Julia Roberts has revealed the reason why she almost turned down her iconic Notting Hill role and gave an insight into the aspects of the film she struggled with.
The actress, 56, is now synonymous with the smash hit rom-com, where she starred alongside Hugh Grant, but she said she was initially reluctant to accept the part.
Julia candidly admitted she felt ‘so uncomfortable’ playing the hot-tempered American movie star Anna Scott in the 1999 classic.
Speaking to the film’s director Richard Curtis for Vogue’s February issue, Julia said: ‘Honestly, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was [Notting Hill], 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 Roberts has revealed that she almost turned down her iconic role in Notting Hill and gave an insight into the aspects of the 1999 film she struggled with
The actress, 56, said she was initially reluctant to accept the part because she felt ‘uncomfortable’ playing the hot-tempered American movie star Anna Scott
Her problems with the character didn’t stop there as Julia admitted she also had issues with her costume because she ‘loathed’ being dressed as a movie star.
She revealed that at one point, she even asked her driver to go back to her flat and pick out an outfit from her own wardrobe for her to wear in a very memorable scene.
In the iconic scene where Anna rushes back to William Thacker (Hugh Grant) and says ‘I’m just a girl’ in an admission of love, Julia was wearing her own clothes.
She shared: ‘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.’
Julia and her co-star Hugh both scored Golden Globe nominations for their performances as famous actress Anna and bookshop owner William.
Nicole Kidman has previously revealed that she was desperate to bag the role in Notting Hill but didn’t manage to secure the part.
‘I really wanted the role that Julia Roberts played in Notting Hill,’ she told Marie Claire back in 2021.
‘Yeah, I did. But I wasn’t well known enough, and I wasn’t talented enough.’
Julia also admitted she had issues with her costume because she ‘loathed’ being dressed as a movie star (she is pictured in the film alongside Hugh Grant)
She revealed that she even asked her driver to go back to her flat and pick out an outfit from her own wardrobe for her to wear in the iconic ‘I’m Just A Girl’ scene (pictured)
While her roles in Notting Hill and Pretty Woman made her a household name, Julia’s true breakout role was in 1988’s Mystic Pizza.
She played Daisy Arujo in that film, and Julia recently revealed if she thinks her character and his love interest Charles (Adam Storke) would still be together.
‘Let’s hope they’re still together and they have a bunch of cute little kiddos,’ she said in an interview with CBS Mornings last month.
See the full feature in the February issue of British Vogue, available via digital download and on newsstands from Tuesday 16 January.
