Roberts to CAA after ICM
Percentery rife with leading ladies
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HOLLYWOOD -- After only a brief two weeks on her own, Julia Roberts has signed with Creative Artists Agency. Roberts discharged her agency of the last 10 years, International Creative Management, on April 28 (Daily Variety, April 29).
Signing comes on the heels of the signing of another best actress Oscar winner, Hilary Swank last week (Daily Variety May 6th, 2003) and the signing of "Spider-Man" topliner Tobey Maguire last month. More to the point, the sign solidifies CAA's grasp on leading ladies -- percentery reps Oscar winners Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Helen Hunt in addition to topliners like Renee Zellweger, Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz.
Her defection from ICM sparked a significant courtship by all agencies, but when Roberts was seen at CAA managing director Brian Lourd's Oscar party this year, many considered the race to win her $20 million-a-picture hand already over.
Roberts was repped by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas for 14 years, first at the William Morris Agency and later at ICM, before Thomas left the agency to run Roberts' production company.
(Since Goldsmith-Thomas' departure from the agency in October 2000, Roberts had been repped by ICM chairman Jeff Berg.)
Roberts recently wrapped "Mona Lisa Smile" for Revolution Studios and is committed to star in the sequel to "Ocean's Eleven," a production of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Warners-based Section Eight and Jerry Weintraub, produced by Jerry Weintraub. Goldsmith-Thomas oversees Roberts' production company, Red Om, in addition to serving as a partner at Revolution Studios, for which she oversees its Gotham operations. Red Om recently produced the romantic comedy "Maid in Manhattan" for Revolution/Columbia Pictures.
