Actor Julia Roberts reveals she almost snubbed Notting Hill film role

Julia Roberts says she felt “uncomfortable” portraying an uptight A-list movie star in the film Notting Hill. Photo / AP

Julia Roberts nearly turned down her Notting Hill role as she felt “uncomfortable” portraying an uptight A-list movie star.

The Pretty Woman actor, 56, gave a now-iconic turn as hot-headed Anna Scott in Richard Curtis’ 1999 film alongside Hugh Grant, who played bumbling bookshop owner William Thacker, and has now opened up about why she initially almost rejected the chance to take the role.

Speaking to Notting Hill director Richard Curtis for a cover story for British Vogue, she admitted: “Honestly, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was [Notting Hill], playing a movie actress, I was so uncomfortable.”

She added: “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 Roberts says she nearly turned down the role alongside Hugh Grant in the 1999 film Notting Hill.

Roberts added she also “loathed” being dressed as a movie star for the rom-com, revealing at one point during shooting she asked her chauffeur to go back to her flat and pick out an outfit from her wardrobe for her to wear in the scene where she tells Hugh’s character she’s “just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking for him to love her”.

She said: “My driver, lovely Tommy, I sent him back to my flat that morning. I said, ‘Go into my bedroom and grab this, this and this out of my closet’, and it was my own flip-flops and my cute little blue velvet skirt and a T-shirt and my cardigan.”

Roberts and Grant, 63, both landed Golden Globe nominations for their performances in Notting Hill.

Nicole Kidman, 56, has admitted she was desperate to score the leading role in the film, telling Marie Claire: “I really wanted the role that Julia Roberts played in Notting Hill. Yeah, I did. But I wasn’t well known enough, and I wasn’t talented enough.”