The plot inherent to Richard Curtis' lovely rom-com, Notting Hill, hones in on Julia Roberts, who - in the movie - pretty much plays Julia Roberts, although she's called Anna Scott (but she's really Julia Roberts). In Notting Hill, Roberts (uh, Scott) falls in love with an nobody called William Thacker (Hugh Grant), a travel bookstore owner whose wife left him for a man who looked like Harrison Ford. Anyway, Notting Hill is all like: "What would happen if a a normal guy started dating the world's biggest movie star?" Which, of course, is supposed to come across as a sort of crazy fantasy daydream, at least where Hugh Grant's character is concerned - after all, movie stars don't date nobodies. Unless they do. Which is to say, Kate Winslet - bless her - carried out her own version of Notting Hill during her time as world's biggest movie star. She fell in love with a guy called Jim Threapleton (presumably this was the second name choice for Thacker's character) who was - for all intents and purposes - totally ordinary. They later divorced, but for a while, Threapleton was living Notting Hill.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
