Eric Roberts is sharing his long-held opinion of sister Julia Roberts’ early acting roles — and his opinion is not positive.
In his recently released memoir “Runaway Train,” the former ’80s heartthrob weighs in on his A-list sibling’s breakthrough role in “Steel Magnolias,” the 1989 rom-com for which she garnered her first Oscar nomination.
“Julia was good in ‘Mystic Pizza,’ great in ‘Pretty Woman,’ but not so much in ‘Steel Magnolias,’ in my opinion, even though it brought Julia her first Academy Award nomination,” he writes.
“I don’t want to sound like an actor talking, or a jealous sibling, but I don’t think her performance held up in that movie,” Roberts says. “When I saw her in ‘Steel Magnolias,’ I thought … ‘She’s almost a good actor, and one day she’s gonna be one.’”
Based on Robert Harling’s stage play of the same name, the beloved film centers on a group of women in Louisiana who come together following the death of one of their own. Along with Julia Roberts, it also stars heavy-hitters Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine and Daryl Hannah.
“Nobody’s great in that movie,” the older Roberts opines. “They all chewed a lot of scenery, and we know that if an actor cries on film, they go to the top of the class. They get the Oscar nod because crying gets a lot of credit. It’s the big joke in all acting classes.”
For her role as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, Julia Roberts received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Her big brother says one reason the 19-year-old earned the Oscar nod was “her authenticity as a sweet, small-town Southern girl.”
“That’s what she was, after all, or at least that’s how she started off,” he says. “I don’t know if she had a dialect coach try to eradicate her Southern accent, but if so, luckily for her it didn’t take.”
The two siblings have never worked together in any film. While Eric has consistently worked in lower-level fare — save for a few smash hits, including The Dark Knight — Julia became a Hollywood darling.
With the box office success of “Pretty Woman,” “Sleeping With the Enemy” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” throughout the 1990s, she eventually went on to win the Oscar for Best Actress in 2000’s “Erin Brockovich.”
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