Julia Roberts reveals why she was ‘so uncomfortable’ filming Notting Hill

Julia Roberts has lifted the lid on one of her most famous roles, admitting she “almost didn’t take” it because it was too “hard”.

Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.

Rom-com darling Julia Roberts revealed that she “almost didn’t take” the role in one of her most notable films, Notting Hill.

Speaking with the 1999 film’s screenwriter Richard Curtis in an interview published in British Vogue, Roberts opened up about her hesitancy to accept the role.

“And honestly, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was your movie, playing a movie actress,” she told Curtis, referring to her role of Anna Scott. “I was so uncomfortable!”

While she noted that she and Curtis had discussed the topic “so many times,” she reiterated her previous discomfort.

“I almost didn’t take the part because it just seemed — oh, it just seemed so awkward,” she admitted. “I didn’t even know how to play that person.”

Roberts with Hugh Grant in a scene from the iconic film.

She also shared how she “loathed” the costumes she wore to play the movie star, so much so that she ultimately chose an outfit from her own closet for one of the film’s most iconic scenes.

“My driver, lovely Tommy, I sent him back to my flat that morning,” she recalled. “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.”

The actress dressed herself for this scene.

The scene in question takes place in her love interest William Thacker’s (Hugh Grant) bookstore, where she tells him, “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

“I mean, it was a great scene,” she reflected. “But who knew that that would become the line.”

Roberts recently shared her predictions about her some of her most famous character’s fates on CBS Mornings, including the fate of Notting Hill’s Anna.

“She’s retired [from acting], she has six children and has maintained her waist size amazingly,” she told co-anchor Gayle King last month.

As for Grant’s character, she said that he “runs the bookshop still, and now there’s a little knitting annex to the bookshop that she runs.”

This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Julia Roberts reveals why she was ‘so uncomfortable’ filming Notting Hill