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Notting Hill is a 1999 romantic comedy film directed by Roger Michell. The screenplay was written by Richard Curtis, and the film was produced by Duncan Kenworthy. It stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, with Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Tim McInnerny, Gina McKee, and Hugh Bonneville in supporting roles. The story is of a romance between a British bookseller (Grant) and a famous American actress (Roberts) who happens to walk into his shop in London's Notting Hill district. Released on 21 May 1999, Notting Hill was well received by critics and became the highest-grossing British film of all time. At the 57th Golden Globe Awards, the film received three nominations – Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Roberts) and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Grant). It also earned two BAFTA nominations, and won a British Comedy Award and a Brit Award for its soundtrack. Plot William Thacker owns a travel book store in Notting Hill, London. Divorced from his wife who left him for another man, he shares a flat with Spike, a flaky and sloppy Welshman. One day, famous Hollywood actress Anna Scott enters the shop and buys a book. Shortly after she leaves, Will bumps into her while rounding a street corner, spilling his juice on her. He takes her to his flat across the street so she can change. When leaving, she impulsively kisses him. Anna later invites him to visit her at the Ritz Hotel. Upon his arrival, he is mistaken for a reporter and ushered into a press junket for her new film. When asked, he says he writes for Horse & Hound magazine. Anna asks to be William's date at his sister Honey's birthday party later that evening. Though his friends and family are surprised, Anna gets on well with everyone and enjoys herself. Later, the two enter a private neighbourhood park, where Anna again kisses Will. At a restaurant the next day, Will and Anna overhear six men at a nearby table discussing her, first praising and then disparaging her and equating actresses to prostitutes. Will confronts them, then she introduces herself and calmly insults the stunned foursome. Anna invites Will to her hotel room, but he quickly leaves after discovering that her movie star boyfriend, Jeff King, has unexpectedly arrived from America. Over the next six months, Will's friends arrange a series of dates for him, but Will, unable to forget Anna, is uninterested in another relationship. One day, a distraught Anna appears at Will's doorstep, needing to hide from a tabloid scandal. She apologises about King and says their relationship is over. They discover shared interests, and discuss Will's print of Marc Chagall's 1950 painting La Mariée. They make love that night. The next morning, paparazzi, inadvertently tipped off by Spike, besiege the house and take photos of Will, Anna, and a half-dressed Spike at the front door. Furious, she blames Will and leaves. Several seasons pass, and Will remains miserable. When he discovers Anna is back in London making a film based on a Henry James novel, something he had suggested, he visits the set unannounced. She asks him to wait until shooting is done, but he leaves after overhearing her being dismissive about him to another actor. Anna comes to the bookshop the next day, bringing a wrapped gift. Will says he overheard what she said about him to her co-star. She explains that she was merely keeping her personal life private from another actor. She proclaims that she loves him, and pleads to rekindle their relationship. Will says no, explaining he would be too hurt if she left him again. Will meets his friends and sister at a restaurant with Anna's partly opened gift: Chagall's original La Mariée ("The Bride"). They halfheartedly support his decision about Anna until Spike arrives and calls him a "daft prick". Will admits his mistake, and everyone races across London to find Anna, who is holding a press conference at the Savoy Hotel. They arrive just as her publicist announces that Anna is taking a year off and is leaving the UK that night. A reporter asks about the embarrassing photographs taken at Will's flat, and Anna says they are just friends. Will asks her if she would consider being more than friends if he begs her forgiveness. She says she would, then requests that the reporter repeat his question, "How long are you intending to stay here in Britain?" Smiling, she answers "Indefinitely". Anna and Will marry, as do Spike and Honey. Anna is pregnant as she and Will spend time in the private park that they visited on their first date. Cast Uncredited cast Casting notes Julia Roberts was the "one and only" choice for the role of Anna Scott, although Roger Michell and Duncan Kenworthy did not expect her to accept. Her agent told her it was "the best romantic comedy she had ever read". Roberts said that after reading the script she decided she was "going to have to do this". The decision to cast Hugh Grant as William Thacker was unanimous, as he and Richard Curtis had a "writer/actor marriage made in heaven". Michell said that "Hugh does Richard better than anyone else, and Richard writes Hugh better than anyone else", and that Grant is "one of the only actors who can speak Richard's lines perfectly". Mischa Barton appears as the child actor whom Will interviews for Horse & Hound. The casting of Bonneville, McInnerny, McKee, Chambers, and Ifans as Will's friends was "rather like assembling a family". Michell explained, "When you are casting a cabal of friends, you have to cast a balance of qualities, of types and of sensibilities. They were the jigsaw that had to be put together all in one go, and I think we've got a very good variety of people who can realistically still live in the same world." Sanjeev Bhaskar has a cameo role as a loud and offensive restaurant patron (who refers to Meg Ryan as "the actress who has an orgasm every time she's taken out for a cup of coffee") in the restaurant Anna and Will visit. Omid Djalili makes an uncredited cameo as the vendor who sells Will the orange juice that Will accidentally spills on Anna moments later. Science fiction author China Miéville was cast as an extra in the film, which he humorously described as a dystopian alternative history of an ethnically-cleansed city. Production Richard Curtis developed the film from thoughts while lying awake at night. He described the starting point as "the idea of a very normal person going out with an unbelievably famous person and how that impinges on their lives". In an interview with GQ in 2018, Hugh Grant claimed the film was based on real life and loosely followed a friend of Richard's who fell in love with an 'extremely world-famous person who [Grant wasn't] allowed to mention'. Much like the film, Curtis's friend was an everyday person who met the well known celebrity in a shop (Harrods) and they ended up having a relationship. The film has been likened to "a 90's London-set version of Roman Ho.... Discover the Sue Quinn popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sue Quinn books.