This is a performer who has continued to charm, entertain and surprise us in a wide range of roles from films as varied as Cloud Atlas, Sense and Sensibility.

Love Actually, and My Personal Favorite about a Boy.

Uh, and then this month he could be seen in theaters and the very charming, very sweet movie you just saw Florence Foster Jenkins.

She's not here.

So if you clap that hard for her, please welcome Hugh Grant.

Thank you for being here.

I have been warned that you don't really like people fawning over you.

I don't know.

That's a polite British thing are.

But you're okay with that?

Yes, probably be a lot of it tonight.

What do you want to start at the beginning?

Obviously you won't be.

Not obviously, but you were raised in England with some pretty impressive ancestry, like people from like the military and aristocratic descendants.

And how did you know?

It says that's what Wikipedia?

Yes, the military bits, right?

Yes, the aristocratic bits of rubbish.

But I I'm delighted it's there.

I think Americans think anyone with an accent has.

Yeah, prissy in their background.

But when did you develop an interest in performing?

Um, yeah, Isa.

Same old story.

I'm sure everyone in the room or assuming pretty much most people here acted.

It would've been a single thing.

Just showing off was a child doing silly voices making the limelight.

And at what point did you realize this could be a career?

Well, um, that happened in a strange way because I had some messing around acting, school, acting, university acting That wasn't my subject.

And then and then when I left University, because I have decided to go and do another degree at another university of sort of post graduate degree.

And during that summer, as I was revving up for that, um, I went to a screening of this strange student film that I had shot while I was at Oxford just for a laugh on Dhe.

These agents said you want to be an actor, and I said, Well, I know because I'm going off to do this this m Phil on, But suddenly I thought, actually, maybe just for a year, instead of writing essays, I'll act because I've always liked it, so I I said yes.

On DA on Dim.

Edie it Lee.

It was costing a film, actually, for the mutiny on the bounty with Mel Gibson.

You were in there?

Well, no, I wish I had that.

I was a nice part.

Very exciting.

You know that age Suddenly it was gonna be 20 weeks in Tahiti what seemed like a Ford shooting in terms of money.

And ah, And then in those days in England, if you weren't already a member of the Union Equity, you couldn't do a film.

You had to go and earn your equity card doing regional theater, and so they wouldn't let me do the film.

In the end, on dso, I thought, Well, okay, I'll go and get a bloody equity card.

So I went off to Nottingham Playhouse and played tree in wind shouting present.

Wait, weren't you furious?

Well, I'm not going to say that in a room full of Union SAG wouldn't have done that.

There isn't a thing that changed anyway.

The irony is, of course, Sinclair Bayfield guy played in this film.

One of things he did was to found de crecy nuts because he always played little bit parts on dhe.

He always felt a bit parts in particular were treated badly.

And so he founded.

And that was the beginning.

That's amazing.

That's a whole other movie you should talk to, Steven about a sequel, Sinclair.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You mentioned the movie you did in college.

Was that privileged?

And how did you come to get cast in that?

It was It was a guy called Mike Hoffman who's gone on to make weight be Michael.

Yes.

Yes.

You're so well read.

What is the word?

Well viewed.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I also made restoration with him later in life.

He's made all kinds of thoughts.

Yeah, he was there was a Rhodes scholar, and he would put together this film because he was interested in film, borrowed some cameras on dhe.

Then he said to me, Do you want to be in it?

If I lost my mic?

Don't let it.

Can you hear me on?

Duh.

And I said no.

And then he said, Victoria studs gonna be the girl.

So I said, OK, such a sexy name.

Yeah.

You didn't even know I did it.

And, uh, you know, I'm a great admirer of Mike's films, but I'm not sure we made a brilliant film.

I've been trying to find it, actually, or goto or any synopsis like Who did you play?

Well, I did something rather interesting for me, and I played a sort of upper class Englishmen who, uh, I think Victoria's studs was my girlfriend.

And then she went off with someone more interesting and kind of blue collar, and I challenge him to a duel, even though this is set in 1982 on, Uh, that's right March up to say I demand satisfaction.

It was a bit of yeah, it was a bit of a wait.

I'm sorry to belabor, but I'm fascinated by movies I can't find.

So did you win the duel?

I think we could have a spoiler alert it at like 40 years.

Do you think I get shot?

But I can't if he shoots me when I shoot myself, Who's there?

Two very different movies.

I remember lying in a pool of blood somewhere, but I think I'm probably set myself eso.

When you decided to go out and get your equity card, you did a lot of stage work like I believe you were in 12 nights.

Uh, well, that was back at Oxford, actually.

Oh, really?

Yes.

Playing the worst part.

Not only in 12th night, but in Shakespeare.

He's called Fabian.

Oh, baby in court often gets cut completely because he's such a dud.

You got terrible comedy lines like so?

So will cry out upon it, though, because rankers of folks dead Silence.

Nobody has understood that since 69 3 And is it true?

Did Coriolanus?

Yeah, that was it.

Not in him then.

I was third.

Shouting present, I think.

One of one of the mob union on various other small parts.

Uh, yeah, yeah, I did.

And I was frankly, slightly bored doing the small parts.

It was another young active, just come out of Roger.

We were bored together and also not professional love.

We were late for rehearsals, and the head of the theater in those days was a man called Richard.

Dig.

Today was very terrifying.

Hey, said, you're very good looking, but very badly behaved.

I've taken your parcel and given it to Carl.

Carl was his very special favor.

I just saw a little bit of an awfully big adventure.

Their eyes Exactly.

Why?

Based, really Oh, my God should have the monocle and everything.

You know, he was a different shape, but it was the same.

So what sort of career were you envisioning for yourself?

Did you think you just keep doing theater?

Did you want to do always do film and TV?

Um, I didn't know I was wandering everywhere, really?

But when I was doing that, that those plays at Nottingham, this other actor and I was slightly bored and we wrote a comedy show on Dhe.

Started performing it sort of in the lobby in the small studio theater there, and it was did quite well.

And then well, after that season, we went to London, started doing it in pubs and small theaters.

There, the king's head, et cetera.

On duh.

That was a very happy time.

Yeah, it was very good for a couple of years, and it was quite a popular show on Dhe weren't only doing that, but we're also writing stuff for other TV shows that writing radio commercials and I thought that might be in my life.

And then yeah, and then, um, Morris happened out of the blue this much and ivory film that sort of put me on into a film world.

And how did that come along?

Well, literally.

I my agent sent me of, you know, said they want to meet you for this, And that time is that says we're interested doing other things.

And I remember saying to my brother, who's a banker but was home that day sick, Like I can't face anyone these auditions.

I'm so bored.

I'm happier doing this.

My show.

And he said, No, you must go.

You must go.

And I went and they very kindly game in the part and, yeah, it was nice.

It was nice.

I squandered the opportunity off to it by doing a lot of rubbish.

I know about that.

I mean, there's some good movies in their lair of the white worm.

Concord, It good.

Come with you.

No, wait.

It's been a while since I've seen it, but I love it growing up.

Yeah, if you're very high on drugs.

Might have just now.

Yeah, I'm curious.

What was that one was last time you were on stage 1990 in a play about skiing that was supposed Thio tour and then come into the West End.

But it got stuck in Bromley after about two weeks died.

I thought I was pretty good, but, uh um, play died.

It might be my mustache.

I grew a moustache for it.

I don't know why I came out a kind of green yellow way.

I don't know that we've ever seen you on film with facial hair.

No cloud cover, welcher, everything.

Yeah, but you may be right.

So I'm curious.

How did?

Actually, it's an audience question from Christian wanted to know.

How did you first get your representation?

Well, it was actually it was that screening, that laughter in London privileged.

And it was a magical Steve.

Tennis from William Morris Agency.

Uh, yes.

And, uh, I remember thinking he was really cool.

I finally said yes.

I'll be a be an actor.

You represent.

I works, You say?

Yeah, You know what?

I didn't know.

I didn't realize what a privilege it waas, you know, in a rare kind of piece of luck.

Andi remember going to see him in his office?

He was on the phone doing a deal for, um, Sophia Loren.

That's pretty cool.

Random question.

Did you receive mutiny on the bounty?

What?

It came out?

Yeah, buddy.

Good.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you weren't bitter.

You could actually go and enjoy the movie.

Yes.

Yeah.

Tony Hopkins is so good in that.

Okay, Yeah, that was the guy who took your part.

I mean, coming out with a lead role in Morris for Merchant Ivory is like a pretty good start was it's intimidating.

Uh, yeah.

I mean, it was frightening, I think, to do the acting to begin with, um, film acting.

I mean, I don't have people in America get trained to do film acting, but certainly we don't In England, we didn't in those days, I I said, go to drama school.

So the first time you're on a film set, I literally had no idea what what was happening.

And it was, ah, TV thing set in the North Pole.

We filmed it in the Northwest Territories of Canada, and that's that's the first time I ever won in front of the cameras minus 70 or something.

Andi, I had to come out of a tent and struggle towards the camera to look for my lost comrades.

with fake snow blowing in my face on Dhe Looks sad and go back to the tent.

And I did that.

I thought I did pretty well.

So I got on a ski doo and went all the way back to the base two miles with.

I didn't even know you had to do several takes different angles.

So there's a full crew freezing our bollocks off.

You know, I had to be brought back.

I do want to talk about some of those earlier movies, though, because even if you don't like them, I love Bitter Moon with a Roman Polanski.

Yeah, What was that experience like?

Well, um, it's such a wonderfully messed up movie.

Yeah, exactly.

On.

Only Roman really could make a film like that.

It was apart from anything else.