Julia Roberts snapped up the film rights to British author Tony Parson's new novel and commissioned him to turn it into screenplay - before he'd even finished writing it.

Parsons only laid down his pen on The Family Way on Monday - but has already had precise instructions from Roberts.

The author - whose previous book Man and Boy was turned into a TV movie - says: "I couldn't believe it at first - it just sounds so much what the little Limey writer dreams of. I finished it on Monday.

"This really is all down to Julia, but she's been in the business for 20 years so I guess she knows what she's doing."

But the journalist and novelist hasn't always had such high regard for the Oscar-winning actress.

After she appeared at a movie premiere in 2001 with hairy armpits, Parsons said: "Julia's hairy armpits are something else... a girl can't do much about the passing of time. But having a pair of rainforests growing under your arms just looks slovenly."