Julia Roberts Was 'So Uncomfortable' Playing an Actress in Notting Hill: 'I Almost Didn't Take the Part'

Roberts spoke to longtime friend and collaborator Richard Curtis about why she almost didn’t accept the role of Anne in his 1999 novel Notting Hill.

Notting Hill could have had a completely different actress in the role – well, actresses.

In conversation with the screenwriter of the 1999 romcom Richard Curtis for British VogueFebruary issue, cover star Julia Roberts admitted that “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do” was playing the lead role of Anna, an A-list star like Roberts herself.

“I was so embarrassed!” Roberts (56), told her longtime friend and colleague. “I mean, we 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,” she added.

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Julia Roberts for the British VogueFebruary 2024 edition.

Lachlan Bailey for British Vogue

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Roberts also told Curtis, 67, that she “abhorred” the outfit Anna was originally supposed to wear during the iconic scene where she tells Will (Hugh Grant): “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy and asking him to love her.”

“I sent my driver, the lovely Tommy, back to my apartment that morning. I said, ‘Go into my bedroom and get this, this and this from my closet,'” Roberts recalled. “And it was my own flip flops and my cute little blue velvet skirt and t-shirt and my cardigan.”

Directed by Roger Michell and written by Curtis, Notting Hill starred Roberts and Grant, 63, as Anna and Will, a movie star and bookstore owner who embark on an improbable romance filled with obstacles surrounding Anna’s stardom – but end up happily married with a child on the way.

The line “I’m just a girl…” that has become as famous as it has become over the past almost 25 years Notting HillRoberts said, “I mean, it was a great scene.”

Julia Roberts on the cover of British VogueFebruary 2024 edition.

Lachlan Bailey for British Vogue

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“But who knew it would become that the line,” she added.

Curtis, who is also responsible for writing other classic romantic comedies like Actually love, Four weddings and one funeral and Bridget Jones’s Diaryrecently spoke with PEOPLE about his new Christmas movie the ghost starring Melissa McCarthy.

At one point in the conversation, he said he “couldn’t believe” that he was able to land McCarthy, 53, in the lead role, and that it reminded him of another time when he managed to get exactly who he wanted – Roberts, for Notting Hill.

“I actually have a photo of me sitting in a chair taking a phone call when Julia Roberts said yes Notting Hill” the director said. “Because we offered it to her and we thought, ‘That’s never going to happen.’ And it was somewhat the same with Melissa.”

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Source: HIS Education