Notting Hill writer reveals why Julia Roberts rejected "poor idea" for sequel

The film grew into a global mega-hit, earning praise from critics – including three Golden Globe nominations and a two BAFTA nods – plus more than $360 million at the box office.

With those numbers, a sequel surely wouldn't have been hard to get off the ground, but Curtis told IndieWire this week that Roberts disliked his concept for a second chapter.

"I tried doing [a sequel] with Notting Hill where they were going to get divorced, and Julia [Roberts] thought that was a very poor idea," he explained.

Generally, the writer said that he rarely gets the urge to write follow-ups to his films, adding that charity sketches like One Red Nose Day and a Wedding and Red Nose Day Actually have scratched that particular itch.

Curtis is currently promoting an animated film called That Christmas, which he co-wrote with Peter Souter, depicting a series of entwined misadventures taking place during the festive season.

The screenwriter has once again assembled a star-studded cast for the family-friendly feature, including Brian Cox (Succession), Fiona Shaw (Andor), Katherine Parkinson (Rivals) and Lolly Adefope (Ghosts). The film also sees him reunite with Love Actually star Bill Nighy.

Earlier this month, Notting Hill star Hugh Grant walked down memory lane by sharing his unsurprisingly candid thoughts on the film, describing his character as "despicable" for one controversial scene.

He told Vanity Fair: "Whenever I’m flicking the channels at home after a few drinks and this comes up, I just think, 'Why doesn’t my character have any balls?'

"There's a scene in this film where she’s in my house and the paps come to the front door and ring the bell and I think I just let her go past me and open the door. That’s awful.

"I’ve never had a girlfriend, or indeed now wife, who hasn't said, 'Why the hell didn’t you stop her? What’s wrong with you?' And I don’t really have an answer to that — it's how it was written. And I think he's despicable, really."

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