Julia Roberts Gets Paid £1.14 Million to Star in Coffee Advert

Julia Roberts, once the world's highest paid actress, looks set to be heading to the top spot again after appearing in an Italian coffee commercial for a whopping fee of £1.14 million ($1.5 million). What's more, she doesn't utter a single line in the 45-second ad.

In the advert for Lavazza coffee, Roberts appears as Botticelli's Venus, standing around in a heavenly setting looking serene. Two Italian comedians Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti, playing the painter's assistants, stand before her in a state of frustration trying to get the 45-year old actress to smile for the canvas.

Presenting their muse with a fresh cup of Lavazza's A Modo Mio espresso, she takes a sip and unleashes her famous toothy grin (pearly white, without a hint of coffee stain). Hooray, everyone's happy (although not as cheerful as Roberts, for obvious reasons).

The ad was filmed over two week in Rome recently and will air on Italian television over the Xmas period.

Weirdly, Robert's friend George Clooney filmed a similar advert for rival brand Nespresso, which seems him outside the pearly gates of heaven, talking coffee with John Malkovich, who plays St. Peter. Clooney recently revealed the secret to the art of tasteful product endorsement: "You don't want to do ones that aren't classy. That's the truth." Thanks, George.

Watch Julia Roberts earn £33,000

From: Moviefone.co.uk