Hugh Grant Nearly Lost ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ for Being ‘Too Handsome’

The Four Weddings and a Funeral screenplay writer didn’t want actor Hugh Grant in the starring role of the film because he was too handsome.

Writer Richard Curtis actively campaigned against Grant in the lead role of Charles, a floppy-haired young professional whose fear of commitment turns to love for a certain wedding guest. Curtis had nothing against Grant, but he didn’t envision him as Charles who has a history of being a serial dater.

“I was worried about it. When Hugh did first come in, I did think he was too handsome. I thought people would not believe the fact he was in trouble with girls because he so clearly wouldn’t be. So that’s why he pushed the sort of doubtfulness and lack of confidence,” he told Daily Mail.

“He was by far the best person who auditioned but I still voted against him when it came down to the vote between two people,” Curtis continued, who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral as his way of explaining to his mother why he never married. During the interview with Daily Mail, he teased that he was mulling over a proposal to his longtime partner, Emma Freud.

Hugh Grant wanted extra money for the role – and almost lost it

Four Weddings a Funeral director Duncan Kenworthy recalled how they were willing to pay Grant roughly $45,000 to play Charles. But Grant wanted a bonus to be in the film.

Producers were having an issue just funding the film beyond giving the unknown (at the time) lead actor more cash. “We couldn’t afford much at all. So the ‘friends’ got £17,500 each and Hugh got £35,000. I  remember Michael Foster, Hugh’s agent, saying, ‘OK, we understand. £40,000 and he is yours.’ I said, ‘Sorry, you just don’t understand. It’s £35,000 and if you don’t accept that then obviously we lose him,'” Kenworthy recalled.

The film was already being produced on a £ 3 million budget and producers deployed as many cost-cutting measures as they possibly could – especially if they were going to afford Grant.

‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ filmmakers had to get creative with the budget

The film looks like the weddings are lavish events, but the filmmakers got creative when it came to saving money.

 “For the second wedding we had what I called an aristocracy co-ordinator,” Kenworthy revealed. “Amber Rudd, now an MP, knew a lot of dukes and earls who would appear for nothing, or for an extra’s pay.”

“I swear that you can look across the room and pick out the real aristocrats. So they gave us the authenticity. They all owned their own morning suits, so we saved on the Moss Bros aspect of the budget,” he added.

Despite sweating it out over budget and Grant, the film went on to become a smashing success. It made £146 million at the box office. And Grant’s career took off.