‘’If you’re here for the Mel Gibson thing, you’re in the wrong room!” legendary filmmaker Garry Marshall announces as he arrives for the L.A junket for Roadshow Films’ ”Valentine’s Day”. Needless to say, Marshall’s as funny and as easy to appreciate as his films – which include ”Pretty Woman”, ”Beaches”, ”Frankie & Johnny” and “The Princess Diaries” – are. The director’s latest, a romantic comedy featuring the likes of Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Biel and Bradley Cooper, is no exception. Ashley Hillard reports.

Quite the cast you have there Garry!

I haven’t directed this many stars in one picture. You know what it’s like? It’s like when you’re in high school and suddenly you’re with all those popular kids in school. They’re all with you and they all know you. It’s a very exciting thing. It didn’t happen for me in high school.

And what were the challenges of working with this big cast?

Well, the key is you hire everybody whose name starts with ‘J’ to begin with. Jessica, Jamie, Jennifer, Julia… It all works out of that. You can say any name, just starts with a J. It is good for me that I knew many of these people, and to work with them recalls a shorthand because this was a tough schedule. The logistics alone [were difficult], so to work with them all was a pleasure because there was not much fighting. See how calm they are? Nobody’s pushing each other. It’s a nice group. Sometimes they push. ‘I don’t want to sit in this seat’.

Since this was such a large cast, many of the actors didn’t get to work together. To what extent were you together as a cast?

The food is free so there were always people on the movie set. I don’t know if Julia met Ashton. This is the first time they’ve met. True story.

You’re known for creating a family-like environment on set. Do you still have that environment with such a large cast?

Well I’ve also had a lot of relatives who were involved. Part of my thing is when you work with these stars, you have to make them comfortable. You surround them with people you like. Bradley Cooper sat on that plane and seated next to them was my grandchild who won’t say a word. She won’t run up to him and say, ‘Give me an autograph.’ My assistant and her husband sat behind them and didn’t say a word. And with Ashton, my daughter was the other clerk with him so he’s comfortable.