Hugh Grant says he hated his 'despicable' 'Notting Hill' character

by IANS | Sat, Nov 16, 2024, 03:23 PM

Los Angeles, Nov 16 (IANS) Hollywood star Hugh Grant said that he hated his character in 1999 romantic-comedy 'Notting Hill', calling his character William Thacker "despicable" for the way he treated Julia Roberts in the movie.

In the 1999 romantic-comedy film, Grant essayed the book store owner named William Thacker who falls in love with a movie star played by Julia Roberts but the actor labelled him "despicable" for the way he treated the actress throughout the movie.

Speaking as part of Vanity Fair’s 'Scene Selection', Grant explained: "Whenever I’m flicking the channels at home after a few drinks and this comes up, I just think, ‘Why doesn’t my character have any...?' There’s a scene in this film where she’s in my house and the paps come to the front door and ring the bell and I think I just let her go past me and open the door. That’s awful."

Grant went on to say all his real life romantic partners had the same opinion of the character.

He shared: "I’ve never had a girlfriend, or indeed now wife, who hasn’t said, ‘Why the hell didn’t you stop her? What’s wrong with you?' And I don’t really have an answer to that - it’s how it was written. And I think he’s despicable, really."

He added of his co-star: "Probably all the time with Julia, as with any brilliant actress, you're just thinking: 'Christ, they're really good. I'm not going to be as good as her'. And she's great at emoting and she's got this kind of quality where it looks like her skin is wafer thin. You can sort of see her soul."

Grant has previously cleared up reports suggesting he hated all of his film roles, insisting he just picks holes in his past performances, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "I’ve read that I hate all my films. That’s not true, the films are often great. It’s just me that I loathe.

"You never feel great about your own stuff. It’s like in the old days of answering machine messages you always felt nauseated when you heard your own voice. And watching yourself on film is that times 50."