Julia Roberts Paparazzi Chase Video

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Saturday, December 1, 2007

Julia Roberts was angry that some photographers were taking pictures near her kids’ school, so she engaged in a high speed chase in her Mercedes, driving in the wrong lane and putting other people in danger.

Silver-screen sprite Julia Roberts is fed up with intrusive paparazzi, and she’s letting them know it. The slightly built star who played Tinkerbell in “Hook” was videotaped Wednesday in Malibu wildly tailing two videographers, flagging them down and lecturing them for taping her near a school.

The footage, taken by freelance videographers for the celebrity news and photo agency Splash and broadcast by “Inside Edition,” shows Roberts driving in a Mercedes SUV behind the men, honking and waving them to stop.

“I’m going to talk to you about the fact that you’re at a school where children go. Turn it off,” Roberts, 40, said in the footage, standing outside their car and pointing at the videographers after they pulled over.

While driving, the Oscar-winning star of “Erin Brockovich” crossed over a double yellow line, and did not have children in her car, Splash media sales representative Amy Wiwuga told The Associated Press on Friday.

Wiwuga would not reveal the videographers’ identities, citing the agency’s policy on freelancers.

Calls to Roberts’ New York-based publicist Marcy Engleman were not immediately returned Friday.

Roberts has 2-year-old twins and an almost 6-month-old son with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder.

The TV show “Extra” reported that the incident occurred after Roberts was followed to her children’s school. Roberts told the program that taking her picture is one thing, but a school is “not the place to wait to do it.”

Roberts was the second A-list celebrity in two weeks to be videotaped admonishing the paparazzi on the road. A video clip posted on TMZ.com showed actor George Clooney riding his motorcycle Nov. 16 in Los Angeles, then pulling off to the side of a street, telling photographers: “You can drive all you want, you can take my picture all you want, but what you cannot do is put people in danger.”

TMZ has the video. Their staff reports,

Usually it’s the paps who hunt celebs, but yesterday, Julia Roberts was on the chase in L.A., driving on the wrong side of the road as she went after a photog!

Once they stopped, an irate Julia got out of her car and gave the pap the George Clooney treatment, scolding him for trying to snap pics of her children. Roberts demanded that the photog turn his camera off — and he nervously obliged

It’s not right that celebrities got stalked by these jerks. At the same time, though, being a celebrity doesn’t give you the right to drive like some idiot and confront them, either.

Other reax from our friends at WeSmirch:

Todd at IDLYITW thinks the photog is a wuss:

I’ve never been run off the road to be lectured by a sanctimonious Hollywood actress who was swerving between lanes moments before, but if I did, I hope I would handle myself better than this dude. Especially if that actress is Julia Roberts. She looks like a horse, and westerns tell me that you’re supposed to kick horses in the ribs when you want them to do something. So, if you ever want Julia Roberts to shut up, I’d suggest probably starting with that.

Daily Blabber’s Tracy also makes fun of the guy but thinks Roberts was all class:

The best part of the video is how nervous the guy is. As he’s pulling over, and Julia is storming the car, you can here him fretting and breathing nervously. He obviously knows she’s one tough cookie. I have to say, though, both Julia and George were fairly polite in their demands. No bad words, no threats, just simply telling the paps to stop endangering the people around them. Love ‘em.

Daily Dish thinks Roberts “lost her temper” but doesn’t comment on the driving.

mattchew at ONTD (who just hit the 100 million hits mark!) says, “OMG, I don’t know why but this made me laugh so much. Bitch is crazy!”

Sources: “Video: Julia Roberts chases paparazzi” (AP/Yahoo) and “Julia Roberts — America’s Pissed-Off Sweetheart” (TMZ)