Julia Roberts has starred in a lot of beloved movies over the years—Pretty Woman, Notting Hill, and Erin Brockovich, to name a few—but there's a good chance you don't even remember this one. In 1994, Roberts starred with Nick Nolte in I Love Trouble, a romantic comedy about a pair of rival newspaper reporters who have to work together when they uncover a conspiracy. But while their characters were able to put their differences aside, the same cannot be said for Roberts and Nolte. The actors did not get along on set, and both ended up speaking out about the other in interviews. Read on to travel back to the '90s and find out more about this classic Hollywood mismatch.
Julia Roberts called Nick Nolte "disgusting."
Buena Vista PicturesRoberts was interviewed by The New York Times in 1993 when she was still filming I Love Trouble.She described Nolte in a way that was both offensive and somewhat complimentary.
"From the moment I met him we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally we get on each other's nerves," she said. She admitted that Nolte could be "completely charming and very nice," but added, "He's also completely disgusting. He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems go out of his way to repel people. He's a kick."
It's unclear how serious the issue between them was.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc via Getty ImagesIn 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported that Nolte and Roberts did not get along on set, according to sources. Rumors included Roberts being annoyed about Nolte's "machismo" and insulting him, and Nolte doing things to bother Roberts even more. Sources claimed that they acted with stand-ins more than with each other.
Nolte's rep at the time said that the actors only had little spats that were typical for co-stars. A rep for Roberts denied there was any major issue between them, and referred to a quote that Roberts had given to Entertainment Weekly: "We had great, um, high-spirited needling of each other, trying to get a rise out of each other."
Nolte later said Roberts was "not a nice person."
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty ImagesAt some point, Nolte responded to Roberts' New York Times comments. According to The Independent, he told the Los Angeles Times, "It’s not nice to call someone ‘disgusting.’But she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.”
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Roberts seemingly did an impression of Nolte years later.
Everett Collection / ShutterstockIn 2009, Roberts appeared on The Late Show and did an impression of a co-star who got mad at her during a scene. "What the [expletive] is that?" she said, mimicking the actor's voice. "Did you not [expletive] hear me? You don’t know what you’re talking about!" OK! Magazine then reported that the person Roberts was referring to was Nolte.
The movie was ultimately not successful.
Buena Vista PicturesI Love Trouble received overwhelmingly negative reviews, earning a 22 percent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The Los Angeles Times story about the on-set rumors noted that Nolte and Roberts' "friction may account for the less-than-sparkling chemistry that some reviewers have complained about."