Hugh Grant

Spotlight By: Stephen Snart
StephenSnart@TheCinemaSource.com

While doing promotion for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004, Hugh Grant began spreading rumors that he was planning retiring from acting and that this would mark his final film. Fortunately for his many fans, the claims proved not to be entirely true as he has since appeared in last year's American Dreamz and can now be seen again this Valentine's Day with Music and Lyrics. Although, his threats to retire from acting are not entirely empty; he now operates without an agent and never seeks out work. Aside from a cameo in a 2005 French film that did not receive American distribution, he has only starred in two films over the past three years, both of which were written and directed by previous collaborators Paul Weitz (About a Boy) and Mark Lawrence (Two Weeks Notice).

Nevertheless, his apparent disinterest in acting hasn't hindered his enthusiastic performances or his rapid-fire wit on the press circuit. In fact, it's enabled him to be brutally honest and shamelessly self-deprecating. When asked what attracts him to the romantic comedy genre, he replies straight-faced 'Inability to do anything else I think. It's as simple as that. I have dabbled in other genres and I'm not terrible but I always slightly get the feeling that I'm OK here but someone else could do this better.'

Grant also readily admits to having had bad experiences when meeting co-stars in the past, although he does remain tastefully discreet. 'With the exception of Drew and a couple of others, that is very often my reaction to early script meetings with my co-stars. You think 'oh my God, those ideas are just awful.''

But Grant isn't completely disillusioned by the whole process. He holds great respect for his writer/director Mark Lawrence's devotion to the filmmaking process in New York City. 'Mark Lawrence is very, very quintessentially New York. I don't think he's ever left New York. He's virtually never left his apartment. He's had the same lunch, the same chicken soup and tuna salad sandwich for the last 40 years from the same deli and the same piece of pizza in the evening. He's totally passionate about the city and he was never going to compromise. There was never any question of filming in Toronto,' something Grant agreed with whole-heartedly. 'As far as I'm concerned, it is the city with the most texture in the world, maybe next to Calcutta. Wherever you point a camera ' Paris is good as well, actually ' you sort of think, 'yeah that's film-y.' I love Toronto in many ways but you don't get that.'

Grant continues to extol Lawrence's commitment to the project, 'He was keeping this film quite close to his heart actually. He's passionate about music and the block we shot on is his apartment block,' Grant reveals. When scolded by his co-star Drew Barrymore for giving out such personal information about their director, Grant responds sarcastically, 'Well, I don't think anyone is going to stalk Mark. No one is sitting there going 'Ah yes that's where he lives; now I can go and stab his children.'

Responding to Lawrence's passion for filmmaking and music, Grant took considerable means to make his performance believable and to learn the music. 'I took it very seriously, I had an incredible bunch of people around me teaching me and schooling me. I was taught to play the piano for a few of these pieces. And yes, I can play. When you see my fingers on the keys they are correct.'

Although, he admits he had reservations about singing and dancing on screen. 'I was incredibly nervous about the singing' but after they've done this process with the computer where they can basically make anyone sound good, you get more and more confidence and in the end you actually sing better and better because you know they can fix you in the end. So, by the end of the film I came to quite love the sound of my voice,' he cracks.

However, Grant never quite warmed to the dance requirements. Of his experience shooting the fictional music video, Grant poses, 'You'd think it'd be fun wouldn't you' Because it looks like it would be fun but of course it was torture. It was the very end of the shoot and we'd all had enough of each other. It's not easy for me, I'm a man of 46. I'm very ill-cast in the film. I'm not a music enthusiast. I don't move very naturally. I don't sing very naturally. I don't exist very naturally. So I found a lot of the pop stuff to be incredibly difficult. He'd say let's just do some isolation shots where it's just each member of the band standing by themselves and freaking out. I said forget it, forget it, it's just not going to happen.'

He may not have enjoyed having to wear garish clothing and writhe around on stage, but there's no doubt that fans will love it. Especially since no one knows when his next screen performance may arrive.