Julia Roberts Thought Notting Hill Was “The Dumbest Idea” At First

Julia Roberts was initially disgusted by one of her most classic rom-coms. In a new interview with Deadline, published on Jan. 6, the actor revealed that she nearly turned down Notting Hill, thinking the idea was “so f*cking stupid” at the time.

In the 1999 film, Roberts plays famous actor Anna Scott, who falls in love with British bookkeeper William Thacker (Hugh Grant) while trying to lay low in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood. However, the idea of playing an actor and mirroring her own career wasn’t appealing at all.

“Gosh, I just remember when my agent called me about Notting Hill, and I thought, ‘Well, that sounds like the dumbest idea of any movie I could ever do,’” she recalled. “I'm going to play the world's biggest movie star, and I do what? And then what happens? This sounds so f*cking stupid.”

Of course, when she got hold of screenwriter Richard Curtis’ script, Roberts came around. “I read the script, and I was like, ‘Oh. This is so charming. It's so funny. Oh, sh*t,’” she said. However, she still didn’t intend to take the role and wanted to tell Curtis, “No, this isn’t going to work. I’m passing on this movie.”

Why Julia Said Yes To Notting Hill

Roberts wanted to give the creative team the courtesy of passing in person, but before she could, they changed her mind about taking the role. “I went to lunch with Richard and [producer] Duncan [Kenworthy] and beloved [director] Roger Michell, may he rest in peace,” she said. “They were just so charming and sweet and fun. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is really going to happen.’”

Now, she has zero regrets about making Notting Hill, which became one of the top-grossing films of 1999 and earned her a Golden Globe nomination. “We had a beautiful time doing it,” she said. “It was cast to perfection, all the friends, everybody. It was so great. And I think Roger, he just created the film in a way that it just, at every turn, it succeeded. It accomplished its goals.”

In January 2024, Roberts spoke to Curtis himself about her dilemma in an interview with British Vogue. “Honestly, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was your movie, playing a movie actress,” she told him. “I was so uncomfortable! 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.”