Julia Roberts details reason for almost turning down ‘Notting Hill’

Julia Roberts nearly stayed on this side of the ocean before becoming a star of Notting Hill.

In a recent cover story for British Vogue, the Oscar-winning actress disclosed that she felt “uncomfortable” in the romantic comedy and nearly declined the role of Anna Scott. This was due to her disagreement with the screenplay.

“One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was your movie, playing a movie actress,” she told the writer. “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.”

The actress went on to say that she “loathed” the outfit she wore in the movie since it required her to dress like a movie star. Roberts ordered her driver back to her apartment the morning they filmed the movie’s famous “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” scene, so she could wear the clothes she chose for the moment rather than the one that was assigned to her.

Although she admitted that she thought the line was “great” at the time, she wasn’t quite prepared for it to gain the level of popularity that it did.

“But who knew that that would become the line,” the Leave the World Behind actress said.

“The best thing, besides our friendship, to come out of Notting Hill is [director] Barry Jenkins watching it over someone’s shoulder” on a plane once with no audio, and comments went viral.

“I kind of love watching a film without hearing it,” Roberts continued, “We’re having all these emotions, going through all these things, and you can see it on our faces.”