Julia Roberts and her 'Valentine's Day' co-stars celebrate love and laughter

 
Julia Roberts

When most of the stars of "Valentine’s Day" gathered for a press conference in Beverly Hills, they told plenty of jokes, yet it seemed like they wanted to talk about anything but their love lives. The romantic comedy tells intertwining stories of several Los Angeles-area residents and what happens to them on Valentine’s Day.

Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Shirley MacLaine, Hector Elizondo, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, George Lopez, Jessica Biel, Topher Grace and "Valentine’s Day" director Garry Marshall were on the all-star panel — and they kept the mood light while they chatted about making the movie, but for the most part they avoided revealing too much about their own romantic experiences. Here’s what they had to say.

This film is a love letter to Los Angeles. What do you love about L.A.?

Kutcher: I love the weather.

Garner: Farmer’s Market.

Biel: Real Foods Daily.

Grace: The 405.

What were the challenges of working with this big cast?

Marshall: Well, the key is you hire everybody whose name starts with "J" to begin with. Jessica, Jamie, Jennifer, Julia ... It all works out of that. You can say any name, just starts with a J. It is good for me that I knew many of these people, and to work with them recalls a shorthand because this was a tough schedule … So to work with them all was a pleasure because there was not much fighting. See how calm they are? Nobody’s pushing each other. It’s a nice group. Sometimes they push. "I don’t want to sit in this seat."

Stars of "Valentine's Day"  at the movie's Los Angeles premiere.

Pictured from left to right: Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Garry Marshall, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Carter Jenkins, Jessica Biel and George Lopez.

What was your worst Valentine's Day experience?

Roberts: Yeah, you’re going to get a lot of takers on that one.

How about your best?

Roberts: Well, that’s fair. Jamie, tell us something. Dazzle us with a story of love.

Foxx: Well, love in L.A. for me, when I first got here, when I didn’t have the name tag, it was a little interesting to even try to date in L.A. But it was great. I think when I met this girl on Monday, it was incredible. We went to a party, kicked it, went back to my crib, made love and then after that it was like we cuddled and talked. This was on a Monday. This is on a Monday, we cuddled, talked, then I woke up that morning and I smelled something. It was breakfast. She was cooking breakfast. I was like, "Wow, she’s great." Hung out, then she left.

That was Monday. That was back no cell phones at that time. It was land lines so I didn’t call Tuesday and then Wednesday I didn’t call. Then Thursday I was like, 'Man, what happened?' Then Thursday I was at the club and I saw her with another guy and she spoke to me. "Hey Jaime, how are you?" "Hey, girl." She was like, "This is Michael. I told him all about you." And I said, "OK, cool." And she said, "Oh, and by the way, he has a Range Rover like yours, only it’s this year’s." So that was my early experience in love in L.A.

Any ideas for a healthy Valentine’s Day?

Kutcher: I think watching this movie is a healthy Valentine. We had a green set so there was a lot of dedication [to] using solar panels and clean energy and recycling. Due to the fact that the movie was shot in L.A. actually made that an easier thing to make happen. In some ways it worked out and in some ways it didn’t, but I think that every opportunity we have in our industry to make what we’re doing something more [of an] environmentally conscious effort is a good thing. So this movie was, I think, mostly a green movie. So coming and supporting a movie that was made that way I think can contribute to that.

Garner: You get popcorn, without butter.

Ashton Kutcher and Bryce Robinson in "Valentine's Day"

Ashton, are you romantic in real life, like your "Valentine's Day" character?

Kutcher: Well, I had the good fortune of playing a florist in this movie, and one of my best friends is a florist. So I got to work with him and what I really learned about that was these guys are sort of like the real Cupids, passing these messages of love on from one person to the next person. It’s almost like if you can find something like that that can really translate what it is that you’re trying to say, it’s a big deal. So that was my experience on this movie. As far as being a romantic, I don't know. I love life and I love people and I love sharing. So I think, yes, I am, I would say.

Grace: There wasn’t a Valentine’s Day that went by on "That ‘70s Show" where I didn’t get a card or something.

Kutcher: I did all kinds of nice sh*t.

Grace: It was very, very romantic.

How do you find time for romance with kids at home and how will you celebrate Valentine’s Day this year?

Roberts: My kids go to bed at 7:30.

Alba: Mine goes to bed at 7, but I’m usually too tired, unfortunately.

Garner: You change the definition of romance. I mean, romance is romance, but in addition, romance can just be breakfast over the tops of heads. Just getting through the day, you’ve just got to create that being romantic.

Jennifer Garner in "Valentine's Day"

What are your Valentine's Day plans?

Garner: I think most of us will be promoting a movie. That’ll be romantic.

Alba: We’re pretty spontaneous, like she said. We try to squeeze in a smooch here and there, a little card, just a note to say, "I love you."

Roberts: For Valentine’s Day, we’re just going to be making out, the full 24 hours.

What’s the key to a successful relationship, especially in L.A.?

Biel: Laughing, definitely. Right? Just being able to laugh. Not take things too seriously.

Alba: I think communicating. I don't know.

Roberts: I think it’s the same in any city. L.A. isn’t distinctive in its uniqueness to what makes a relationship work. Two people who work at it in any town you go to, that’s what works.

MacLaine: Coming from a long line of Valentine’s Days and also a long line of cities where I experienced Valentine’s Days, and also a long line of partners, I would say that the key to a good relationship if you’re married is a husband that looks the other way. But mostly to have a successful Valentine’s Day in a successful city and a successful marriage and relationship is that you know who you are. Everything goes from there. We’ll have the next seminar in two hours.

How much improv did Jamie get to do?

Foxx: We had a great time. To work with Garry Marshall, to be back in comedy, working with Jess and Jen in my scenes and there’s a "Laverne and Shirley"-type energy going on, so it was great. I’m serious. We had a great time, and to be able to be back to some comedy and I’m so excited for the chance to work with everybody, it was a ball. I had a good time.

Jessica Biel and Jennifer Garner at the Los Angeles premiere of "Valentine's Day"

Jessica Biel’s "Valentine’s Day" character turns to chocolate as comfort food. What do you turn to for comfort at disappointing times?

Biel: That’s where it usually starts.

Jennifer Garner: I would recommend a piñata.

Kutcher: "Xanax."

[A female journalist asks] How can I get my boyfriend to make me happy on Valentine’s Day?

Roberts: Wow. Wow. Can we at least dim the lights? OK, wait a minute. Are you asking me how to cook something? Yeah, well, hmm. Let’s really, let’s break it down. How long have you been with your boyfriend? Two years. And you have sex with him.

Off the record?

Roberts: Well, talk to your friends. You opened Pandora’s Box, Pandora. Now, if you want him to make you happy...where’s the problem? Because we can fix this.

Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts at the Los Angeles premiere of "Valentine's Day"

I’m a bad planner.

Roberts: You’re a bad planner, OK. I heard something a little different. You’re a bad planner. You know what? Make a nice dinner reservation now because that’s the biggest night out of the year, says the former hostess at Simon’s Seafood Bar and Grill. Make a nice dinner reservation and have a nice glass of wine and then go home and, you know, take your top off. I think that’s a recipe for success, wouldn’t you say, Bradley Cooper?

Cooper: Absolutely.

It seems like love is what everyone wants. It’s like a drug. People want to be happy, and that’s really the only thing that makes us happy. Can you comment on if you think that’s the case?

Roberts: It is a drug though, isn’t it? Love and that feeling and what it does to make us all tingling inside and crazy, right? It’s a drug.

Kutcher: When it comes to love, everyone wants to receive it. But at the end of the day you don’t get to receive it until you start to give it. I think it goes for everything: What you give is what you receive. If you want the drug, you have to give the drug.

Jessica Biel in "Valentine's Day"

In the movie, Jessica Biel’s character throws an annual "I Hate Valentine’s Day" party. What are some other suggestions you have for those who like and dislike the holiday?

Grace: I would say go see the movie. There’s so many pointers in there and, really, you don’t get anything out of it unless you’ve seen it twice.

Julia and Bradley, can you talk about shooting the sequences in the plane and what that was like?

Cooper: I liked to sit down and talk all day.

Roberts: We caught up. We hadn’t seen each other for a while, and I grilled him pretty good.

Cooper: Yeah!

Marshall: They were in a play together and did 83 performances together.

Roberts and Cooper (together): Ninety-eight.

Marshall:  Ninety-eight? I didn’t go to the last few. They get to know each through 98 performances on the stage together. They were the first shot in the movie - they started it. They were a little nervous, but Julia calmed everyone down.

MacLaine: That’s because Julia is the only one who can understand what Garry Marshall is talking about.

Garry Marshall and Julia Roberts at the Los Angeles premiere of "Valentine's Day"

Since this movie had such a large cast, many of the actors didn’t get to work together. To what extent were you together as a cast?

Marshall: The food is free so there were always people on the movie set. I don’t know if Julia met Ashton. This is the first time they’ve met. True story.

Roberts: I’m sorry, people. I’m sorry!

Marshall: Who else never met?

Roberts: Well, I met Jessica [Biel] earlier. She is one stunning human being. It’s sickening. My Lord!

Biel: Right back at you.

MacLaine: Hello, I’d like to know what all the women here eat. I’d like to have a rundown of "Do you diet all the time and is it worth it?"

Roberts: You girls are slim.

Garner: I’m still breast feeding, but after I’ll puff back up.

Roberts: All right, well we’ll stay tuned for that.

Taylor Swift and Jennifer Garner in "Valentine's Day"

Was there another character in the film that you wanted to play?

Garner: Well, Julia got to sit the whole time and she pushed the cry button at the end.

Roberts: I haven’t seen it. Does it work?

Garner: It’s like, "Ding!" I knew it was coming so I’m like, "Don’t be crazy." But [she pretends to cry] yes.

Lopez: I would have been Julia’s character and fall in love with Bradley. To sit with him and talk with him on an airplane would have been amazing. First class.

What did you think about the way L.A. was used as a character in the film?

Garner: What’s great about the way Garry uses L.A. in the film is that it’s just a city. It’s not "celebrity central." It’s not about Hollywood. It’s a city, and you never see it that way. You always see it as the backdrop for some other world and glitz and glamour. This reminds you that this is just a city full of people going through the same kinds of little triumphs and tragedies in their love lives as anyone anywhere else in the world.

Kutcher: A friend of mine once told me that Los Angeles is a city filled with the second-best looking person from every town across the America. The best-looking person stays home because they have it good there.

Grace: By the way, wouldn’t you like to meet the guy in Iowa who is better looking than Ashton?

Kutcher: Casey Prince.

Topher Grace and Hector Elizondo at the "Valentine's Day" premiere after-party in London

Julia, Hector and Garry: How does it feel to be reunited after "Pretty Woman," all of these years later?

Roberts: Wel, we have a lot of "Pretty Woman" people. That sounds funny. That sounds grammatically incorrect. Our DP [director of photography], Chuck Minsky, shot "Pretty Woman," and our prop department. We laughed about a lot of things, particularly how old we’ve all gotten in 20 years … Every 10 years we do this. We did "Pretty Woman," and then 10 years later we did "Runaway Bride," and then 10 years later "Valentine’s Day." So I will see all of you back here when I’m 51.

Marshall: I can’t wait to see how beautiful you’ll be.

Shirley said earlier Garry Marshall’s direction needs a little translation. Can you give an example of how you’d translate?

Roberts: If Garry were to say to you as an actor, "Do the thing with the thing and then go over there and be funny. Action!" That would mean, "Sit up straight, smile, look to your co-star, say your lines and be very funny. Action."

Garry, you’re known for creating a family-like environment on set. Do you still have that environment with such a large cast?

Marshall: Well, I’ve also had a lot of relatives who were involved. Part of my thing is when you work with these stars, you have to make them comfortable. You surround them with people you like. Bradley Cooper sat on that plane and seated next to them was my grandchild who won’t say a word. She won’t run up to him and say, "Give me an autograph." My assistant and her husband sat behind them and didn’t say a word. And with Ashton, my daughter was the other clerk with him so he’s comfortable.

George Lopez and Jamie Foxx at the Los Angeles premiere of "Valentine's Day"

Why does Valentine’s Day matter when you put so much work into the relationship the rest of the year?

Foxx: You’ve got to remember all of these dates and put it in your cell phone if you have to — the birthdays and anniversaries and all of that. Women have fake anniversaries, like, "This is the first anniversary we went to Boa." "What?" "This is our first anniversary for Boa. You don’t remember that?" "We go to Boa all the time!" So get all those dates down.

The most important thing is to four or five days before that day comes, get something for her so you’re prepared. Then you can go without doing something the rest of the year. See, you’re thinking wrong. The rest of the year you can f*ck around.

Kutcher: OK, for the movie we’re doing a thing online. People are posting their best Valentine’s Day gifts and their worst Valentine’s Day gifts. They’re going to tag it V-Day Gifts. They’re going to compile them into the 100 best Valentine’s Day gifts and the 100 worst Valentine’s Day gifts. You’re going to go to the best list and you’re going to pick something off of that.