Hugh Grant Thought Most of His Co-stars Hated Him

For more than 20 years, Hugh Grant dominated the world of romantic comedies with his floppy hair, thin-framed glasses, and boyish charm. The actor emerged as a star thanks to Richard Curtis's romantic comedy "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994). The film grossed $224 million, despite its initial budget of only $6 million. His portrayal of the funny, carefree Charles helped him stick to romantic roles in later romantic comedies.
After "Four Weddings and a Funeral", Grant went on to appear in "Nine Months"(1995), "Notting Hill" (1999), "Bridget Jones's Diary" (2001), and its 2004 sequel, "About a Boy" (2002), "Two Weeks Notice" (2002), "Love Actually" (2003), "Music and Lyrics" (2007), "Did You Hear About The Morgans" (2009) and "The Rewrite" (2014). When you watched a Hugh Grant movie, it was like catching up with an old buddy or curling up with one of your favorite novels on a wet day. You knew what to expect, and you always left the theater feeling a little better about the world and about yourself.
And one thing was for certain: Grant and his female co-stars, such as Julia Roberts, Julianne Moore, Drew Barrymore, and Emma Thompson, had fantastic on-screen chemistry. However, offscreen, it was a completely different story.

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Back in 2018, Grant was interviewed on People's The Jess Cagle Show and asked for his opinion on some of the actors he's worked with over the years. And while he didn't mention having any disputes with them, he claimed that some of them probably don't have anything nice to say about him. And he recalled to Jess Cagle that he and some co-stars had a "stressful" relationship while filming.

Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore were costars in "Nine Months" (1995)

Source: Warner Bros. Television Distribution

But probably the most damning evidence of Grant's tense relationships with his female co-stars comes from an interview he did with Elle magazine in 2009. The interviewer asked Grant to describe his female co-stars in three words and this is how he described Julianne Moore: "Brilliant actress. Loathes me."

Hugh Grant worked with Rachel Weisz in 2002's movie "About a Boy"

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Asked to describe Rachel Weisz, he said, "Clever. Beautiful. Despises me." A few years later, in an episode of "The Graham Norton Show", Grant went into a little more detail about this working relationship. "Rachel Weisz, I think we got on fine, I don't know why I said that. Maybe I was going for a comedy triple."

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were a couple in the romantic comedy "Music and Lyrics"

Source: Universal Pictures

In the interview with Cagle, Grant said, "Drew, I think, did hate me a bit. But I admired her." He explained, "We just were very different human beings. She was very LA, and I was a grumpy old Londoner." The actor said that he thinks the tension between them on set, ended up working out well for the movie, though. "But the funny thing is, although it was fractionally tense on the set of that film … I think the chemistry is rather good between us," he explained. "Sometimes tension makes a good crackle." In 2009, Grant described Barrymore: "Made her cry. Stunning film-star face. Hates me" in the interview with Elle.

Hugh Grant appeared on Barrymore's talk show

Source: Youtube

In May 2021, Grant appeared via video chat on Barrymore's talk show and they reminisced about "Music and Lyrics". Like Grant, Barrymore also thought they had good chemistry and noticed how different their personalities were when they first met.
"Hugh, you can be a bit of a curmudgeon from time to time," she said to him. "And I, of course, am like a Labrador in heat. I'm so excited with joy. And so when we both met, we were like, 'Oh we're kind of different people.'" Grant agreed, "That is absolutely true. Maybe that's why it had a bit of crackle."
Barrymore first told a story about how she unexpectedly kissed Grant after running into him at a restaurant. "I had had a few drinks … Instead of saying hello, I grabbed you by the collar and I fully started kissing you," she said, laughing. "It was really bizarre," Grant said. "I was very drunk, as well, and I was with some very nice, but not drunk studio executives from LA and they were very surprised. Someone said, 'Oh, there's Drew Barrymore.' I get up to say hi and then we make out for 10 minutes." Barrymore added, "Well, I guess we've grown up a bit."