Hugh Grant thought ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ was going to be a flop

There are many times that an actor or actress erroneously predicts the future of their project. One of the latest examples has been Hugh Grant, who thought that one of the greatest successes of his career was going to be a complete failure. We talk about ‘Four weddings and a funeral’.

Released in 1994, the British romantic comedy became a box office success in the United States and was nominated for several Oscars. The film ended up grossing over $245.7 million on a budget of around $4.4 million. However, shortly after filming wrapped, Grant did not have high hopes for the project, says Sam Neill in his new memoir ‘Did I Ever Told You This?’.

“I had dinner in London with Hugh Grant shortly after ‘Mermaids,'” Neill wrote. “I asked him what he had been doing. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘a complete piece of bullshit called ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. (Director) Mike Newell wouldn’t know comedy if he stumbled across it. Disaster. Total and utter rubbish“.

“Well,” Neill wrote, “that crap helped make him exactly the kind of star I guess Universal meant back then.”

Grant, 62, admitted that Neill is pretty spot on: The actor told IndieWire in a statement: “I love and miss Sam, and it’s true that we were all sure we had done something horrible until the movie had its first previews. I was clearly wrong and the movie changed my life.” The actor added: “It was the beginning of a happy friendship with Richard Curtis, and I have always had the greatest respect for Mike Newell, who taught me things I use to this day.“.

And it is that ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ really changed Grant’s career and he collaborated with screenwriter Richard Curtis on a series of highly successful romantic comedies such as ‘Notting Hill’ (1999), ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ (2001), ‘Love Actually’ (2003) and ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary: I Will Survive’ (2004).

In 1995, “Four Weddings and a Funeral” received nominations for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, though “Forrest Gump” and “Pulp Fiction” eclipsed the film for both awards, respectively.

A great moment for the fans of that film that is almost 30 years old happened in the last edition of the Oscars. Grant attended this year’s gala to present one of the awards alongside ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ co-star Andie MacDowell, one of the funniest moments of the ceremony, due to the mention of his scrotum in a comparison.

In 2019, Grant, MacDowell, and the rest of the film’s cast reunited to film a 12-minute sequel to the romantic comedy that featured a fifth wedding that takes place 25 years after the original film in celebration of Red Nose Day.

Now Grant opens this week ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, which hits theaters next week.