Hugh Grant thinks his Notting Hill character is ‘despicable’. Here’s why | Hollywood

Actor Hugh Grant is not a big fan of his past films, but he has certain specific issues with his character in the 1999 rom-com Notting Hill, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Hugh Grant played William “Will” Thacker in the Roger Michell directorial film. (Also Read – ‘India was a strange place in 1998’: Hugh Grant recalls his visit to Kolkata to shoot French film)

It stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, with Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Tim McInnerny, Gina McKee, and Hugh Bonneville in supporting roles.

He said that he thinks his character is “despicable” “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 balls?'” he said. “There’s a scene in this film where she’s in my house and the paps (paparazzi) 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,” he added.

The film, directed by Roger Michell, features Anna Scott (Roberts) falling in love with William, the owner of a bookshop in Notting Hill. However, the paparazzi’s fascination with her complicates their relationship.

“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?'” Grant added. “And I don’t really have an answer to that – it’s how it was written. And I think he’s despicable, really,” he said.

In 2016, Grant shared in an interview that he doesn’t “hate” all his movies, although he just finds it excruciating watching himself onscreen. “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,” he said at the time. “I always think, ‘Oh you fucked that up.’ 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,” Hugh said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.