Let's get one thing out of the way... Julia Roberts does NOT have a completely stellar reputation in Hollywood. To say that every actor in the business is clamoring to work with Julia would simply be untrue. There have been some very public stories of her on-set antics. But they pale in comparison to another actor... one who Julia herself outright refuses to work with. Although to be fair, she doesn't seem to be the only one with this opinion...
Julia Roberts's Complicated Reputation
On the surface, Julia appears to be one of the sweetest talents in the business, but celebrities like Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin loathed working with her. Then there was that feud between her and acclaimed director Steven Spielberg. All of this goes to prove that appearances can be deceiving.
Take radio legend and former shock jock Howard Stern, for instance. The man has been a magnet for negative reactions due to some of his on-air antics... But in real life, his reputation is exceedingly positive... aside from ruining Emily Blunt's vacation that is.
Having said that, not everyone dislikes working with Julia Roberts. She's not an outright loathed actor... After all, if she was, nobody would be hiring her. Julia has many A-list stars in her corner. Her friend George Clooney, is one of them.
Nick Nolte, however... is not.
But Julia's dislike for the Hulk, Tropic Thunder, and Cape Fear star has got to outweigh his dislike for her.
The Conflict Between Julia Roberts And Nick Nolte
While 1994's I Love Trouble didn't get stellar reviews and holds an abysmal rating on Rotten Tomatoes, most viewers claim that the remake of the 1948 crime-comedy had half-decent chemistry thanks to leads Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. This somewhat mediocre chemistry between the two acclaimed actors is a massive testament to both of their skills as well as the director and editor as not only did the two actually hated each other but there came a point where they refused to do scenes together. That's right... According to Us Magazine, Julia and Nick hated each other so much that they refused to film most of their scenes together. Stand-ins were used whenever possible. This made it exceptionally challenging for the filmmaking team who had to both shoot and edit the film in order to make it appear as though the two actors were actually working together.
On top of not wanting to film scenes together, Julia also made a point of not wanting to kiss Nick despite it saying that she had to in the script.
According to a source who spoke to the Los Angeles Times, "[T]empers flared early on, peppered with a few Roberts tantrums along the way. Roberts reportedly wasn't thrilled with Nolte's machismo, so she would deride and insult her co-star."
The article continued by saying, that Nick Nolte "became so annoyed with [Julia Roberts'] attitude that he would do things to agitate her even more. The discord was so intense ... the two played more to stand-ins than to each other."
What The Stars Have Said About Eachother
In an interview with The New York Times, Julia said, "From the moment I met him we sort of gave each other a hard time ... and naturally we get on each other's nerves."
Then she went on to say, "[he could be] charming and nice, he’s also completely disgusting."
Even though she did her best to soften the blow by saying, "He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems [to] go out of his way to repel people" and "He's a kick", it's exceedingly clear that she loathed him. In short, the behind-the-scenes stories of the making of I Love Trouble appeared to be true.
As for Nick Nolte's feelings on the matter, he too spoke to the press about his relationship with Julia Roberts. Only, his comments were after Julia spoke to the New York Times. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Nick responded by saying, "It's not nice to call someone 'disgusting.' But she's not a nice person. Everyone knows that."
To make matters worse, Julia went on The Late Show With David Letterman and, without mentioning Nick by name, inferred that he had screamed at their I Love Trouble director. She then continued into a fairly mean Nick Nolte impression.
Ever since then, the two acclaimed actors have never worked with each other again. In fact, it seems as though Julia has made it a goal of hers to never set foot on the same set as Nick Nolte... period.