A set of circumstances makes Anna Scott, a famous actress, fall in love with William Thacker, owner of a bookstore in Notting Hill. But the paparazzi's fascination with her complicates their bond.
Every man's dream comes true for William Thacker, an unsuccessful Notting Hill bookstore owner, when Anna Scott, the world's most beautiful woman and best-liked actress, enters his shop. A little later, he still can't believe it himself, William runs into her again - this time spilling orange juice over her. Anna accepts his offer to change in his nearby apartment, and thanks him with a kiss, which seems to surprise her even more than him. Eventually, Anna and William get to know each other better over the months, but being together with the world's most wanted woman is not easy - neither around your closest friends, nor in front of the all-devouring press.—Julian Reischl <[email protected]>
William Thacker (played by Hugh Grant) is a bookseller at a shop in the Notting Hill district in West London, who shares a house with an eccentric Welsh friend, Spike (Rhys Ifans). One day, William is minding the store when in strolls Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), a lovely and well-known actress from the United States who is in London working on a film. She buys a book from William, and she is polite and charming in the way a famous actress would be with a star-struck sales clerk. Their relationship would logically end there, if William didn't run out a few minutes later to buy some juice. While dashing back to the shop, he bumps into Anna on the street, spilling juice all over her blouse. Since he lives nearby, William politely offers to let her stop by his house to clean up; since William seems harmless enough, Anna agrees. When Anna has to stop back to pick up a bag she left at William's house, they kiss -- just in time for Spike to show up. A romance slowly blooms as his friends and family (not to mention the world at large) wonder out loud what he's doing dating a movie star.
William Thacker, a travel bookstore owner working and living in Notting Hill, is barely making ends meet. He needs to rent out part of his house, his lodger whom he considers the "stupidest git" in the world. His personal life is equally in shambles as although he has a small group of dear friends, who are on the most part as equally unsuccessful professionally as him, he is divorced - she left him - with no prospect of love on the horizon. His life changes when into his bookstore walks American Anna Scott, arguably the most famous and attractive movie actress in the world. Against the odds, Anna and William become friends with the possibility of romance between the two on the horizon. But the odds of moving their relationship to that final stage are still stacked against them as they live in two different worlds, Anna's under constant public scrutiny of the gossip hungry press, who, along with the public at large, know that Anna is already in a personal relationship with equally famous movie actor, Jeff King.—Huggo
William Thacker (Hugh Grant) owns a travel bookstore (with Martin (James Dreyfus) as his assistant) (the bookstore is making major losses as they don't sell enough books) in Notting Hill, London. His wife has left him for another man, and he shares his house with a flaky man named Spike (Rhys Ifans). He meets Hollywood actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) when she enters the shop and buys a couple of books from him. Later, in the street, Will accidentally spills orange juice on her, and he invites her to his nearby house to change. When leaving, she impulsively kisses him (Will was trying very hard to engage Anna and she finds him charming).Will cant get Anna out of his head and she had asked him not to talk to anyone about her kiss with him, which he honors.
She later invites him to visit her at the Ritz Hotel, but he's mistaken for a reporter and ushered into a press junket for Anna's new film. He pretends to interview her and the other cast members as a writer from Horse & Hound magazine. Will is completely unassuming and Anna again finds him charming as he bumbles around with his moronic questions about horses and hounds.She asks to be his date at his sister's birthday party that evening, where she gets on well with Will's friends Tony (Richard McCabe) (who put all his money into a new restaurant), Max (Tim McInnerny) (& wife Bella (Gina McKee)), Bernie (Hugh Bonneville) and sister Honey (Emma Chambers). Bella notices that Anna is a vegetarian but thoroughly enjoys the chicken that Max had prepared for the evening. The group is genuine and amicable and make Anna feel right at home and not a celebrity like what everybody else treats her like.Later they climb a fence and enter a private neighborhood park, where Anna again kisses Will.
While on a date the next night, they overhear three men at first praising and then disparaging Anna, equating actresses to prostitutes. Will walks over and criticizes them, and as he and Anna leave Anna turns around, comes back, introduces herself and calmly insults the stunned trio.Anna invites Will to her hotel room, but their plans change when her movie star boyfriend, Jeff King, of whom he was unaware, has unexpectedly arrived from America to be with her. Will's friends try to help him get over his disappointment, and over the next six months they set him up on a series of dates, but he cannot forget Anna.
One day, a distraught Anna appears at Will's doorstep, needing to hide from a tabloid scandal (some nude pics that were taken years ago got published). She apologizes for the hotel incident, telling him her relationship with King is over. They enjoy spending time together, discover shared interests, and discuss Will's print of Marc Chagall's 1950 painting La Mariée. They sleep together that night, but reporters, inadvertently tipped off by Spike, besiege Will's house and take pictures of him, Anna, and of Spike half-dressed at the front door. Furious, Anna blames Will, tells him she regrets coming there for help, and leaves.
Seasons pass; Will remains miserable as he dates other women who can't measure up to Anna in any way. At a dinner with his friends, he discovers that Anna is back in London making a film: a period Henry James rendition, something he had suggested to her. He visits her shoot, where Anna sees him and invites him past security to watch and to talk privately afterwards. But Will overhears her dismiss him to a co-star, and leaves without further contact.The next day, Anna comes to the bookshop with a wrapped gift. Will tells her what he overheard at the movie set, and she explains that she did not want to discuss her private life with an indiscreet co-star. She then confesses that she loves him and pleads to rekindle their relationship. Now afraid he will be too hurt if she leaves him again, he rejects her.
Will meets his friends and sister in a restaurant with the opened gift: Chagall's original La Mariée. They act supportive, and in a half-heart way back up his decision - until Spike arrive and calls him a "daft prick". Will fully realizes his mistake. They all race across London, finding Anna at a press conference at the Savoy Hotel. Will arrives in time to hear Anna's publicist say that Anna will be taking a year off and will be leaving the UK that night.
A reporter asks about "Thacker" based on the controversial photographs of them on her last trip, and Anna says they are just friends. Will, again pretending to be a Horse & Hound reporter, asks Anna if she would consider being more than friends if he admitted to having been a "daft prick" and begged her forgiveness. She says she would, then asks to be asked again how long she plans to stay in England. She answers "indefinitely".
Anna and Will marry, attend a Hollywood red carpet event and, when Anna becomes pregnant, spend quiet time on the bench in the park they had visited on their first date.
