(Credits: Alamy)
Tue 16 December 2025 6:30, UK
Few actors were hotter property in the 1990s than Hugh Grant.
Impossibly handsome, supremely charming, and the star of a range of hit films, the floppy-haired matinee idol was always going to go far. He defined what it meant to be English on the big screen, even if large parts of England would laugh in their face if you said they reminded you of him. Chuck in a turbulent personal life and a chronic inability to take himself seriously, and it’s no wonder he’s still box office to this very day.
One of the many roles that solidified Grant’s superstar status was that of Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral. A suave, sophisticated heartthrob who always finds himself in hot water, this was the role he was born to play, and it elevated him to new heights of global notoriety. However, he was never the plan.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Grant shot down the rumours that the part had been written especially for him. He confirmed that he had to audition for the part and that it was far from a cakewalk. “I was very much unwanted,” he said. “Richard Curtis did everything in his power to stop me getting the part after the audition.”
It’s a common misnomer that Curtis directed Four Weddings and a Funeral. Instead, he merely penned the screenplay in his own inimitable style and was then involved in the casting process. He based the experiences of Charles and his love interest Carrie (Andie MacDowell) on his own fleeting dalliances at various weddings over the years. Perhaps these humble origins were why he was so keen to keep the character of Charles so grounded.
“The absolutely key thing for that film when I was writing it was that the person who was playing the lead would not be good looking,” he explained in the same interview. “That was the absolute starting thesis of the film.” It eventually came down to a vote between himself, Newell, and producer Duncan Kenworthy over who got Charles. While the other two voted for Grant, in Curtis’s own words, “I voted for someone else.”
Alex Jennings was initially cast in Charles before an issue with funding forced him to drop out. He got his full-circle moment over two decades later when he led a TV version of the story. Curtis’ main choice was actually his future Love Actually star Alan Rickman. The writer begged Rickman to go in for the role, but he refused, hopefully instructing him to turn to page 394 in the process.
Despite the big man’s best wishes, Grant was cast as Charles, and it couldn’t have gone better. He was about to walk away from the acting game until he saw the script, which means we might have never gotten Paddington 2. As for Curtis, he went on to work with Grant many more times over the years, including on Notting Hill and the aforementioned Love Actually. It’s nice to know they finally gave each other a chance.
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