HUGH GRANT The Paddington 2 actor opens up about fame and fatherhood.
Now starring in ‘Paddington 2,’ the witty Brit talks surviving scandal, finding success and loving the dad life
After starring in many of the modern era’s best romantic comedies, Hugh Grant, 57, knows a thing or two about making people laugh. But he only recently discovered how to get the biggest giggles out of his youngest fans—his four kids. “I think it’s always amusing to put your underpants on your head,” says Grant, dad to Tabitha, 6, and Felix, 5, with ex Tinglan Hong, and John, 5, and a daughter, 2, with his girlfriend Anna Eberstein, who is expecting their third child. The actor, who won a Golden Globe for 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral and is now delighting audiences young and old as a narcissistic villain in Paddington 2, chats with WHO’S Jess Cagle about fame, fatherhood and comedy.
I was blubbering like a little baby by the end of Paddington 2. I can’t really disagree with you. I cried as well. I took my 89-year-old father to the London premiere. He turned to me halfway through and said, “Is that a real bear?” I said, “Well, he’s talking, Dad. So no.” I don’t imagine you as a guy who sits around thinking, “I’d like to do a talking-bear movie.”
It just plopped onto my desk with rather a hurtful cover letter from the producers saying, “We’ve got this character who’s an actor who used to be rather famous and has now fallen on hard times. He’s an egomaniac and semi-demented with narcissism. We thought of you, Hugh.” It was a little crushing. You have kids between ages 2 and 6. Did that make you think, “I would like to do a movie that’s right for my kids?” No. Not really a motive, although most of my children like the film. One of my sons said to me the whole way through, “Why are you in it so much?” That was hurtful. Ben Whishaw is the voice of Paddington. At the same time, you have a TV series coming out with Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal. Yeah. It’s a true story. I play this famous politician [Jeremy Thorpe] who was a closet homosexual, and he had this affair with this young man. Then the young man stalked him for years. Thorpe put a hit on him. It’s a great story, but it was slightly sinister to be doing these gay love scenes with Ben. Who is also Paddington.
Yeah, I was shagging Paddington. You’re famously ambivalent about show business. How do you feel about it these days? Well, I don’t go rushing around looking for work. Partly because I have 400 children and so many other things in life. What’s nice is when work comes along, it tends to be a bit more challenging. I’m too old and ugly to be the young leading man in romantic comedies now, thank God. You started out in high school as a jock. Is that correct? Well, I wouldn’t say jock, but I played a lot of rugby. I was also a thesp. I was doing school plays … I liked the limelight. They were almost exclusively female parts. Right. It was an all-boys school.
All-boys school, yes. I was one of the pretty ones. Were you? Well, I was. There’s no point beating about the bush. I was rather good in those roles. I was Brigitta von Trapp from The Sound of Music, the third-eldest daughter, in a white dress with a blue satin sash. I was enchanting. The movie that changed everything for you was Four Weddings and a Funeral, and it started this incredible collaboration between you and Richard Curtis, the great writer and director. We made the film on no money in 36 days. There was a little screening, and everyone from the crew and cast piled in to watch. There was not one laugh. I thought, “Well, that’s it. We’ve made the worst film in the world.” We were all suicidal. Then they put the film together, and everyone went mad for it. The next big thing, Nine Months, was not a good experience. Well, yes, though there were very talented people who made that film and really brilliant actors. Only one booby who
“I’m too old and ugly to be the young leading man”
let them down, and that was me. Not only was I terrible in the film, but I then chose to get arrested in Hollywood a week before the film came out. To this day, people talk about the way you handled that situation, not making excuses. I was just an idiot. I didn’t try to say, “I’ve got this psychological problem.” I just said, “I did it.” I remember the night of the event, calling my agent, who never says anything negative about anything. Everything’s “great.” I said, “Hello, I’ve been arrested with this hooker. Is that bad?” And he said, “Oh, that’s not great.” Elizabeth Hurley stayed with you during that time. Your relationship with her has become sort of a great love story. Even though you’re not together now, you stayed great friends. Yes. We’re like brother and sister … I think it’s partly because we went from zero to somewhere together, and we went through terrible years at the beginning when neither of us had any work, living in a tiny flat. It was quite bonding. How did you and Richard Curtis come up with the character of William Thacker, the bookshop owner in Notting Hill? I remember thinking, “I can’t be the same person as I was in Four Weddings and a Funeral, but it looks like it’s the same person.” It was, again, Richard writing his own persona, so I think in the end I trotted out the same performance. You didn’t want to do the dancing scene in Love Actually. I never understood it technically. I kept saying to Richard, “Where’s the music coming from, and how does it cut off at the end?” But the major consideration was just having to freak out without a drink inside me. Are you proud of it now? Well, I mean, people like it. I’m proud that I did it without any stimulants. You became a father for the first time in
“We’re like brother and sister”
2011 … It was a surprise. Well, we were all surprised. But it’s the nicest thing that ever happened to me. You have clearly enjoyed being a father. It’s just lovely to have all that love around. Suddenly you love someone more than yourself. It’s unheard of in my case. And they love you, and it’s all enchanting. What’s your relationship with their mums these days?
Good. Yes, it’s all nice.
What’s your favourite thing to do with your kids?
I think it’s always amusing to put your underpants on your head … My little girl, too, likes nappies on my head. I like that game. I made the mistake of showing one of my sons my arse all the time. “Hey, look at this!” Then he taught every single child in West London to do the same. That’s another contribution to the culture by Hugh Grant.
I think so, yeah.
—Hugh Grant on Elizabeth Hurley