Hugh Grant Says He’s Too Old And Ugly For Rom-Coms
You know there’s a group of people out there who got the hots for the floppy-haired Hugh Grant of the ’90s that would happily dispute that claim. But according to Hugh himself, don’t count on seeing Mumbly Prince Charming in any upcoming romantic comedies, because he’s aged out.
Hugh Grant, along side Diego Luna, Sam Rockwell, Richard Madden, Billy Porter, and Stephan James, all sat down for a group chat with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss their respective careers. They were asked about the kinds of roles they were getting tired of being approached for, and roles they weren’t really interested in playing again. Hugh talked about the “inferiority complex” he got from playing the swoony-eyed cad in so many rom-coms. Although he really doesn’t feel it so much anymore, because he says that isn’t him.
“I’ve gotten too old and ugly and fat to do them anymore, so now I’ve done other things and I’ve got marginally less self-hatred.”
Too old? He’s only 58. Too ugly? He might be a Hollywood 5, but he’s still a UK 9. Too fat? Oh I see what’s going on here – Hugh has mistakenly started judging himself based on Hollywood’s standards for rom-com actresses. Hugh, relax – as long as they can find an actress more than half your age, you’re fine.
When asked if he hated being pushed into such a box, he replied in the same way anyone sitting on several millions of dollars would:
“Yes, but not [a box] you can complain about. I was being paid tons of money. 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. And I am a big believer that our job is to entertain. It’s not to practice some weird, quasi-religious experience. I see us as craftsmen along with the guy who does the lights and the guy who edits and the guy who pushes the dolly. Because if it’s not that, I think it’s a bit masturbatory. Can I say ‘masturbatory’?”
Most of the rom-coms Hugh Grant has appeared in have been decently entertaining. I myself am partial to Nine Months, and it has nothing to do with Jeff Goldblum in rollerblades (it has everything to do with that). I just wish if Hugh was going to be so real as to drop the word “masturbatory” twice, he might also be real enough to name those one or two rom-com stinkers. Obviously Mickey Blue Eyes is one of them. And I feel like the other could be Did You Hear About The Morgans, it’s pretty stinky. But Hugh is smart, he knows not to bring that up. Nothing good ever happens when one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s former co-stars decides to start talking trash.
Pic: Wenn.com