Julia Roberts showed her skills with certain words in a event honoring Tom Hanks at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The Oscar-winning actress mentioned the F-word so many times that the event became a Comedy Central Roast.
“Well, it’s late and I’m paying my baby-sitter overtime,” Roberts (r.) began. “So Tom, everybody f-ing likes you. All my bits are gone. So what can I tell you that’s new? Tom Hanks, what the f-?”
Then came the skewering of his less-successful projects. “I love the Coen brothers, but the hair … I didn’t even know what the f- that movie was about,” Roberts said, teasing Hanks about his role in “The Ladykillers.”
As for his 2004 flick “The Terminal,” Roberts said, “You in the airport with the accent? It was a pass for me. Were you just an immigrant lost? I didn’t know.”
Then “God, I’m wearing the same f-ing dress tonight as your publicist!” she announced, drawing a roar of laughter from an audience including Adrien Brody, Ed Burns, Charlize Theron, Bruce Springsteen, Geoffrey Rush, Jeremy Irons, Mike Nichols, Robert Zemeckis, Roger Waters and Steven Spielberg.
Hanks himself (r.) – seated with wife Rita Wilson and son Colin – was doubled over with laughter during Roberts’ speech, his recognizable guffaw easily heard above the din of the crowd.
But all jokes aside, Roberts also showed some love for her “Charlie Wilson’s War” co-star. “Tom, you can walk into any room and make anyone feel like they’re in their living room,” she said. “You make people comfortable, like there’s a reason they’re on the planet. That’s a true gift. That’s not acting. It’s heart and compassion, and it’s soul. … Tom Hanks, I love you.”
That wasn’t enough to keep Hanks from jabbing back during his acceptance speech, though: “Julia Roberts has the biggest, foulest mouth you will ever hear,” he said. “And I bet that the first paragraph in every story about tonight will be about her wearing the same dress as my publicist. Julia Roberts’ choice of dress is going to go around the world faster than my retrospective.”
