Here's The Reason Why Julia Roberts Nearly Dropped ‘Notting Hill'

In a recent interview with Richard Curtis, a Notting Hill screenwriter and Julia Roberts' longtime friend of 25 years, for British Vogue, the 56-year-old actress said that she was hesitant to play the well-known actress Anna Scott alongside Hugh Grant in the 1999 romantic comedy classic. It may seem simple for an actor to portray another actor on the outside. Roberts, however, disagreed, referring to the film as "one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

She confessed, "One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was your movie [Notting Hill, 1999], playing a movie actress. I was so uncomfortable! I mean, we've talked about this so many times, but I almost didn't take the part because it just seemed -- oh, it just seemed so awkward. I didn't even know how to play that person."

Roberts states that she particularly "loathed being dressed as a movie star," thus in the well-known moment when her character calls herself "just a girl, standing in front of a boy," she decided on her own. Rather than dressing in the ensemble selected by the wardrobe department, she instructed her driver to return to her lodging and get an assortment of garments from her bedroom. Roberts was aware that the sequence was "great," but she was unaware that "that would become the line" that fans would most often repeat.

Curtis said in another section of the interview that Roberts "insisted" on him modifying the screenplay for a sequence in which her character boasts about how much money—a staggering $15 million—she earned in one of her movies. Later, Curtis remembered that "it was very clearly her auditioning us" for the part, not the other way around, at their lunch with Roberts, producer Duncan Kenworthy, and director Roger Michell. 

According to Box Office Mojo, Notting Hill ended up being a smash for Roberts and making over $300 million in revenue worldwide. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Roberts eventually said "yes" to Notting Hill, but in 2023, she disclosed on "Watch What Happens Live" that she had rejected You've Got Mail, a romantic comedy that had been out the year before in 1998. Still, she has no remorse about turning down this or any other picture since according to her "it's all kind of destiny." 

The fact that Roberts and Grant did not connect as well on screen during production was unknown to many viewers. Bestlife revealed that during the Notting Hill production, Grant cracked many jokes about Roberts' enormous mouth, which led to some off-camera tension between the two. He also called Roberts "Very big-mouthed!" in an Oprah Winfrey interview, according to DigitalSpy. He said at the time, "Very big-mouthed! Literally, physically, she has a very big mouth. When I was kissing her I was aware of a faint echo." But by 2005, Roberts had already moved over Grant's "cruel" remarks about her appearance and considered working with him again on a film.