Christopher Meloni Remembers 'Marveling' at Costar Julia Roberts in “Runaway Bride” as the Film Turns 25 (Exclusive)

The 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' star starred as Bob Kelly in the 1999 rom-com alongside Richard Gere and Joan Cusack

While it might be hard to think of a world before Elliot Stabler, just ahead of Law & Order: SVU's premiere in 1999, Christopher Meloni starred alongside Julia Roberts in one of her iconic rom-coms. 

In 1999’s Runaway Bride, Meloni played Roberts’ would-be groom among a stacked cast of stars that included Richard Gere, Joan Cusack, Rita Wilson and Hector Elizondo. Though the Law & Order: Organized Crime star had various roles under his belt, this movie felt different.

“I just remember fighting not to be overwhelmed, so happy to be given this opportunity, how great it was to work with [Roberts] and with Richard Gere,” Meloni, 63, told PEOPLE exclusively on July 31," one day after the film celebrated its 25th anniversary. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do,’ because it was a big Hollywood comedy.”

He continued, “The comedy of it, I felt like I kept having to make it real but make it lighthearted, but the circumstances were real, had to have meaning ... it was a really delicate dance for me.”

Related: See Julia Roberts and Richard Gere at the 1999 Premiere of Runaway Bride as the Film Turns 25

While Meloni recalled navigating how to strike that balance, he said Roberts was a natural.

“[I remember] marveling at Julia being able to just kind of do it effortlessly,” he shared. “It was really fun to be a part of.”

At the end of the 1999 film, Roberts’ character Maggie ends up with Ike, played by Gere. When asked in 2023 what she thought would come of the couple, the Eat, Pray, Love actress said she thinks they lived happily ever after. 

"Maggie literally rides off into the sunset with Richard Gere after leaving four other men at the altar. What happens to her?" Gayle King asked during an interview on CBS Mornings.

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"They stay together. He doesn't die in this one. They're going to stay together," Roberts replied after previously sharing that she thinks Gere’s Pretty Woman character “passed away peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack, smiling.”

Meloni, who recently served as the narrator for Temptations cat food’s limited-edition podcast series, “Catch a Cat Burglar: Purry Duty,” went on to star on SVU from September 1999 to 2011, when he left the show due to issues with contract negotiations.

Related: Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni Cuddle Up in Sweet Selfie: 'And in the Beginning... There Was You'

He reprised the role of Detective Elliot Stabler for his own spinoff, Law & Order: Organized Crime, in 2021, which has allowed for various crossover episodes with SVU as well as a long-awaited reunion with his old partner, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

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Though Meloni said he “can’t speak to” whether or not Stabler will return for season 26 of SVU, he told PEOPLE that he is not only writing an episode for the upcoming season 6 of Organized Crime, but that Hargitay will appear as a guest star in the same episode.

“I know [Olivia] Benson will be with OC for a moment there,” he revealed.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursdays on NBC. Law & Order: Organized Crime moves exclusively to Peacock, where both shows can be streamed, for season 5.

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