Hugh Grant
I used to pre-rehearse everything and then bring my pre-rehearsed performance to the set. Now, I'm learning to let it happen in the moment. American actors are much better at that than British actors. If I knew how to trust myself, I would have been much more relaxed. Maybe I would have less gray hairs today.Collection: Trust
As it is, I have a limited range as an actor - light comedy. I have never been a fan of romantic comedies, and yet that is what I have ended up mostly doing.Collection: Romantic
Women are frightening. If you get to 41 as a man, you're quite battle-scarred.Collection: Women
In 'The Sound of Music,' I was a von Trapp daughter in a white dress with a blue satin sash, and my line was, 'I'm Brigitta. I'm 12, and all I want is a good time.' I got a laugh. And I was so delighted, I laughed, too. Sadly, that's a problem I still have - onstage, I laugh hysterically at how funny I am.Collection: Funny
The reason I turn down 99% of a hundred, I mean a thousand, scripts is because romantic comedies are often very romantic but seldom very funny.Collection: Romantic
My mother was a teacher.Collection: Teacher
The only reason my work seems to be eclectic up to a certain period is because I was a failure as an actor.Collection: Failure
I'm not a hopeless romantic. I'm quite the reverse. I'm a nasty piece of work, an ego maniac.Collection: Romantic
Brexit was a fantastic example of a nation shooting itself full in the face.
I get more satisfaction out of comedy stuff. I'm a laugh tart. I make no secret of that fact.
My laziness is really profound. I'm really interested in where it comes from - it almost feels chemical. And we've all got ADD now, short attention span and all that.
The truth is, I'd never seen a Cary Grant film. Since then I have watched his stuff and it's astounding, but I don't see any similarity between us. Except for the fact that I'm told he used to wear ladies' underwear, which is something I also do.
And film acting is incredibly tedious, just by its nature. It's incredibly, mind numbingly slow.
Basically, my life is so boring, it's embarrassing.
It's very rare in life to be sure about something - particularly when it's an issue.
I think I'm rather young and sprightly, but then you see pictures of yourself and think, 'Who is that old man?' and I realise I'm not as young as I thought I was.
I used to dream about Gorbachev before he lost power. I'd go into a panic because I was meeting him, and I had nothing to wear. I'd ask my brother what to do, and he'd tell me to wear my dressing gown. I'd tell him I can't - it's too horrible. He'd tell me to wear his as well. So I'd meet Gorbachev wearing two dressing gowns.
You know everyone loves to be the villain.
I've certainly had a bad attitude to my job on many occasions. Not since 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. I've been rather a good boy and really given it everything when I've accepted a part since then, because I've been given much better parts in films.
'The Lair of the White Worm' is quite a strange film. It's difficult to be good when you're saying lines that have been translated from Spanish to English by someone who speaks French.
At home, I hardly ever leave London. I don't like the countryside in England.
I've always dreaded the sea - in fact, I get terribly seasick.
Do I think human beings are meant to be in 40-year-long monogamous, faithful, relationships? No, No, No. Whoever said they were? Only the Bible or something. No one ever said that was a good idea.
For any new technology there is always controversy and there always some fear associated with it. I think that's just the price of being first sometimes.
At my school, which was all boys, I played almost exclusively lady parts. When I say lady parts, I mean parts that were ladies. To actually play lady parts would be weird, even by English standards.
Theater has always been much more fun. You get a laugh, and it's really encouraging.
A free press is the cornerstone of democracy; there is no question about that.
'Notting Hill?' Does that poke fun at being British? Maybe it does. In 'Mickey Blue Eyes,' that's kind of the point: the clash of worlds, the unlikely combo of a respectable Englishman and a mob guy. If you take out the Britishness, you don't really have much.
The angry Scot is a cliche not without some foundation. That's the Lowland Scot - I'm a Highlander. We're particularly lovely and charming.
I wasn't aware I was trading on my good name; I've never had a good name.
I frequently dream of having tea with the Queen.
I had Courtney Love's left bosom out of her dress on my plate in front of me. It was extraordinary. I didn't know where to look.
I was fat-shamed the other day on a British newspaper. The headline was 'Four Bellies and a Turkey Neck.' They weren't wrong. I looked shocking.
I'm quite proud of some of the films I've done, but less for the acting than for the fact that they're unpretentious and entertaining. I'm proud of having made unpretentious choices.
I think that's the whole point of Bridget Jones. It's all about that it's okay to fail.
It's very true that you can be both selfless and selfish at the same time. What we tend towards, particularly in filmmaking, is this binary sort of, 'This is a good guy, this is a bad guy.' And I quite like the fact that life is a bit more complex than that.
With 2 movies opening this summer, I have no relaxing time at all. Whatever I have is spent in a drunken stupor.
The moral of filmmaking in Britain is that you will be screwed by the weather.
When I think about actors I know, I'd much rather hear about who they're shagging than what film they're doing next.
Well, you know I have an office, my film offices. So I know that syndrome. I fancy offices, so there must be something wrong with me. Even the window cleaner intrigues me. It's a very sexy environment.
Strangely enough I'm better on a stage. I love that I feel like I blossom in front of a whole bunch of people.
Plus, teaching brings home to you very fast that you actually know nothing. I didn't realize that before.
Neither Elizabeth or I are keen to do a real-life couple on the screen. It's not very electric.
Most actors really love it, that's what they want to do. They burn to do it. And so they'll read a script and think, that's an interesting part. And because they love acting, that blinds them to the fact that the rest of it is pretentious nonsense, which it very often is.
I'm a laugh tart. I make no secret of that fact.
I think maybe in a way it gets worse because you come in with a real reputation and they've paid you lots of money and all that.
I find it hard to understand why Scorsese has never called. You know, given the natural menace I bring to the screen.
I don't think there's much point in putting me a deep, dark, heavy, emotional film because there are people who do it so much better than I do.
I don't have any particular burning desire to go back to being cuddly. Not really.
I cling to the fantasy that I could have done something more creative. Like actually writing a script, or writing a book. But the awful truth is that I... probably can't!