Tom Hanks has “great respect” for Julia Roberts

The actor-turned-director was delighted when the ‘Pretty Woman’ actress agreed to star in his latest film ‘Larry Crowne’ – which follows a struggling man who falls for a public-speaking teacher – because he is such a big fan of her work.

He said: “I really like her and have great respect for her and I called her up and asked if she would be interested in playing the part and if she could have faith in me as a director. Fortunately she said yes.”

Tom has been working on ‘Larry Crowne’ for three years and admits it is much harder being a director than an actor.

He explained: “Acting is like a vacation compared with the workload a director has.