Julia Roberts had a "love-fest" on the set of 'Eat Pray Love'.

The Oscar-winning actress - who stars as author Elizabeth Gilbert in the new film, which sees her travel to India, Bali and Italy - got on so well with director Ryan Murphy that he describes her as being the "sister he always wanted".

Speaking at the UK premiere of 'Eat Pray Love' at Empire Leicester Square last night (22.09.10), he told BANG Showbiz: "I read the book and I was a fan of it. Julia was also a fan of the book so we decided to get together and have a big love-fest.

"We're very good friends. I love her - she's like the sister I always wanted. A lot of fun, a really great person, beautiful, very very talented, what more could a director want? You know when you just meet someone and you love them and you just want to hug them all the time?"

The duo hit it off so well that Sony reportedly recently made "one of the year's biggest pitch deals" and have paired them up for another, as-yet untitled, romantic comedy, which will see Julia take on the role of a working mother who is forced to swap roles with her husband - a stay at home dad - after she loses her job.

'Eat Pray Love' - which has already made $81 million from cinemas in the US and Canada - is released in the UK tomorrow (24.09.10) and the rest of the world throughout September and October.