Curtis helps alternative 'Notting Hill'

Richard Curtis has helped a group of teenagers make a film about the "real" Notting Hill.

The director was asked by eight local pupils if he would appear in their 'remake' of his 1999 rom-com Notting Hill, which starred Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Grove Roots, which centres on race riots and immigration, premieres at the Electric Cinema in London tonight, reports the Evening Standard.

Curtis apparently admits in an interview in the film that he was "asking for trouble" by naming his middle-class romantic comedy after the multi-ethnic West London district.

He said: "You think you're in the richest part of town, then you go down one street and you are in a completely different area."

Gabrielle Tierney, from project organisers the Octavia Foundation, said: "[The teenage filmmakers] wanted Curtis to be involved so we requested an interview and he very kindly said yes.

"He talked to us at length and gave the group fantastic advice on how to make it in film."