"This is awful!"

Hugh Grant shocks with “Notting Hill” revelation

The movie "Notting Hill" melted hearts in the 90s. But now lead actor Hugh Grant, of all people, is making headlines with a shocking revelation.

In "Notting Hill", the Brit played bookshop owner William Thacker, who falls in love with Hollywood star Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts. But now Grant has revealed that he finds his character in the romantic comedy simply "hideous". 

Grant can't stand the character in the movie
The 64-year-old told "Vanity Fair": "Whenever I'm at home after a few drinks, flicking through the channels and this movie comes on, I think: 'Why doesn't my character have balls?"

Hugh Grant is not a fan of his "Notting Hill" character.(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Alberto E. Rodriguez)

He was concerned about a very specific sequence in the film, Grant explained. "There's a scene in the movie where she (Anna Scott, ed.) is in my house and the press come to the front door and ring the bell, and I think I just let them walk past me and open the door. That's terrible." 

"Why the hell ...?"
However, the Hollywood star went on to say that he was by no means the only one who was critical of the character he had embodied. "I've never had a girlfriend, or even a wife now, who hasn't said: 'Why the hell didn't you stop her? What's wrong with you?' And I don't have an answer to that - that's just the way it's been written. I think he's really despicable."

However, Grant had nothing but good things to say about his co-star Julia Roberts: "Probably with Julia, as with any brilliant actress, you just think all the time: 'My God, she's really good. I'm not going to be as good as her'. And she's great in her performance and has this kind of quality where it's like her skin is paper thin. You can sort of see her soul."