I didn’t want Hugh Grant to be in Four Weddings and a Funeral, writer Richard Curtis admits – as producer says Liz Hurley in THAT dress was responsible for film becoming a massive hit 30 years ago

Richard Curtis has revealed he did not need Hugh Grant to be in 4 Weddings and a Funeral – 30 years after the movie turned a large hit. 

Three many years after the film’s premiere, the screenwriter stated British actor Grant, then 32, was too ‘glamorous’ for the character he had in thoughts – as a substitute wanting stars equivalent to Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, or John Gordon Sinclair to play the main a part of Charles. 

In the meantime, the movie’s producer Duncan Kenworthy has claimed Liz Hurly’s iconic security pin gown on the UK premiere occasion was a number one issue within the movie turning into so huge – after the daring outfit appeared on the entrance web page of newspapers for every week. 

Hurly was in a long-term relationship with actor Grant on the time, getting collectively in 1987 and calling it quits within the yr 2000. 

Chatting with The Occasions, Curtis revealed his reasoning behind not needing Grant for the starring function of the comedy-romance movie. ‘I argued onerous in opposition to Hugh Grant. I had in my thoughts a much less glamorous particular person as a result of I am a really unglamorous particular person,’ he stated. 

Hugh Grant and Andie Macdowell starring in 4 Weddings and a Funeral 

The screenwriter stated the crew interviewed round 70 folks for the function, however discovered it troublesome to search out somebody with the ‘appeal and wit’ wanted to make the half work. 

‘Hugh had it immediately. He gives the look of being feckless and that he cannot act, however he labored so onerous on each line,’ he stated. 

On the age of 32, Grant had claimed to be getting ready to quitting the appearing career, however was happy by the script of 4 Weddings after discovering the protagonist humorous. 

Kenworthy, whose first time producing a movie occurred with 4 Weddings, recalled how Grant introduced in a recording of his finest man speech at his brother’s wedding ceremony, which was ‘fairly humorous’. 

Kenworthy added that the crew wrote ‘wedding ceremony apparel’ on the UK premiere invitation, with roughly 10 per cent coming in wedding ceremony attire. 

The producer recalled why Hurly’s daring alternative of outfit turned such an vital a part of the movie’s success. ‘After which, in fact, there was Liz Hurley’s gown, which was not a marriage gown – nearly not a gown in any respect. That labored so nicely for us too as a result of she was on the entrance web page of newspapers for every week,’ he stated. 

Hurly’s well-known gown – which options massive golden security pins and a slit down the facet – stays iconic to at the present time. 

Hurly was in a long-term relationship with Grant on the time, getting collectively in 1987 and calling it quits within the yr 2000

Hurly and Grant on the UK premiere of 4 Weddings and a Funeral in 1994 

Screenwriter Richard Curtis (pictured) revealed he did not need Hugh Grant to be in 4 Weddings and a Funeral 

Andie MacDowell, who performed Carrie, recalled assembly Grant for the primary time, saying she thought it was going to be ‘simple’ due to his appeal. 

And Anna Chancellor, who performed Henrietta ‘Duckface’, stated she nonetheless loves geese and even had one as a pet – Daphne – who she rescued from a neighbour’s backyard. 

The actor added that her husband calls her Duckface, whereas her daughter, who tragically handed away aged 36 final yr following a battle with leukaemia, referred to as her ‘Ducky’. 

Final yr, the movie’s author Curtis stated he was ‘silly and mistaken’ for joking about folks’s dimension in his movies after he was confronted by his daughter.

The director stated he regrets a lot of his work and he was ‘unobservant’ and ‘not as intelligent’ as he ought to have been.

He added that he would by no means use the phrases ‘fats’ and ‘chubby’ once more.

However he did defend himself by saying he had written a homosexual couple into 1994 movie 4 Weddings and a Funeral.

Curtis stated he felt ‘silly and mistaken’ for considering he could not write about these elements due to his ‘very undiverse college’ and ‘bunch of college buddies’.

He stated: ‘I felt as if me, my casting director, my producers simply did not look outwards.’