He’s appeared in a sea of diverse films during his long and successful career, but Hugh Grant may never completely shed the image of a lovable English gentleman.
After starring in a selection of rom-coms early on, he established himself as a charming leading man, enticing people all over the world to fall in love with him.
So it’s heartbreaking for many fans to hear that, actually, Grant isn’t really like his rom-com characters at all. He even hated filming scenes for his iconic festive flick Love Actually!
In real life, Grant is quite different from the bumbling gentleman he has so often portrayed, and he’s not afraid to admit it.
While Jon Stewart referred to him as “a dictator”, Grant’s not being a typical gentleman doesn’t make him a terrible person. But it is disappointing for many fans to realize that their perception of him was just an illusion.
Hugh Grant’s Rom-Com Reputation
Say the name Hugh Grant and one tends to immediately think of romantic comedies. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Grant became a household name after starring in a string of rom-coms, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Nine Months, and Love Actually.
Grant was often cast as a kind-hearted and bumbling English gentleman and developed a reputation as having that personality in real life.
As the years went on, Grant strayed from the rom-coms he’d become known for, and even when he did do them, he was cast in roles where he was less gentlemanly.
In 2002’s About a Boy, he plays an immature bachelor who makes up lies to woo women, and then became the ultimate player in Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Judging by the accounts of his co-stars, and what Hugh Grant has said himself, he’s nothing like his adorable rom-com characters in real life.
Hugh Grant Gets Annoyed When People Expect Him To Be Like His Characters
By his own testimony, Hugh Grant is quite different from how people perceive him to be after watching his movies. According to the Daily Mail, the actor told Entertainment Weekly that it bothers him when people expect him to be like his rom-com characters.
“I get very annoyed when people think I’m nice or diffident or a polite English gentleman," the actor elaborated, joking, "I’m a nasty piece of work and people should know that.”
Hugh Grant's Feuds With Female Co-Stars
While Hugh Grant has often been praised by his co-stars for his acting skill, he has also admitted that many of his female co-stars, in particular, have not been too fond of him.
He confirmed on Watch What Happens Live that he doesn’t consider Julia Roberts, his Notting Hill co-star to be his friend because he “probably made too many jokes about the size of her mouth. She probably hates me by now.”
Grant’s tension with Julia Roberts seemed to build after he made comments about her appearance to the press—something that his gentlemanly rom-com characters probably wouldn’t have done.
The actor also revealed that co-stars Julianne Moore, Rachel Weisz, and Drew Barrymore either loathe him, despise him, or cried because of him.
Hugh Grant Prefers To Play Villains
Hugh Grant has even opened up about the fact that he actually prefers to play villains rather than the shy English gentleman. In an interview with James Corden, Grant admitted that he is enjoying his job more now that he doesn’t have to play the same old character.
“It is odd for me because I almost do enjoy acting now,” he confessed (via Hollywood Reporter).
“It’s been such a relief to not have to be the charming leading man. I gave it my best shot. And some of those films I did like that are lovely, and I love them for being popular. And I am grateful for them—grateful again. But, it has been a lovely relief now that I am allowed to be twisted, ugly, weird, misshapen.
Hugh Grant’s Wife Doesn’t Like His Rom-Coms
Interestingly, Hugh Grant’s wife Anna Elisabet Eberstein prefers to see him in action or thriller films rather than in rom-coms. Grant explained (via Entertainment Tonight) that she prefers violent and gangster movies, so she’s never seen a lot of the films he did in the past.
“But now she’s starting to get a taste for [my work],” Grant added. Time will tell if she does fall in love with Grant’s many characters like the rest of the world did!
Does Hugh Grant Regret His Rom-Com Legacy?
Despite the fact that Hugh Grant isn’t like his rom-com characters in real life, and actually prefers to play the villain, he doesn’t regret all of his early career.
“I was being paid tons of money,” Grant admitted (via Cheat Sheet). “I was very lucky. And most of those romantic comedies I can look squarely in the face--one or two are shockers, but on the whole, I can look them in the face and people like them. I’m a big believer that our job is to entertain.”
Still, if he had his time again, Grant would perhaps try to be more knowledgeable about “navigating fame and success.”
He also expressed that he should have made more “interesting decisions” and “done different stuff” rather than “repeating [himself] almost identically about 17 times in a row.”
