USA: NEW YORK FILM PREMIERE OF "NOTTING HILL"

Record ID: 388357

  • Title: USA: NEW YORK FILM PREMIERE OF "NOTTING HILL"
  • Date: 22nd May 1999
  • Summary: EXTERIOR ZIEGFELD THEATRE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK. (MAY 13, 1999) (REUTERS) JULIA ROBERTS ARRIVES. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUGH GRANT ARRIVES. ASKED 'HOW'S YOUR LOVE LIFE?' REPLIES "Very good - how's yours?" OTHER GUESTS ARRIVE INCLUDING CALVIN KLEIN. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIZA MINELLI ARRIVES AND SAYS,"I'm starting a new show that's based on the music from my father's films - it's called Minelli on Minelli." GV.
  • Embargoed: 6th June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES & NEW YORK CITY, USA
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVADU4CDG2KHBI9EZRFFI5JVZV0B
  • Story Text: The long-awaited Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant collaboration finally premieres in New York.The slightly dull life of book shop owner William Thacker (Hugh Grant) gets a gigantic lift when Hollywood film star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) pops in to buy some reading material.Love is in the air - and so too is the making of a huge hit.
    The slightly dull life of book shop owner William Thacker (Hugh Grant) gets a gigantic lift when Hollywood film star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) pops in to buy some reading material.A couple of days later, they literally bump into each other in the neighbourhood and their mutual attraction develops into romance.
    As a huge star, Anna is dogged by press and papparazzi every waking minute, and when the tabloids get hold of photographs from her past, she turns to William for refuge.
    But Williams' flatmate from hell, Spike (Rhys Ifans), can't resist telling his mates in the pub that Anna is in his house and before long the papparazzi turn up in droves.
    Distraught that Anna sees no way of continuing the relationship with that kind of pressure, William starts dating other girls, but none of them measure up.
    Some time later, William discovers that Anna is on location making a movie in England and he decides to visit the set.But when he inadvertantly hears Anna tell her co-star that he (William) is no-one important he gives up and goes home.
    Having seen him though, Anna realises that he is the one for her and begs him to take her back, but unconvinced he turns her down.
    It's only when William discovers that she's leaving the next day and that he might never see her again that he realises he made a big mistake letting her walk out of his life.With the help of his family, he makes a desperate bid to find her before she leaves for the United States.
    Working alongside Hollywood film stars may sound very glamorous, but it can be "daunting for directors if they don't know the actors beforehand".Fortunately, "both Hugh and Julia proved easy to work with".
    For a love story such as "Notting Hill" to work, the actors need to convince the audience the impression that there is real chemistry between them.They don't always have time to engineer that chemistry either, because "scenes aren't always shot in sequence"."A healthy respect for each other helps the actors to do their job well, and naturally its a bonus if your co-star is charming, handsome and funny"
    Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts had "met some years ago when they both auditioned for "Shakespeare In Love".The actress also gave his credibility a boost when she later hugged him when they met on the lot at Pinewood"
    But Julia had all but "forgotten the brief encounter" that the actor had so fondly filed away in his memory.
    Actors aren't always daunted by stars though, Rhys Ifans says he would be more "starstruck if he met Mick Jagger or Ryan Giggs than film stars, because after all Julia and Hugh are just actors like him.
    Notting Hill magnifies the reactions of every day people if and when they happen to meet celebrities, and the difficulties famous people face, such as the papparazzi.
    The hundreds of photographers that Hughs character faces in one scene in the movie is a situation all too familiar to Hugh Grant.He's "had his run-ins with the papparazzi, but unfortunately, didn't handle them as well as his co-star did in the film".
    Usually, actors will draw on their own personal experiences to some extent when they are portraying a character.But sometimes "the reaction that's called for is so completely different to what the actors would be that the only solution is to follow the script verbatim and ignore any personal feelings"
    The release date for "Notting Hill" coincides with the opening of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, which some say is "sensible counter programming by Universal".
    But as far as Julia Roberts is concerned, "Notting Hill"
    doesn't need to "rely on an audience that couldn't get in to see Star Wars to make money.
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