Hugh Grant Shares Hilarious Notes He Got fromLove ActuallyDirector Richard Curtis: 'Now Do a Funny One'

Mar. 15, 2025

Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis at the 15th annual Governors Awards.Photo:ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty

ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty

Hugh Grantis reminiscing about his career journey with filmmakerRichard Curtis.

On Sunday, Nov. 17, Curtis — best known for his work on Grant’s romantic comediesFour Weddings and a Funeral(1994),Bridget Jones’s Diary(2001)andLove Actually(2003) — received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 15th Governors Awards in Los Angeles.

While presenting the award, Grant, 64, made sure to remind Curtis, 68, of some funny moments they had during filming.

“You would think, given that most of his films were about love, that he would have been or had a directorial style of gentle, soft, and fluffy. You would have been quite wrong,” Grant joked.

“Forever etched on my heart are some of the notes he gave me including, ‘And now do do a funny one,’ and ‘Don’t worry, we can cut around you.'”

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Grant also revealed how everyone working onFour Weddings and a Funeralliked his auditionexcept Curtis.

“It was lovely because the director, Mike Newell, liked me and wanted me,” the actor, who played the role of Charles in the movie, said.

“The producer liked me and wanted me, and the money people wanted me. The only person who didn’t want me and, in fact, took such an instant and violent dislike for me that he did everything in his power to stop me getting the part was the writer.”

“It is this a—— who we are honored to honor tonight,” Grant then joked.

Hugh Grant at the 2024 Governors Awards.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Curtis was honored on Sunday alongside producersMichael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, and Juliet Taylor and the lateQuincy Jones, who received Academy Honorary Awards.

“Richard Curtis is a brilliant comedic storyteller whose tremendous charitable efforts embody the meaning of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award,” Academy PresidentJanet Yangsaid ina statementreleased in June.

Last year’s Governors Awardsgave honorary Oscars to industry legendsAngela Bassett,Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton and Michelle Satter.

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Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant inNotting Hill(1999).Getty;Shutterstock

Getty;Shutterstock

Of the “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” line becoming as famous as it did over the two and a half decades sinceNotting Hill’s release, Roberts, 57, toldBritishVoguefor the magazine’s February 2024 issue, “I mean, it was a great scene.”

“But who knew that that would becometheline,” she added.

source: people.com