By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 8/15/2024 – He’s everywhere, in everything from feature-length films to shorts. He does voiceover work, music videos, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. In all, he has amassed more than 700 credits, making him one of the most prolific actors of all time.
If you guessed Eric Roberts, you would be absolutely correct. With an impressive list of roles and projects to his name, Roberts has a reputation for his flexibility, durability, and his plain old ability. He’s a damned fine actor!
Roberts is back with yet another film, Trust In Love from director Mick Davis (Modigliani, Walden), which made its North American debut on VOD from Gravitas Ventures earlier this week. Based on the true story of writer and producer, Jimi Petulla, who as a protagonist navigates the everyday hardships of family dynamics in a comedic way.
Trust In Love tells the story of Mickey Ferrara (played by Jimi Petulla himself), whose record-producing career is going down the tubes. His estranged wife wants a divorce, and his son is struggling with the reality that he is gay. Mickey is a warrior, so he’s about to get in the trenches and Trust In Love to keep his family together and maybe make one more good record.
The film stars Logan Arditty, Sydney Bullock, Natasha Wilson, Tim Hazelip, Miljenko Matijevic, Robby Krieger, as well as Petulla and Roberts. Roberts appears in a small role as “the Stogie Guru,” the leader of a new age self-help group at his home in Malibu. The group smokes cigars as they ponder life and love.
The role is typical of many parts Roberts has taken over hi 50-pluds years in front of the camera. He sat down with The Hollywood Times this week to talk about his career and his role in this wonderful film.
Click below to see our exclusive interview:
During my discussion with Roberts about his many years in the industry, he told me that a seismic shift in how movies are made is mostly responsible for his burgeoning portfolio. “What happened was, they took film and now we have digital, so everybody became a studio who had a camera. Everybody became, essentially, independent movie makers” he from his home in the San Fernando Valley. 
This meant Roberts was getting calls directly from the filmmakers, and he was taking the parts.
The amount of work he was getting was not lost on his wife, Eliza, who is also his publicist. In the late 1990s, Roberts said his wife came to him with some startling numbers. “She says we’re getting 30 to 50 offers every day now, from all over the world.” She then asked him if he wanted to pursue this amazing volume, thinking it might only last a couple of years at the most. “That was 30 years ago,” he said. “I have a hard time saying no. I was all in.”
With his wife’s help, Roberts accepts a wide variety of roles, particularly in films made by student filmmakers. “(Eliza) finds these young filmmakers, and after I do, say Dark Knight, I’ll go and star in a student filmmaker’s movie for them, so they can get their money from the bank,” Roberts said, alluding to the fact lenders are more likely to fund a film project if it has a bankable big name in the cast.
“It’s just how it should be, because it’s a social business. It’s a wonderfully, kindly, artistic business, it doesn’t make you bleed, and it has a lot of education to it, and I just love it,” said Roberts, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as prison escapee Buck McGeehy in Runaway Train. Check out his book as well.
“What I find is the same all over the world, in every language, is movie crews,” he said. “They’re always the same, they’re always real people. They’re always fun to be around, and they always have the best dirty jokes!”
From Mick Davis, the director of “Modigliani” and “Walden” (which hits theaters late this year) and soundtrack composer Jack Douglas, Trust In Love is now available for distribution, licensing, or sponsorship opportunities. Make sure to keep your eye out, as the film continues to be nominated for prestigious awards both nationally and internationally.
Written and produced by Petulla, Trust In Love won the Best International Feature Film award at the Vancouver International Film Awards and Best Narrative Feature at the Studio City Film Festival.
Executive producers for the film are Jim Petulla, Matt Feige, Jon Sheinberg, and Susan Sheinber. Viorel Sergovici is the cinematographer and Chris Cibell did the editing.
More recent releases with Eric Roberts. Our reviews are below:
The Enigma: A Deep Dive into Lumina, the Sci-Fi Spectacle Defying Conventions | Hollywood Times
