to masks the uncertainty. Sadly, issues have been no higher behind the scenes, per Collider.
On-Set Rigidity Between Steven Spielberg & Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts was reportedly having a tough private time. She had simply gotten out of the engagement with Kiefer Sutherland and needed to take care of that whereas performing as a whimsical fairy. In response to crew accounts, she allegedly grew to become extra distant, restricted herself to her trailer for lengthy intervals, and was late to set. After a while, Spielberg was apparently excited about changing Roberts, but it surely was too near the schedule to make an enormous shake-up with out making a separate concern.
Consequently, tensions constructed and lingered properly after filming wrapped. Spielberg gave fastidiously worded however chilly interviews afterward. He mentioned working together with her was unlucky timing, by no means actually defending her or addressing the rumors head-on. In the meantime, Roberts observed, and years later, she spoke brazenly about how damage she felt by Spielberg’s silence. She had anticipated assist, however what she received felt extra like a quiet shove.
“I couldn’t consider that this person who I knew and trusted was really hesitating to return to my protection. It was a tough lesson to be taught. It was the primary time that I felt I had a turncoat in my midst,” she mentioned in an interview with Self-importance Honest in 1999.
Julia Roberts talks about how she didn’t get on with Steven Spielberg when engaged on HOOK. pic.twitter.com/ABmlcbDl8E
— All The Proper Films (@ATRightMovies) November 3, 2024
Steven Spielberg & Julia Roberts By no means Labored Collectively Once more
Since then, they’ve by no means labored collectively once more. In a dialog with Vogue a few years later, director Richard Curtis admitted he was just a little nervous when he first met Roberts, although she turned out to be measured and self-protective, however not unkind.
In response to her, being guarded on set helped preserve her secure. Perhaps that warning got here from experiences like Hook, or perhaps it was all the time there. Both approach, the spark she shared with Steven Spielberg fizzled out virtually as rapidly because it began.
In the long run, their story is simply one other entry in Hollywood’s lengthy e-book of director-actor collisions. It didn’t finish in dramatic walkouts however in quiet distance and a shared silence that’s lasted for many years. Each moved on and neither regarded again. And Hook, for all its flaws, stays the unlikely monument to that temporary, damaged pairing.
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