| Notting Hill | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Roger Michell |
| Produced by | Duncan Kenworthy Roger Birnbaum |
| Written by | Richard Curtis |
| Starring | Julia Roberts Hugh Grant |
| Music by | Trevor Jones |
| Cinematography | Michael Coulter |
| Editing by | Nick Moore |
| Studio | Working Title Films |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 21 May 1999 |
| Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $43 million |
| Box office | $363,889,700 |
Notting Hill is a 1999 British romantic comedy film set in Notting Hill, London, released on 21 May 1999. The screenplay was by Richard Curtis, who had written Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was produced by Duncan Kenworthy and directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Tim McInnerny, Gina McKee and Hugh Bonneville.
The film was well received by critics, and became the highest grossing British film released that year. The film won a BAFTA, and was nominated in two other categories. Notting Hill won other awards, including a British Comedy Award and a Brit Award for the soundtrack.
Contents |
William "Will" Thacker (Hugh Grant) owns an independent bookshop in Notting Hill that specialises in travel writing. He has been coping with divorce after his wife left him for a man who looked exactly like Harrison Ford. He shares his house with an uninhibited Welsh eccentric named Spike (Rhys Ifans).
Thacker encounters Hollywood star actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) when she enters his shop to buy a book. Minutes later, the pair collide in the street, causing Will to spill his orange juice on both of them. He offers his house across the road for Anna to change. She accepts and, having changed, surprises Will with a kiss which starts their mutual attraction.
Days later, Will asks Spike if he has any messages. Spike has trouble writing or remembering messages but does recall "some American girl called Anna" who mentioned a "completely different name". Anna is at the Ritz, under the name "Flintstone", and has asked Will to visit. Will is allowed in, but her room has now become the centre for a press day and he is mistaken for a journalist. (In panic he claims he works for Horse & Hound.) He has to interview all the cast of Anna's new film Helix, even though he has not seen it. Will's sister Honey (Emma Chambers) is about to have a birthday party, and when Will has a moment alone with Anna, she offers to be his date at the party.
There, at Max (Tim McInnerny) and Bella's (Gina McKee) house, Anna feels at home with Will's friends, putting up a good case for the "last brownie" to be awarded to the most pathetic of them. Afterwards they trespass in a private London square. They go on more dates, to the cinema and to a restaurant. Anna invites Will to her room, only to find her American boyfriend, Jeff King (an uncredited cameo by Alec Baldwin), already there. She pretends to be pleased to see him, so Will pretends to be a room-service waiter. When King steps out of the room, Anna apologizes; she thought King had broken up with her. Will realizes he must leave.
Later, after actually breaking up with King, Anna goes to Will's house hoping to stay. Images of her that look like a porn film have been leaked to the press and she needs to hide. The pair sleep together for the first time. In the morning, Will is stunned to see reporters at the doorstep, alerted by careless talk by Spike at the pub. Angry at what she views as Will's betrayal, she leaves, and he decides to forget her... unsuccessfully.
One year later, Anna returns to London to make a Henry James film, which Will had suggested. Will approaches the set of the film, and Anna invites him in to watch. A sound engineer offers him a pair of headphones to listen in on the dialogue, but this allows him to overhear Anna between scenes telling her co-star that Will is "just some guy". Disappointed, Will leaves. The next day, Anna comes to the bookshop again, explaining that she was just being discreet and hoping to repair their relationship, but Will, still hurt, turns her down. Having brought him a present, she leaves it behind, still wrapped; it turns out to be an original Marc Chagall painting, La Mariée, that she had seen a print of in Will's home.
Will meets his friends, who are supportive of his decision to reject Anna until Spike arrives and promptly calls him a "daft prick". He quickly realizes he has made the biggest mistake of his life by letting her go. The group searches for Anna, racing across London in Max's car. They reach Anna's press conference and Will persuades her to stay in England with him. Anna and Will marry, the film concluding with a shot of Will and a pregnant Anna on a park bench in Notting Hill.
The casting of Bonneville, McInnerny, McKee, Chambers, and Ifans as Will's friends was "rather like assembling a family". Michell explained that "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."[1]
| "I would sometimes wonder what it would be like if I just turned up at my friends' house, where I used to have dinner once a week, with the most famous person at that time, be it Madonna or whomever. It all sprang from there. How would my friends react? Who would try and be cool? How would you get through dinner? What would they say to you afterwards?" |
| — Richard Curtis[6] |
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".[6] Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell was approached but rejected it to work on Pushing Tin. He said that in commercial terms he had made the wrong decision, but did not regret it.[7] The producer, Duncan Kenworthy, then turned to Roger Michell, saying that "Finding someone as good as Roger, was just like finding the right actor to play each role. Roger shone out."[1]
Curtis chose Notting Hill as he lived there and knew the area, saying "Notting Hill is a melting pot and the perfect place to set a film".[8] This left the producers to film in a heavily populated area. Kenworthy noted "Early on, we toyed with the idea of building a huge exterior set. That way we would have more control, because we were worried about having Roberts and Grant on public streets where we could get thousands of onlookers." In the end they decided to film in the streets.[8] Michell was worried "that Hugh and Julia were going to turn up on the first day of shooting on Portobello Road, and there would be gridlock and we would be surrounded by thousands of people and paparazzi photographers who would prevent us from shooting". The location team, and security forces prevented this, as well as preventing problems the presence of a film crew may have caused the residents of Notting Hill, who Michell believes were "genuinely excited" about the film.[8] The location manager Sue Quinn, described finding locations and getting permission to film as "a mammoth task".[8] Quinn and the rest of her team had to write to thousands of people in the area, promising to donate to each person's favourite charity, resulting in 200 charities receiving money.[8]
| "The major problem we encountered was the size of our film unit. We couldn't just go in and shoot and come out. We were everywhere. Filming on the London streets has to be done in such a way that it comes up to health and safety standards. There is no such thing as a road closure. We were very lucky in the fact that we had 100% cooperation from the police and the Council. They looked favorably on what we were trying to do and how it would promote the area." |
| — Sue Quinn[8] |
Stuart Craig, the production designer, was pleased to do a contemporary film, saying "we're dealing with streets with thousands of people, market traders, shop owners and residents which makes it really complex".[8] Filming began on 17 April 1998 in West London and at Shepperton Studios.[1] Will's bookshop was on Portobello Road, one of the main areas in which filming took place. Other places within Notting Hill included Westbourne Park Road, Golborne Road, Landsdowne Road and the Coronet Cinema.[8] Will's house, 280 Westbourne Park Road, was owned by Richard Curtis and behind the entrance there is a grand house, not the flat in the film that was made up in the studios. The blue door was auctioned for charity. The current door is black. After filming for six weeks in Notting Hill, filming moved to the Ritz Hotel, where work had to take place at night, the Savoy Hotel, the Nobu Restaurant, the Zen Garden of the Hempel Hotel and Kenwood House.[8] One of the final scenes takes place at a film premiere, which presented difficulties. Michell wanted to film Leicester Square but was declined. Police had found fans at a Leonardo DiCaprio premiere problematic and were concerned the same might occur at the staged premiere. Through a health and safety act, the production received permission to film and constructed the scene in 24 hours.[8] Interior scenes were the last to be filmed, at Shepperton Studios.[8] The final cut was 3.5 hours long, 90 minutes edited out for release.[9]
The film features the 1950 Marc Chagall painting La Mariée. Anna sees a print of the painting in William's home and later gives him what is presumably the original. Michell said in Entertainment Weekly that the painting was chosen because Curtis was a fan of Chagall's work and because La Mariée "depicts a yearning for something that's lost." The producers had a reproduction made for the film, but had to get permission from the owner as well as clearance from the Design and Artists Copyright Society. Finally, according to Kenworthy, "we had to agree to destroy it. They were concerned that if our fake was too good, it might float around the market and create problems." The article also noted that "some experts say the real canvas could be worth between $500,000 and $1 million."[10]
Music was composed by Trevor Jones.[11] Several additional songs written by other artists include Elvis Costello's cover of the Charles Aznavour song "She", Shania Twain's remixed version of "You've Got A Way", as well as Ronan Keating's specially recorded cover of "When You Say Nothing at All"; the song reached number one in the British charts. The song played when Will strides down Portobello Road is "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. Tony and Max play "Blue Moon" on the piano at Tony's restaurant on the night it closes.[12] Originally, Charles Aznavour's version of "She" was used in the film, but American test screening audiences did not respond to it. Costello was then brought in by Richard Curtis to record a cover version of the song.[13] Both versions of the song appear in non-U.S. releases. The soundtrack album was released by Island Records.
The film had generally positive reviews, scoring an 82% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[15] Variety's Derek Elley said that "It's slick, it's gawky, it's 10 minutes too long, and it's certainly not "Four Weddings and a Funeral Part 2" in either construction or overall tone", giving it an overall positive review.[3] Cranky Critic called it "Bloody damned good", as well as saying that it was "A perfect date flick."[16] Nitrate said that "Notting Hill is whimsical and light, fresh and quirky", with "endearing moments and memorable characters".[17] In his review of the film's DVD John J. Puccio noted that "the movie is a fairy tale, and writer Richard Curtis knows how much the public loves a fairy tale", calling it "a sweet film".[18] Desson Howe of the Washington Post gave the film a very positive review, particularly praising Rhys Ifans' performance as Spike.[19] James Sanford gave Notting Hill three and a half stars, saying that "Curtis' dialogue may be much snappier than his sometimes dawdling plot, but the first hour of Notting Hill is so beguiling and consistently funny it seems churlish to complain that the rest is merely good."[20] Sue Pierman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stated that "Notting Hill is clever, funny, romantic - and oh, yes, reminiscent of Four Weddings and a Funeral", but that the film "is so satisfying, it doesn't pay to nitpick."[21] Roger Ebert praised the film, saying "the movie is bright, the dialogue has wit and intelligence, and Roberts and Grant are very easy to like."[22] Kenneth Turan gave a good review, concluding that "the film's romantic core is impervious to problems".[23] CNN reviewer Paul Clinton said that Notting Hill "stands alone as another funny and heartwarming story about love against all odds".[24]
Widgett Walls of Needcoffee.com gave the film "three and a half cups of coffee", stating that "the humor of the film saves it from a completely trite and unsatisfying (nay, shall I say enraging) ending", but criticised the soundtrack.[25] Dennis Schwartz gave the film a negative review with a grade of "C-" citing "this film was pure and unadulterated balderdash".[26] Some criticised the film for giving a "sweetened unrealistic view of London life and British eccentricity."[27]
Notting Hill was 95th on the British Film Institute's "list of the all-time top 100 films", based on estimates of each film's British cinema admissions.[4]
The film had its premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, on 27 April 1999.[28] It earned $116,089,678 as its overall domestic gross, with a worldwide gross of $363,889,678.[29] It totaled $27.7 million over its opening weekend, an American record,[30] the biggest opening for a romantic comedy film, beating My Best Friend's Wedding.[31] Notting Hill made another $15 million the following week,[32] but then began to lose.[33] One month after its release, Notting Hill lost its record for highest grossing opening weekend for a romantic comedy film to Runaway Bride (also starring Roberts).[34] It was the sixteenth highest grossing film of 1999,[35] and as of May 2007 is the 104th highest grossing film of all time.[36] At the time, it had become the highest grossing British film.[37]
Notting Hill won the Audience Award for Most Popular Film at the BAFTAs in 2000,[38] and was nominated in the categories of The Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the year, and Best Performance by an Actor in a supporting role for Rhys Ifans.[39] The film won Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards.[40] The film's soundtrack won Best Soundtrack at the Brit Awards, beating Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace.[41] The film won Best British Film, Best British Director for Roger Michell, and Best British Actor for Hugh Grant at the Empire Awards.[42] The film received three nominations at the Golden Globes, in the categories Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical, Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical for Hugh Grant, and Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical for Julia Roberts.[43]
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