Hugh Grant Reveals Why He Stopped Starring in Romantic Comedies

There was a time when Hugh Grant was arguably the king of romantic comedies.

From the bumbling but charming Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral to the bookstore owner who falls for Julia Roberts’ movie star in Notting Hill, Grant brought a certain sweetness to his portrayal of characters that audiences couldn’t help but love.

🤩🤩 SIGN UP for Parade’s Trending News newsletter & we’ll keep you in the know on the viral pop culture moments & celebrity news everyone is talking about 🗞️🗞️

But apart from his return as Daniel Cleaver in the next chapter of the Bridget Jones movie series, it’s been a long time since the Golden Globe winner went all in on rom-coms, shifting instead towards more serious roles in both film (Heretic) and television (The Undoing).

In a recent conversation with Variety, the About a Boy star touched on the subject, noting that it happened organically. “I probably would have made that choice anyway, if they had gone on offering them to me. But it just died. I was getting on a bit, let’s face it,” said Grant.

He continued, explaining that his 2009 movie with Sarah Jessica Parker, Did You Hear About the Morgans? “was a total failure.” He then said that the project’s lackluster performance (“what’s the euphemism? It didn’t find the audience it deserved.”) was “amazing.”

“You know, you go from hero to absolutely zero in the space of a second, but it’s been quite fun, building it back up slowly and in a new direction,” declared Grant.

But the actor seemingly has a soft spot for the movies in the genre, saying “they’re hard. And with the benefit of time, I really appreciate the good ones I did. The Richard Curtis ones are really about pain. It’s something my wife spotted. She’s Swedish; they’re good on pain. She was watching Love Actually, and she said, ‘Everyone’s in pain, and the humor is all a means for dealing with pain.’ That’s what makes them sustain and not float away like a piece of fluff.”

Curtis wrote several of Grant’s most well-known films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, and Love Actually.

He then spoke about the work of another rom-com writer, Marc Lawrence, who in addition to writing Grant vehicles Two Weeks Notice and Music and Lyrics, also penned Forces of Nature and Miss Congeniality.

“The Marc Lawrence ones I did are also great because he genuinely loves people and there’s a warmth that I find enchanting. Because I’ve seen the romantic comedies that are slightly put together by committee, and they don’t work as well,” Grant opined.

“I just think ‘com’ is difficult. I don’t know about ‘rom.’ Rom is not easy — and you need to mean it — but com is certainly very difficult,” he said.

Next: Hugh Grant, 64, Makes Candid Confession About Having 5 Young Children: ‘Unbearable’