She is the star of the nineties. An incandescent screen presence that has captivated movie screen audiences worldwide. The smile is dazzling, the star is Julia Roberts.

She is one of a handful of screen actors who has found fame in the nineties by the sheer force of talent and screen charisma; a potent mix that has given them popularity, celebrity and fame.

Since she first lit up the screen in the early nineties in the smash hit comedy Pretty Woman, Roberts has had fame. A perceived state of being that is often exaggerated, exploited and misunderstood.

Roberts is emphatic about her take on fame. "It’s a myth," she declares. "I have often time said that people’s perception of my life or an actor’s life is a lot more hectic and outrageous and pressure-filled and glamorous than I have ever known my life to be, or any of my actor friends."

Roberts continues, " I don’t think fame changes people. People change as they gather more experiences and information about life. I think perhaps being famous makes one more aware of things from a different vantage point, but I don’t think you just sort of become famous and become a different person."

Touching on the pressures of fame, Roberts is equally adamant in her stance: "Pressure is something that you choose to embrace in your life or not. Pressure is drama, and doesn’t really interest me in my everyday life."

Roberts, movie star, playing a movie star, begs the inevitable question, one which Roberts is happy to address. "People," she points out, "will just assume that because I am playing an actor in this movie that she is me, or that I understand everything about her life--I don’t. Every actor’s experience is different. We all have different personalities; we are not an assembly line breed."

In Notting Hill, Roberts plays Anna Scott, ‘the world’s most famous movie star,’ who meets and falls in love with William, ‘an ordinary guy.’ The pursuit of their love affair highlights not only the differences of their respective lifestyles, but the perception of fame by the famous and the non-famous. A perception summed up by Robert’s character, Anna: "The fame thing isn’t real, you know. Don’t forget—I’m also just a girl. Standing in front of a boy. Asking him to love her."

As an admirer of Four Weddings and a Funeral and someone whose favorite genre is romantic comedy, the role of Anna Scott is one Roberts embraced from the onset. "Richard Curtis is a brilliant writer," she says. "It was one of those scripts that I read and thought ‘I am going to have to do this—it’s really clever.’"

The film gave Roberts the opportunity of working with a wealth of British actors. "Everybody on the movie was tremendous," she enthuses. "The great thing about a really good script and really clever director, is that you find yourself in a situation where even the tiniest part has been cast so precisely with such a talented person, that even the littlest moment in the movie becomes an interesting moment that you’ll remember."

Speaking of the role of Anna and her romance with William, Roberts says, "I think the relationship itself, the attraction between them, is very complex. There are different things about Anna and William that complement their personalities well. They both share the same sense of fun and have a simple view of life. Ultimately that is what Anna is looking for."

Of working with her co-star, Roberts says, "Hugh’s great. This is sort of classic Hugh Grant material and what he does so well. It’s been really fun to watch him be this clever, fumbling, sweet guy that he plays in this movie."

As to her English director, Roberts is equally enthusiastic. "Roger is so fantastic. He has a great sense of confidence and calm that he shares with everybody on the movie. The way he views things I find very interesting and the way he expresses his ideas to me is very succinct and very clear. More than anything he is a lovely guy to have around every day."

In 1993 Hugh Grant was perceived as a promising British leading actor. The following year saw him hailed as a major international star. His breakthrough became cinema history when he gave a beguiling comedic performance in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Grant was clearly delighted to be reunited with producer Duncan Kenworthy and writer Richard Curtis for their follow-up to Four Weddings and a Funeral—a new romantic comedy with Grant cast as William Thacker, the owner of a travel bookshop in London’s Notting Hill, starring alongside Julia Roberts as in all the best romantic comedies, the object of his desire.

Grant says, "Richard Curtis is the king of this kind of romantic comedy. It’s just so beautifully written, and of course a great part for me."

The film centres on William romancing the famous Anna and gives both Grant and Roberts the opportunity for some high comedic moments as the courtship develops. It also addresses the problems that befall a couple when one is "an ordinary guy" and the other "a famous face."

Describing their romance, Hugh Grant says, "William, I think, is quintessentially English in his reaction to Anna’s fame. Although he is impressed by it and definitely overawed, he is capable of still being himself in the presence of it all, and that’s possibly what attracts her to him." Of his real life co-star, Grant comments, "Julia is a real laugh. A bit scary, of course, being such a big star and such a good actor, but deep down very silly and teasable. I couldn’t have liked her more."

The screen pairing of Grant and Roberts is one that sparks off a series of hilarious incidents and romantic moments that signal true screen chemistry.

© 1999 Universal Studios