Whoopsidaisies!

It’s hard to believe it’s been 22 years since the classic rom-com 'Notting Hill' hit cinemas. In 1999, at the height of her fame, Julia Roberts paired up with Hugh Grant to bring Richard Curtis' story of a Hollywood actress falling in love with a London travel book store to life on the big screen. To celebrate its anniversary here are 10 secrets behind the beloved movie...

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That infamous blue door house belonged to the film's writer Richard Curtis

At the time of filming, writer Richard Curtis was the owner of the famous house. Due to the popularity of the film, many fans kept visiting the property, forcing the new owners to paint the door black. In fact, so many people scrawled their own autograph on the door, it was eventually removed and auctioned off, but another blue door now lives on in its place.

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The film wasn’t even shot in the famous Notting Hill house

The inside of Will's flat was a studio set because the actual interior of Richard’s home was a converted chapel and was actually huge, boasting a courtyard garden and a 1,000-square-foot reception room. Therefore, minus some exterior shots, most of the movie was shot on a meticulously built set about an hour away from Notting Hill.

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Julia Roberts was unimpressed with the story at first

The Hollywood star wasn’t blown away by the story initially but soon fell in love with it after reading every page of the script. Julia said: “When I sat to read [the script], I did not have any great expectations, I had been given a brief synopsis and it sounded unappealing. But when I read it, from the very start with her going into the bookshop and she seems very mysterious and there is this guy having all these troubles and they leave and collide and she is at his house and she kisses him, I thought ‘Jesus Christ, this is great’, I was completely sucked in.”

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Hugh Grant struggled with the kissing scenes

For most men getting to kiss Julia Roberts would be a dream come true, however, Hugh Grant complained about his smooching scenes with the actress. Although, we can imagine it was all a bit tongue and cheek, excuse the pun! While filming, Hugh said: “She had such a large mouth, I was aware of a faint echo as I was kissing her.”

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Old stock footage of Julia was used in the film

Some of the scenes of Anna walking red carpets, flashing her famous smile at the cameras and attending award shows is real footage of Julia Roberts "from years gone by," she shared with E! News in 1999, as well as footage shot at the 1998 BAFTA Awards, which in real life she attended with her ‘My Best Friend's Wedding’ co-star Rupert Everett.

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Julia felt intimidated by Hugh Grant

It’s hard to believe one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood would be intimated by anyone! However, Roberts said in an interview with E! News that Hugh made her nervous because of his English accent. She said: "I was actually intimidated by Hugh, and I think also being the only American in the movie, everybody just sounds smarter than you. English people can say the dumbest things and make it sound so charming and fabulously interesting, and once I was able to do that and just realize I'm the only nasally sounding Yank of the bunch, then I was able to sort of relax.”

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Julia was very different from her alter ego

The leading actress saw some parallels with her character, however, she was more surprised by how different she was from fictional Hollywood A-lister Anna Scott. In 1999, the Roberts clarified what, exactly, bothered her about the character to Vanity Fair, saying: “The fact that Anna had a tumultuous relationship with the media because, before she was famous, she had posed n*** and the photos had gotten out. I didn't agree with what she did, first of all, didn't agree with how she got into this mess - I would never have been in that situation. Didn't agree with the way she was dealing with it ... Didn't agree with the way she was reacting to it. Didn't agree with any of that stuff."

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The film is inspired by a true story

Hugh Grant said that the movie's writer Richard Curtis told him it was inspired by a true story. He said: "This is a story he won't admit to, but he's told me in a drunken moment. A friend of his, an ordinary, normal guy, was in Harrods one day and met a very famous woman and ended up taking her back to his flat in Notting Hill — and all kinds of nonsense ensued. And they used to meet up, whenever she came to London their affair would reactivate itself - and that was the genesis of his script. But he's so scared of people finding out who this very famous person was that he won't tell anyone that story."

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Julia hated one of her lines

Roberts hated the moment when she had to paraphrase Rita Hayworth’s well-known line: “They go to bed with Gilda, they wake up with me.” Julia confessed: “I hate to say anything negative about what Richard wrote, because he’s a genius, but I hated saying that line, to me, it was nails on a chalkboard. I don’t really believe any of that.”

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Julia Roberts was tired of low-balling

In the film, Will's friend Bernie, who is played by Hugh Bonneville asks Anna played by Julia, how much she made in her last movie. Her answer was $15 million dollars, this is the exact same figure that Julia Roberts was paid for ‘Notting Hill.’ Initially, in the script and during rehearsals, the original amount was $10 million. However, after each take, the actress kept changing the figure till she reached $15 million. Hugh later asked Roberts why she kept changing the figure to which Roberts replied, “I’m kind of tired of low-balling”.

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11/11 SLIDES