JULIA ROBERTS Something to talk about

THE A-LISTER SPARKS AWARDS BUZZ - AND DEBATE - WITH HER “TRICKY” NEW DRAMA

- Jennie Noonan

Touching down in Venice on August 27, Julia Roberts turned heads in a custom white cardigan plastered with a print featuring the face of Italian director Luca Guadagnino. “You know, Luca was so excited about coming to Venice, so that was my way of arriving, literally, with Luca on my sleeves,” Roberts explained to Variety in September.

“She sent me a picture in the morning in the boat,” the Challengers director added. “I thought, ‘How sweet. A beautiful picture.’ And then I go, ‘What's that?’”

The pair were at the Venice Film Festival to premiere their highly charged drama After the Hunt (in cinemas October 16) in which Roberts, 57, plays a chronic pain-plagued philosophy professor named Alma Imhoff, whose star student (Ayo Edebiri) makes a sexual assault allegation against her good friend and colleague (Andrew Garfield). At the film's premiere, Roberts was joined by husband Danny Moder, 56, who snapped photos of his wife on the red carpet before entering the screening, which scored a six-minute standing ovation.

Roberts was a fraction less loved-up at a press conference the next day, where she fielded questions about the movie's themes surrounding consent and cancel culture.

“Not to be disagreeable, because it’s not in my nature,” she responded to a question framing the provocative film as anti-feminist, flashing her famous megawatt smile. “I don’t think it’s just reviving an argument of women being pitted against each other or not supporting each other.

“There’s a lot of old arguments that get rejuvenated in this movie in a way that does create conversation. The best part of your question is that you all came out of the theatre talking about it. That’s how we wanted it to feel. You realise what you believe in strongly, because we stir it all up for you. So, you're welcome.”