RICHARD CURTIS - CURTIS: 'NOTTING HILL COULD HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT'

CURTIS: 'NOTTING HILL COULD HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT'

British director RICHARD CURTIS' 1999 movie NOTTING HILL nearly saw JULIA ROBERTS' character losing HUGH GRANT to another woman - but the film-maker couldn't face an unhappy ending. Curtis was originally keen for a more down-to-earth character to win the heart of Grant - who played WILLIAM THACKER - but it wasn't to be. He says, "Notting Hill took forever to write, mainly because there was a six-month period where it was going to be about a choice: Hugh's character choosing between Julia's famous girl, and a girl called HONEY, a local shop girl. "Eventually, in the finished version of that film he chose the shop girl - and Julia's character arrived in England on the day of the wedding. "You thought she was going to mess everything up but instead, she arrived at the reception, and sang TAKE GOOD CARE OF MY BABY by BOBBY VEE. "I eventually couldn't bear writing a film where someone really fell in love with someone else, and then just dumped them - so I made Honey into Hugh's sister and made everything turn out peachy for the actress."