James Marsden is super grateful to Julia Roberts.

The Dead to Me star recently appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and recounted his experience being cast as Corny Collins in Hairspray. Apparently, it was a chance encounter with Julia that made it happen.

“I was sitting down with Adam Shankman, the director, and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron at the time [in] an empty restaurant off Broadway in New York City,” he told Ellen. “And we were just talking about the potential of me playing Corny Collins.”

“In the middle of the interview, I had a tap on my shoulder and it was Julia Roberts, she was standing there,” he recalled. “She said ‘I don’t mean to interrupt, but I just wanted to tell you that you’re in my favorite movie, The Notebook, and I love what you do in the film, and congratulations on it, and nice to meet you.'”

“Adam Shankman turns to me and goes, ‘You didn’t have the job already, but I think that sort of seals it.'” he said. “So I have Julia Roberts to thank for that, she was the one who cemented me getting cast in that role.”

LOL! What? That’s pretty epic, right?