Julia Roberts decided to give the Notting Hill sequel a pass, said screenwriter Richard Curtis. It turns out that, even though the 1999 romantic comedy was a smash hit and instantly became a classic, the sequel never materialized, and Curtis recently revealed why in an interview promoting his new Netflix animated film, That Christmas.
As it turned out, Roberts wasn’t interested in the storyline of the sequel that Curtis proposed. According to Curtis, this was his version of the plot for the sequel, about Anna Scott (Roberts’ character) divorcing Hugh Grant’s William Thacker. Nevertheless, the idea was not pleasing to Roberts.
Curtis, who is behind classic tales of romance such as Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and About Time, said there won’t be any Notting Hill sequel due to Roberts’ disapproval of the storyline.
He revealed to IndieWire, “I tried doing one with Notting Hill, where they were going to get divorced, and Julia [Roberts] thought that was a very poor idea.”
Recently, Grant also commented on the movie on Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection. The actor unflinchingly lambasted his character, calling William Thacker “despicable” because he is indecisive and cowardly, specifically in a key scene that involved Paparazzi.
The actor revealed that even some of his real-life partners have criticized the character’s inaction, leaving him defenseless except to say, “I don’t really have an answer to that—it’s how it was written. And I think he’s despicable, really.”
For the unversed, in the 1999 Roger Michell-helmed rom-com, Julia Roberts plays a world-famous actress who navigates love and media frenzy alongside a humble London bookstore owner (Grant). It also stars Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Gina McKee, Tim McInnerny, and Hugh Bonneville, among others. Though no sequel ever materialized, Notting Hill remains a beloved, enduring classic even if its characters remain as debated as they are loved. It’s available on Netflix for streaming.
