James Franco Says Julia Roberts Was ‘Charmingly Shy’ While Filming Love Scenes

Julia Roberts may have played leading lady to a host of superstars, but she still hasn’t gotten used to doing between-the-sheets scenes on camera, at least according to her “Eat Pray Love” co-star, James Franco.

“She is very, very outgoing,” James told Parade.com. “But I think she’ll also admit pretty freely that she doesn’t love to do love scenes and actually was charmingly shy when we had to do them.”

In the film, due out August 13, James plays David, a young man the film’s heroine, Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julia), has an interlude with. Directed by “Glee’s” Ryan Murphy, who also wrote the screenplay to the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir, it was Julia’s name that attracted the actor to the project.

“That was pretty much the reason I did it. I knew that all my scenes would be with Julia,” he said. “I thought it would be a great experience.”

James said working with the “Pretty Woman” proved to be everything he hoped it would.

“It was fun, she’s great. She’s a pro,” he said. “We spent a little time together before we started filming and we got along from the beginning.”

In the meantime, James is currently starring as Franco, an artist and serial killer on ABC soap opera “General Hospital.”

Although he is a veteran performer, the soap’s shooting schedule forced the actor to make some adjustments.

“They move very, very quickly. I guess I didn’t realize how fast they moved, but I quickly tried to adapt and I think I did OK,” he said. “I learned all my lines!”