Hugh Grant calls his ‘Notting Hill’ character “despicable”: “Why doesn’t he have any balls?”
"I think he’s despicable, really"
by Adam England · NMEHugh Grant has been discussing his character in Notting Hill, and he doesn’t appear to think very fondly of him.
Taking part in Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection, he opened up on his thoughts about his character, William Thacker, the love interest of Julia Roberts’ Anna Scott.
Grant explained: “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.”
He continued: “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.”
The rom-com, directed by Roger Michell, focuses on Scott falling for Thacker, who owns a bookshop in Notting Hill. Their relationship is complicated by the paparazzi invading her privacy – including when she comes to Thacker’s home needing to hide after a tabloid scandal.
This isn’t the first time Grant has spoken negatively about his past movies or characters he’s played – he told The Mirror in 2014 that he “pretty much hated any other film I’ve ever been in. But I liked this one,” about The Rewrite, while in 2016 he explained to The Hollywood Reporter that he doesn’t actually “hate” his old films, but doesn’t enjoy watching himself on screen.
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He said: “I’ve read that I hate all my films. That’s not true, the films are often great. It’s just me that I loathe. I always think, ‘Oh you fucked that up.’ You never feel great about your own stuff. It’s like in the old days of answering machine messages, you always felt nauseated when you heard your own voice. And watching yourself on film is that times 50.”
Grant also semi-frequently exchanges digs in the media with his Love Actually and Bridget Jones’ Diary co-star Colin Firth, recently telling Vanity Fair that his idea of perfect happiness is “drinking a pint of London Pride while munching Twiglets and reading about Colin Firth having a critical and box office catastrophe.”
Meanwhile, Mormons have hit out at Grant’s new horror Heretic, released earlier this month, with the church issuing an official statement claiming that the movie “promotes violence against women because of their faith.”
The statement added: “Like many Hollywood productions, this is a work of fiction and is not based on actual events. It portrays the graphically violent treatment of women, including people of faith, and those who provide volunteer service to their communities. Any narrative that promotes violence against women because of their faith or undermines the contributions of volunteers runs counter to the safety and wellbeing of our communities.”
NME gave Heretic a four-star review, writing: “Grant is a loquacious delight in a role that could so easily have been a wad of demonic clichés. Lovers of Bridget Jones’s Diary always knew he was a cad but this is something else entirely. He’s never less than devilishly plausible and meticulous with every glance, grin and furrowed brow.
“On the interview circuit Grant has been talking passionately about Heretic – something he doesn’t often do – an act that is indicative of its quality and his faith in its writer-directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The American duo wrote and directed Adam Driver‘s sci-fi clanger 65 but they also created the story for A Quiet Place. The wit, freshness and smartness with which they approached that post-apocalyptic monster film is to the fore in Heretic, which is among the best horror films of the year.”