Julia Roberts has long claimed that she was the victim of severe hazing during the filming of the Oceans movies, often at the hands of George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Neither Pitt nor Clooney has ever admitted what pranks were played, but Julia maintains that the boys did things to her toilet, light bulbs and phone. Sounds more like Clooney than Pitt, but what do I know?

Julia didn’t have to worry about those kinds of pranks while working with Clive Owen though. Yes, Julia is continuing her endless tour of talking about how great Clive is, how much fun they have together, and how well they get along. Funny, Clive never mentions how close he and Julia are. Maybe it’s all in her head. Julia talked (and talked) more about Clive in a new interview with People Magazine:

Julia Roberts says there’s an ocean of difference between working with Clive Owen and her other recent costars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

She didn’t have to watch her back.

“What a relief. I didn’t have to check the toilet for anything or the light bulbs or the phone,” she says of the on-set pranks by her Oceans Twelve pals. “It was just good old-fashioned friendship.”

And fun. Roberts, 41, returns to the big screen in the romantic caper Duplicity, in theaters March 20, reuniting with her Closer costar Owen. She says Owen, 46, makes her laugh constantly, which helped sparked instant chemistry onscreen.

“We have a similar sense of humor,” she says. “Our list of priorities in our personal lives are not different. We are both happily married with families and lead a pretty normal, unaffected existence within in this odd universe of show business that we’ve both chosen to go into.”

Roberts and Owen play spies turned corporate operatives in the midst of an on-again and off-again love affair trying to scheme and seduce each other using quick banter.

“I’m Southern so I can talk really fast,” says the Oscar-winning actress. “I grew up on Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, His Girl Friday movies – that rat-a-tat-tat talking cadence and that rhythm. I love that kind of thing.”

One thing she doesn’t love as much, at least right now, is the thought of her three children – twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 4, and son, Henry, 1, joining her and cameraman dad Danny Moder in show business.

“My first instinct is that if my children wanted to be artists, that they wait,” Roberts says. “I would prefer that they just wait as long as they can.”

From People Magazine

Julia is good at movies with a lot of dialogue, I will give her that. Clive is too, even though he usually plays the strong, silent type. Duplicity is being billed as a sort-of rom-com with a spy side-story, but I really think the film is more about spies than laughs. The producers have cut the trailers so it looks like it’s all romance and laughter, most likely in an attempt to tap into Julia’s hardcore fanbase of women who have seen Pretty Woman a million times. Just keep in mind – Tony Gilroy, the writer/director of Duplicity, is the same guy who did Michael Clayton.

Julia Roberts is shown on 3/6 and 3/7/09 outside her hotel. Other images are stills from Duplicity. Thanks to WENN.