Notting Hill (film)

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For places named "Notting Hill", see Notting Hill.

Template:Infobox Film Notting Hill is a 1999 romantic comedy film set in the Notting Hill district of London, England, UK.

The screenplay was written by Richard Curtis who had previously written Four Weddings and a Funeral. From that highly successful film, actor Hugh Grant, producer Duncan Kenworthy and other film crew members are reunited in Notting Hill. Upon release the movie was heavily criticised by some for presenting an 'ethnically cleansed' vision of West London despite being set in one of London's most diverse and multicultural areas.

1 Primary cast:
2 Plot
3 Award nominations
4 Quotes
5 Other
6 External links

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Primary cast:

Julia Roberts : Anna Scott
Hugh Grant : William Thacker
Richard McCabe : Tony
Rhys Ifans : Spike
James Dreyfus : Martin
Dylan Moran : Rufus the Thief
Alec Baldwin : Jeff King
Emma Chambers : Honey
Tim McInnerny : Max
Gina McKee : Bella
Hugh Bonneville : Bernie

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Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) runs a bookshop in Notting Hill, London. Witty, cultivated and handsome, he hasn't coped well with his divorce and is currently sharing a flat with an eccentric Welsh wannabe artist named Spike (Rhys Ifans).

Thacker encounters world famous Hollywood actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) during her trip to London when she enters his shop to buy a book. Shortly thereafter, they accidentally collide in the street, causing William to spill orange juice on each other. He offers his flat as a place for them to get changed. Anna accepts and they retire to his digs.

Right from the start, their love affair seems to be doomed. Although Anna feels at home with his circle of friends, William more and more realizes that he is not cut out to be a famous actress's boyfriend. First, he is shocked when he finds out that she has an American boyfriend (played by Alec Baldwin), although Anna asserts that they have broken up. Some time later, after they spent the first night together at William's flat, careless talk by Spike down at the pub results in a throng of reporters at their doorstep trying to take their pictures. She leaves in a hurry, and William decides once and for all to forget her. However, over the months that follow, none of his friends' attempts to find him a girlfriend is successful.

Image:Notting Hill.jpg

Anna Scott shows up at his bookshop once again, willing to resume their love affair. Only after he has rejected her and she is gone again does William realize that he has just made the biggest mistake of his life. He and his friends search for Anna before she can leave for the United States, and in one of the final scenes, at a press conference, he persuades her to stay in England with him.

The film ends with their wedding and Anna's pregnancy.

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Award nominations

The soundtrack of the movie features an Elvis Costello cover of the Charles Aznavour song "She" [1].

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Quotes

Anna Scott:' "I've been on a diet every day since I was nineteen, which basically means I've been hungry for a decade. I've had a series of not nice boyfriends, one of whom hit me. Ah, and every time I get my heart broken, the newspapers splash it about as though it's entertainment. And it's taken two rather painful operations to get me looking like this."
- Honey: "Really?"
- Anna Scott: "Really. And, one day not long from now, my looks will go, they will discover I can't act and I will become some sad middle-aged woman who looks a bit like someone who was famous for a while."
Happiness isn't happiness without a violin playing goat.
Anna Scott: "Rita Hayworth used to say they go to bed with Gilda they woke up with me"
- Will: "Who's Gilda?"
- Anna Scott: "Her most famous part, they went with the dream and didn't like itwhen they woke up with reality"
Anna Scott: "The fame thing isn't real you know. Remember I'm only just a girl...standing in front of a boy asking him to love her..."