Emma Undone

28-year-old Emma Roberts is in reset mode—no more fiancé, no more attachments, no more waiting around for another person to make plans. And that’s how she likes it.

- Emma Roberts

All week, my Google Alert for Emma Roberts is in overdrive. “Emma Roberts Ditches Engagement Ring After Split From Longtime Love Evan Peters.” “Emma Roberts Mixes Prints.” “Emma Roberts Spotted With Actor Garrett Hedlund.” Emma goes brunette. Emma’s recovering from heartbreak. Emma’s moving on and simultaneously nailing all of spring’s best trends.

And then, Emma Roberts the person is standing in front of me at Skylight Books on the east side of Los Angeles. She is neither boldly mixing prints nor visibly removing an engagement ring.

“What do you like to read?” she asks, hands in the pockets of her slim Frame overalls, head tilted as she listens to my response. She takes off down the aisles, one gold ballet pump in front of the other. She tells me she just dropped off a book at her friend director Gia Coppola’s house that they want to develop for a film. For now, the project is a secret.

Emma’s next movie after the animated film UglyDolls, in theaters now, is one she can talk about: Netflix rom-com Holidate. She’ll play a woman who reminds her of the old-school rom-com characters practically invented by her aunt Julia Roberts (here, the younger Roberts does a spot-on impression of a scene from her favorite movie, My Best Friend’s Wedding, voicing the parts of both Rupert Everett and Julia). She loved the Holiday script, and the project went to the top of the list when she updated her vision board.

“What’s on your vision board right now?” I ask.