Julia Roberts reveals why she almost turned down Notting Hill: 'I didn’t even know how to play that person'

Notting Hill hit a little too close to home for Julia Roberts.

The Hollywood legend, who was nearing the height of her powers when she starred in the classic romcom opposite Hugh Grant, has revealed that she almost turned down her role in the film. While reuniting with Notting Hill scribe Richard Curtis, Roberts opened up about why.

“Honestly, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was your movie, playing a movie actress,” Roberts told Curtis during their recent Vogue interview. “I was so uncomfortable!”

Roberts continued, “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.”

The 1999 film follows Roberts as a famous American actress (too meta?) whose chance encounter with a London bookstore owner throws both their romantic lives into utter turmoil. The simple setup leads to a clash between the life of a glamorous movie star and an everyday guy — which they eventually endure in the name of love.

Following roles in Mystic Pizza, Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and more Roberts had very much solidified her fame by the time this movie came along. Still, taking on the role of Anna Scott was a challenge. Curtis even points out that she “loathed being dressed as a movie star.”

In one of the film's most iconic scenes, she made it a point to have the character drop her movie star glamor to don an outfit that Roberts herself brought from home.

“The clothes you’re wearing in the scene where you came back to Hugh and said, ‘I’m just a girl,’” Curtis began. “Am I remembering right that they were the ones you rocked up wearing in real life that morning?”

Roberts confirmed, “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.”

Flip-flops, cardigan, and all, the romantic confession has become the film's best-remembered (and most quoted) moment. Though Roberts knew it was a “great scene,” she could not have predicted  "that that would become the line.”

That beloved quote aside, while reflecting on the film’s legacy, Roberts and Curtis agreed that the best thing to come out of Notting Hill — besides their enduring friendship — is the infamous live-tweet thread from Barry Jenkins. The Moonlight director went viral in 2018 for sharing every hilarious observation as he watched the film over someone’s shoulder on an airplane.

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