When Julia Roberts almost turned down classic film Notting Hill
Julia Roberts
They don’t make romantic films in Hollywood like they did in the 90s and early 2000s. How can we ever get over films like Notting Hill that cemented the path for future romantic films – with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant romancing each other and giving us lines like, “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” Can you imagine any other actress apart from Julia delivering these lines in that scene from Notting Hill and melting our hearts? We can’t, but there was a time when Julia almost said no to the part.
The actress in a recent cover interview with the film’s screenwriter Richard Curtis said that there was a time when she almost turned down the role of Anna Scott because she was “uncomfortable” with the part. She said, “One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was your movie, 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.”
Julia didn’t like the part at all. She even went on to add that she didn’t like the costumes that were given to her for filming. In fact, for the famous climax scene where she says “I’m just a girl…….”, she sent her driver to her home to pick up a dress since she didn’t like the costume that was planned for her.
She, however, feels overwhelmed with the love that scene and the film have got over the years. In the interview, she added, “But who knew that that would become the line? The best thing, besides our friendship, to come out of Notting Hill is [director] Barry Jenkins watching it over someone’s shoulder on a plane once with no audio, and comments went viral.
