"Hugh Grant"

Summary

SmartLess Episode Summary: "Hugh Grant" | Released November 18, 2024

In this engaging episode of SmartLess, hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett sit down with renowned British actor Hugh Grant. The conversation spans Hugh's illustrious career, his transition from romantic comedies to more complex roles, insights into his personal life, and amusing anecdotes from his hobby of golf. The episode is peppered with Hugh's characteristic wit and self-deprecating humor, providing listeners with both laughter and thoughtful reflections.

**1. Early Career and Transition from Romantic Comedies

[24:19] Sean Hayes opens the discussion by tracing Hugh Grant's career trajectory, highlighting his breakthrough role in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Sean Hayes [24:43]: "We sort of came to know you, I think, through Four Weddings and a Funeral was the thing where we went, everybody went, oh, this guy is amazing."

Hugh Grant reflects on his earlier roles before his breakout success, humorously describing his participation in low-quality miniseries:

Hugh Grant [25:01]: "I specialized in really low quality miniseries like Judith Kranz's Till We Meet Again. I did hundreds of those parts and... get horsewhipped out of the house by Michael York."

Grant discusses his realization that romantic comedies, while beloved by audiences, may have pigeonholed his acting potential. He acknowledges the critical acclaim his rom-coms received but expresses a desire to explore more diverse and challenging roles.

Hugh Grant [35:52]: "The good romantic comedies I did were really about pain. It's about humor, dealing with pain, the pain of being in unrequited love, et cetera."

**2. New Project: "Heretic"

The conversation shifts to Grant's latest venture, a horror film titled "Heretic".

Hugh Grant [12:38]: "No, that is correct. We can call it horror or we can call it psychological thriller, perhaps for people who are frightened of horror films."

Grant shares his enthusiasm for the project, emphasizing its departure from his usual roles and its contribution to the evolving genre of cinematic horror.

Hugh Grant [48:19]: "Part of the reason I did it was because it was a 24 and... creating film after film that's fresh and new and often utterly fucking terrifying."

He praises the filmmakers, Scott and Brian, for their dedication and innovative approach, highlighting the film's rich dialogue and intricate production design.

Hugh Grant [48:52]: "It's got incredible production design, incredible photography, and it's daring. Because traditionally, as you know, films tend to try and keep their dialogue quite pithy and short. This is very dialogue heavy."

**3. Acting Philosophy and Industry Insights

Grant delves into his acting philosophy, distinguishing between mere delivery and genuine emotional engagement. He contrasts traditional methods with his approach of deeply internalizing his roles.

Hugh Grant [32:03]: "I have a theory that they're like dance steps and that the more you repeat your dance steps, the more you can't forget them on the day."

He critiques the current state of the film industry, lamenting the decline of intelligent, big-budget films that balance artistry with commercial success.

Hugh Grant [42:52]: "Rob Reiner... said there are $200 million movies in this country. One of them's moronic and the other is very bright. And you can make big successful films that are intelligent, smart, groundbreaking."

**4. Personal Life: Marriage and Family

The hosts transition to Hugh's personal life, specifically his marriage to a Swedish wife and fatherhood. Grant candidly discusses the dynamics of his relationship and the challenges of balancing fame with family life.

Hugh Grant [16:04]: "She's magnificent. To my great surprise, while I was being pretty drunk for a few years in London about 13 years ago, there was this hot Swede... we started breeding and then fell in love, and now we're married."

He humorously describes his wife's Swedish stoicism and their adopted children, adding a heartfelt touch to the conversation.

Hugh Grant [19:45]: "I know, it's a mystery. And she was married before to a very butch ski champion instructor or something. And there was an ugly moment when I was filming this film Heretic in Canada..."

**5. Golf Stories and Hobbies

Grant's love for golf provides plenty of comedic material. He shares several mishaps and humorous incidents from his golfing experiences, illustrating the lighter side of his personality.

Hugh Grant [57:15]: "I once lost a ball chipping from off the green on live Television. I was in a big Pro Am in Scotland, and all I had was the tiniest chip up onto this green... shanked it, went into one of those little streams and was taken out to sea, lost."

These stories not only entertain but also humanize Grant, showcasing his ability to laugh at himself.

**6. Reflections on Aging and Career Evolution

As the conversation progresses, Grant reflects on aging in Hollywood and how it has influenced his career choices. He speaks about embracing new roles and the desire to write, aiming to diversify his creative outlets beyond acting.

Hugh Grant [61:09]: "The fantasy, which is the same fantasy I've had for 40 years, is that I finally knock it on the head and write my novel or possibly a wonderful script, but I can't seem to get over that hurdle."

His openness about the challenges of maintaining relevance and the desire to explore new creative endeavors resonates with many listeners navigating similar transitions.

**7. Closing Remarks and Future Aspirations

In the closing segments, Grant expresses gratitude for the podcast experience and shares his hopes for the future, including the completion of a novel or script. The hosts commend his honesty and humor, wrapping up the episode on a positive and aspirational note.

Hugh Grant [62:14]: "Thanks. I've got better. And that is a mystery."

Notable Quotes

• Hugh Grant [35:52]: "The good romantic comedies I did were really about pain. It's about humor, dealing with pain, the pain of being in unrequited love, et cetera."

• Hugh Grant [48:19]: "Creating film after film that's fresh and new and often utterly fucking terrifying."

• Hugh Grant [42:52]: "You can make big successful films that are intelligent, smart, groundbreaking."

• Hugh Grant [61:09]: "I finally knock it on the head and write my novel or possibly a wonderful script..."

Conclusion

This episode of SmartLess offers a comprehensive look into Hugh Grant's multifaceted life and career. From his early missteps in acting to his current ventures into horror films, Grant provides listeners with a candid and humorous narrative. The discussion extends beyond professional achievements, delving into personal anecdotes and philosophical reflections on art and entertainment. Hugh Grant's authenticity and charm make this episode a must-listen for fans and newcomers alike, encapsulating the essence of SmartLess—thoughtful dialogue interwoven with organic hilarity.

Transcript

[Jason Bateman]

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[Will Arnett]

So listener, we all know English. You know it because you're listening to me. You're understanding me. But what if I was talking in a different language? Like that annoying co host of mine, Will Arnett loves to twat on in French. You know, he likes to prove he's Canadian. He's proud of it. Like, I get it. I'm a little jealous. That's why you're picking up the tone in my voice. So this Rosetta Stone company, they can teach you how to speak, understand, write any language you want, I think. But I know they got French covered. So I'm making a big threat to myself, to the world, to you, and to specifically Will Arnett that I'm going to learn French so that I can stop rolling my eyes and actually get excited. The eyebrows go up next time I hear him talking fre or if you're watching a foreign film and you're tired of reading, you want to watch a movie, you don't want to look at the subtitles. All of these things make Rosetta Stone a good fit for me. So, you know, maybe it would fit for you. After all, Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program to truly immerse yourself in the language you want to learn. It's available on desktop or as an app. It's trusted for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered. Do not put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. Smartless listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off, visit rosettastone.com smartless that's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com SmartLess Today.

[Jason Bateman]

Hey guys, I'm off to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping and I thought you guys would like to know what's on my list. Here we go. Ready? Yogurt, granola, tomato, Sauce, ketchup, dried fruit, baked beans, nut butter, chocolate milk, cereal bars, bread, condiments, salad dressings, protein bars, candy, tea, crackers, energy drinks, canned fruit, juice, coffee, soda, ice cream, barbecue sauce, and cakes. Welcome to Smart List.

[Sean Hayes]

Smart. Less. Smart.

[Will Arnett]

Less.

[Sean Hayes]

Smart.

[Jason Bateman]

Less. I had a great day yesterday. Yesterday was. Remember the We. We were talking about the. My heart, you know.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, yeah. Did you get a new one yesterday?

[Jason Bateman]

No, I didn't get a new one, but I went and ate lunch by myself. I had really bad sushi. Then I went and got. I bought two books and I had an ice cream cone on the way home, I was like, this is it.

[Will Arnett]

This is solo.

[Jason Bateman]

This is by myself.

[Sean Hayes]

This is to make your heart better.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, it was. And then I went into the bookstore. Hey, by the way, do bookstores make you want to poop a little bit?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

You know what I mean.

[Will Arnett]

No talking about just standing on your feet that long. I think gravity takes over.

[Jason Bateman]

No, but it's like the coziness of a bookstore. The coziness of, like a pharmacy, you know? No. Or like a. Like a.

[Will Arnett]

Sorry.

[Jason Bateman]

Or like a gift shop.

[Sean Hayes]

Sorry. Coziness.

[Jason Bateman]

No.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

There was a comparison between a bookstore and a pharmacy.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, yeah, just like the similarity. Like the co. Like the quietness of it and the coziness of it. It really gets my stomach going.

[Will Arnett]

This hypochondriac finds pharmacies comforting and cozy.

[Sean Hayes]

So JB Bookstore is a place where.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. Which seems like a perfect segue to go into something we should talk about just for two seconds. Smartless Media is now doing a new show called Clueless.

[Will Arnett]

Yes, I've heard about this.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes. You both were on an episode, actually. Our first episode.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And it's out.

[Will Arnett]

This is not a podcast starring Alicia Silverstone, right?

[Jason Bateman]

No, this is. That is correct. Very good. It stars the host. The host is Elliot Kalin. He's the former head writer of the Daily show with Jon Stewart, mystery science theater 3000. A bunch of great stuff. He's so funny. And I'm a permanent contestant.

[Will Arnett]

You're the clueless part of it. He's the clue full part.

[Jason Bateman]

That's exactly right. It's like 10 to 12 minute episodes of just puzzle podcasts. And it's super fun. You can.

[Will Arnett]

Little sprints.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. You can try to solve it while you're driving or listening to the show. And it's only 10 minutes, and it's super fun.

[Will Arnett]

Will, how long do you take playing wordle each day? Will?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

What was it take for you to get through Wordle pretty quick. Pretty quick because you usually bust real fast, right? Guess, guess, guess. I'm out.

[Sean Hayes]

I sure don't. Well, I would stack my wordle in timing and also success rate against yours any day.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, you're definitely smarter than me.

[Sean Hayes]

Anyway, so clueless is coming up. It's great. You should listen to it.

[Will Arnett]

It takes no longer than the average person would take to solve wordle if you're super bright like Will Arnett.

[Sean Hayes]

I mean, it's fun. It's fun. It's fun.

[Jason Bateman]

It's a super fun show. It super fun games. And it premieres Monday, November 18th, and I'm on every episode and I play with family and friends and you guys were kind enough to do the first episode.

[Sean Hayes]

A lot of fun. It was.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I liked it a lot.

[Jason Bateman]

It was all for smartless media, which is fun. And that's our little plug.

[Will Arnett]

Check it out, bros. Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And, and gals. Hey, listen, speaking of checking out.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

You know what I like to check out?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, here he comes.

[Sean Hayes]

Are the films of our guest today you like? Oh, well. And I don't think that I'm alone because I read somewhere that I think that our guests films have grossed north of $4 billion worldwide.

[Will Arnett]

Wow, that's strong.

[Sean Hayes]

That's a very strong number. And what's even stronger about it, I.

[Will Arnett]

Hope this person had a nice definition.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I wonder if they did. What's even stronger about it is, Tracy.

[Jason Bateman]

That'S a profit participation.

[Sean Hayes]

Is, is the fact that they're so varied in the types of films they are. And some of them are sort of what you would consider sort of indie type films. Some of them what you would consider to be sort of comedies. Some are what you might consider to be romantic comedies. Some you might consider to be just straight up dramas. Some would be period pieces. Everything. Everything. And in four, in addition to the financial reward, our guest has also been rewarded with loads of nominations and wins for SAGs and Golden Globes and BAFTAs and Emmys.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, it's a smarty.

[Sean Hayes]

I mean, this person or he, he, he's a smarty. He, he has been such a part of the film landscape for so long. I know that I, I, I imagine he's embarrassed by my intro, but he shouldn't be because he has done everything he's taught us about love. Actually, he's taught us about what it's supposed to be about a boy. He's done it all. And now he has a new horror film called Heretic. You guys, it's, it's Hugh Grant. Who? We do not know.

[Will Arnett]

The one and only Hugh Grant.

[Jason Bateman]

Look at this guy.

[Hugh Grant]

Do I take the hood?

[Sean Hayes]

Yes, take it off.

[Hugh Grant]

Oh, hell.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, look at this guy.

[Will Arnett]

No, not the shirt. Not the shirt.

[Jason Bateman]

It's a silver fox. Guys, we got a silver fox on today.

[Sean Hayes]

It is the one and only Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant. Welcome to Smartless.

[Hugh Grant]

It's very nice of you to have.

[Will Arnett]

Good morning.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, this is really cool. I only met you once on the street of New York City, and I said, hugh Grant. You said hello. That's it. In a dismissive, no, you were very.

[Hugh Grant]

Nice, cold kind of way. No, no, I'm not a very nice man.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, that's.

[Will Arnett]

We're all the same.

[Sean Hayes]

That's entirely untrue, I'm sure.

[Will Arnett]

So did Sean yell it too loud and everyone then stopped and wanted to take a picture?

[Jason Bateman]

No, you're. No, you're.

[Hugh Grant]

I don't know. I was probably a bit hungover and grumpy.

[Will Arnett]

There you go.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no.

[Hugh Grant]

Did I have a child with me? I've got millions, and that always makes me unpleasant.

[Sean Hayes]

Get in. Get in line.

[Jason Bateman]

How many kids do you have?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, we think it's five, but I had them much too old in life, you know. I started when I was 52, and now, you know, I.

[Will Arnett]

Your first kid, you were 52? Wow.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah. Now I'm 64, you know, and the youngest is six. And I. I need a long stint in a sanatorium or an abbey. I often look at the abbey that Maria lives in in the Sound of Music.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

And wish I lived there.

[Sean Hayes]

What about one of those old, like, really old monasteries that they built at tops of mountains that are accessible by just, like, a very narrow path?

[Hugh Grant]

I'm frightened of monks. Okay. I don't mind nuns.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Are you in Los Angeles right now?

[Hugh Grant]

I've just arrived last night, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

From.

[Hugh Grant]

To Bang the Drum for my film. From London.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

How is that flying this way? Is it harder coming this way than it is going the other?

[Hugh Grant]

It's brutal both ways. I find I can't. I can't do it anymore. I think that's another age thing. I woke up hours ago, very, very hungry, and it felt like my heart is made of Play doh. Do you have Play Doh?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, we have Playdoh.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, of course. I used to eat it.

[Will Arnett]

Sean's got a doctor for you.

[Sean Hayes]

I've got something upstairs. Hugh, you should know this, that Sean, two, three nights ago, woke up in the middle of the night with a heart issue, drove himself to Cedars Sinai didn't wake up. His husband drove himself to Cedars Sinai. They brought the paddles out, they put them under, they paddled them. He drove home. An hour later, he woke up to use the bath and drove himself back to Cedars. And got paddled again.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. And then went to dinner that night.

[Sean Hayes]

So you're jet lagged by comparison. And I'm not saying this to make you feel bad.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, no, you are. And I.

[Jason Bateman]

It's working. It does.

[Hugh Grant]

I feel humiliated.

[Jason Bateman]

But by God, you look fucking great.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, you do.

[Hugh Grant]

No, I don't.

[Jason Bateman]

You do. I'm telling you, you do.

[Will Arnett]

You've managed to keep it going all this time.

[Hugh Grant]

You know what I forgot to bring because I'm a bad packer? Underwear. So I'm talking to you commando this morning. I feel a little bit exciting.

[Will Arnett]

I had a stint with that. I went a couple years with that.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, let's not go down that, Jason, because we know what.

[Will Arnett]

No, I'm not interested in going down.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, the details on it are not. Are a little sorted, let's be honest.

[Jason Bateman]

I used to wear boxers in college. I just didn't. I thought, because I was supposed to and it was just like, it's dumb. I don't. I don't get useless.

[Will Arnett]

That's miserable experience that don't provide any worth at all.

[Hugh Grant]

I like to be cupped.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean Hayes]

You like to be cupped. That's good. Yeah, he likes to be cupped. And Jay, how do you go now? Do you not wear any undergarments?

[Will Arnett]

No, no, I'm into the boxer briefs now.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Will Arnett]

It's a semi cup.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, same.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Hugh Grant]

I think that's the answer.

[Sean Hayes]

So, Hugh, we can listen and feel free to say no. We can send somebody over with a variety if you'd like.

[Hugh Grant]

No, I've already asked a concierge in the hotel to provide some. He looked surprised. I'll go shopping.

[Sean Hayes]

Hugh Grant, honestly, you know, I do feel, I'm sorry to say you're one of those sort of film stars that I feel like, because I've seen you in so many films, I feel like, oh, yeah, well, it's Hugh Grant, whom I know from earlier. And there is that sort of familiarity that we have through roles and you have done so many different. And now I think I'm safe to say you're doing something that is completely new. Now you're doing this sort of horror film, if you will, for lack of a better word. Right.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, yeah, I love it.

[Hugh Grant]

No, that is correct. We can call it horror or we can Call it psychological thriller, perhaps for people who are frightened of horror films.

[Will Arnett]

Like me, we can also call it one of the last remaining viable genres for theatrical distribution.

[Hugh Grant]

Yes. Why is that? Explain it that to me.

[Will Arnett]

I. I'll bet you it's because people like to have the scare be a shared experience, because a scare at home might be a little too scary.

[Hugh Grant]

And being in the room.

[Jason Bateman]

So true.

[Will Arnett]

You know, but you would think that comedy would be the same way. You would, right? You want the. You want the shared experience of the laugh. But comedies have yet to come back.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, and, and I sort of brought that up, actually, to our friend Jason Blum, who makes a lot of horror films from. Yeah, Blumhouse. And I said, and I said that, jb, I said, well, why don't we make a comedy? And he said, no, there's no money in it. And.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I don't get it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, I don't get it either.

[Will Arnett]

I understand wanting to be home alone. If you're going to be crying, you don't want to cry next to a stranger. But I do like laughing with strangers. I like being scared with strangers.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Anyway, Hugh. Hugh comments.

[Hugh Grant]

It's very. It's very sad. No one's sadder than me. My local cinema just closed down after 30. I mean, I've been going there for 30 years. It's been going for 100 years. It's just awful.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

I cannot, to me, I can't understand the instinct of someone who says, I think I'll just hit home, sit at home and stream. That seems so utterly sad.

[Will Arnett]

It is nice to not have to leave the house.

[Hugh Grant]

I mean, I couldn't disagree with you more. My only object in life is to get out of the house.

[Will Arnett]

Well, you. You've got. You've got those kids running around making noise.

[Sean Hayes]

Hang on, jb. Hugh, this is. I want to get into this. I'm so glad. You're saying, because you're talking to these two are two people who would. And by the way, a lot of Angelenos who are sort of in the same our age and who kind of do what we do are equally as boring as these two. No, you're not agoraphor, but you have zero ambition and are way too comfortable in your fucking plush lives and you're not interested in anything other than yourselves. So, Hugh, it's entirely true. Hugh, talk to me a little bit about getting out of the house. What is it you like to do so much?

[Hugh Grant]

I've always regarded home as hell. I think homes are hell. The home.

[Will Arnett]

I hear a title of a biography.

[Jason Bateman]

Home. Hell Home.

[Hugh Grant]

The guy who dresses me on films wants my autobiography to be called Coffee the Custard, and I think that is better, actually. Well, yeah. Holmes, I don't get it. That's why I don't understand why everyone wants to work from home. I cannot imagine anything more dreary or depressing.

[Will Arnett]

Hugh, are you currently married?

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, I'm married to a terrifying giant Swede.

[Will Arnett]

We're going to launch a new podcast from Smartless Media called Telling It Like It Is, starring Hugh Grant.

[Sean Hayes]

I could. Hugh, this. This is absolutely delightful and surprising and obviously we don't. I don't know, you. Tell us a little bit.

[Will Arnett]

Tell us a little bit about this cat. You're married to this terrifying person who's in your life.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, well, actually, she's magnificent.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes.

[Will Arnett]

And as are the kids. We know. You jest.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, no, I should point that out. No, she's great. To my great surprise, while I was being pretty drunk for a few years In London about 13 years ago, the bar I used to hang out at, there was this hot Swede at the other end of the bar, and it was her. She's an athlete. She was very nearly a pro tennis player, but she's just too angry. Anyway, we got closer and closer, and then we started breeding and then fell in love, and now we're married. I love that she's very much the man in the family. She comes from the northern part of Sweden. I mean, Swedish men, I think, are quite masculine anyway, but when they come from the north, where everyone lives among the trees, they're really seriously masculine. And men are not supposed to talk. If you talk, it's a bit girly. No, it's true. Her brothers, I've never heard them say a word for yes and no. They suck their teeth. They go, that's northern Swedish for yes. Or an oh, look at this.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, look. Oh, the food's coming for you.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, I got some coffee. Thank God.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Thank you very much.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, get that in.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, yeah, the Swedes do that. They do that thing where they. When they talk on the phone, where.

[Hugh Grant]

They go, that's right. Yes. Yes, that's it.

[Will Arnett]

That's a yes. That's an agreeable breath.

[Sean Hayes]

I've spent some time in Stockholm over the years. I've been there a few times, and I quite like Sweden. I always say that Sweden is kind of like Canada with much better architecture and it's. And the people are really great, but they're also very blunt in that way that a lot of the sort of the Nordic people can be. And I always find. Cause every time I went there, you know, I'd go and I'd see people, relatives or friends, and they'd say, oh, look at you, you look quite fat. And I'm like. And I'm like, well, thanks. It's great to see you too. My, you are tired. You are very tired. And I can tell by your face looks terrible.

[Hugh Grant]

That's absolutely correct. I don't allow my wife to go on any of the group chats with the schools because she offends everyone instantly with remarks exactly like that.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, Hugh, did you ever, speaking of the character, how you just described your wife, did you find it difficult to give up control as a man? When you met her like you had before you met her, were you like, more in control of, or did you believe you were in control of more? And then when you met her, you're like, yeah, I guess I could hand this off to her. This is fine.

[Hugh Grant]

I seem to be quite happy in my pussy role. I just can't believe she likes me. I mean, you know, I'm a bit chatty compared to Swedish men. And I, you know, she catches me watching the Sound of Music in the afternoons.

[Jason Bateman]

I love it. We'd get along great.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

God, I love the visual.

[Hugh Grant]

She also has a long list of things that she says are unshaggable in a man and they're really tough. Like having tea instead of coffee, Driving an electric car.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, so far.

[Jason Bateman]

Check. Check for me.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, exactly. I wish I could remember the other ones. They're good.

[Will Arnett]

So those are things that deem you ineligible for her pleasure.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Will Arnett]

So you're a coffee man. Full combustion engine.

[Hugh Grant]

So all three children are adopted.

[Sean Hayes]

So what does she see in you? Man?

[Hugh Grant]

I know, it's a mystery. And she was married before to a very butch ski champion instructor or something. And there was an ugly moment when I was filming this film Heretic in Canada when I went for a walk one day. We were filming in Vancouver. I went for a walk on Whistler Mountain nearby.

[Sean Hayes]

Beautiful.

[Hugh Grant]

And I told my wife on the phone and there was a bit of a silence. And then it turned out that her ex husband lives on Whistler Mountain.

[Jason Bateman]

No way.

[Hugh Grant]

I'm not very good in nature. And I did get into slight difficulties that day. And I had this nightmare scenario in which her ex husband rescues me, carries me down the mountain over his shoulder. That would have been a low point.

[Sean Hayes]

He rescues you because he lives in the trees. Because he's living close to the bone on the land. He's sort of hauling logs through waist deep snow.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, well, that's him.

[Will Arnett]

And we will be right back.

[Jason Bateman]

So I don't know about you, but I've worked in tons of orifices like Thurston. I mean, I don't want to go through all of them. You know what the orifices are actually? Sorry, Sean, it's offices. Oh, hey guys. While there are many different types of offices out there, one thing's for certain. Choosing the right candidate for any office is a huge responsibility. Thanks, Bennett. Well, if you're hiring and want to find the best candidate for your office, you need ZipRecruiter. And right now you can try it for [e-mail] Smartless ZipRecruiter is the hiring site employers prefer the Most. Based on G2 how fast does ZipRecruiter smart technology start showing your job to qualified candidates immediately. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology works fast to find top talent so you don't waste time or money. You can invite top candidates for your job to apply to encourage them to apply sooner. But make sure it's an office and not an orifice. Remember, if you want to find the right candidates for your office, you need ZipRecruiter. See why 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter for free. Ziprecruiter.com smartless Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com smartless ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire Smartless fans. Your favorite podcast has some must have merch waiting for you at the SiriusXM online store. And here's the best part. The store is powered by Shopify, so grabbing your gear is as easy as pressing play on a new episode. We're grateful Shopify makes it easy for our corporate daddy to make Smart list goodies available to all of you, our listeners. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders Stage. Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or Smartless sweatshirts, trucker hats and coffee mugs. Shameless Plug Sorry. Shopify helps you sell everywhere from their all in 1e commerce platform to their in person POS system. Shopify's got you covered. Plus sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI powered all star. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com smartless all lowercase go to shopify.com smartless now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Food has been a recurring topic on the show, highlighting a clear interest in what goes into our bodies. And that includes supplements that can help feel like you're functioning at your peak. Which is why you've got to check out these supplements from Thorn. Thorne's got all the supplements we need to help promote and maintain our individual health goals. Now, I take the vitamin D5000 because it supports healthy teeth, bones and muscles as well as cardiovascular and immune function. And I'm lacking a little bit on my last blood test, I'm lacking a little bit of vitamin D. So I take the vitamin D5000 and I've totally known a difference. And I also tried the Daily Greens plus which energizes my mornings. It's got 28 powerhouse ingredients that promote physical endurance, helps with my brain and cognitive performance and energy production. Whatever your body needs, though, you can start your health and wellness journey [e-mail] that's t h o r n e.com these statements have not been available by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. And now back to the show.

[Sean Hayes]

Hugh, let's go way back. Let's go way back to. So I think for a lot of people, certainly in this country and in Canada as well, I'm going to speak to my fellow Canadians. We sort of came to know you, I think, through Four Weddings and a Funeral was the thing where we went, everybody went, oh, this guy is amazing. But truth be told, it wasn't your first film. You'd made quite a few films before.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, I had a career before Four Weddings, but it was a bit lame. I specialized in really low quality miniseries like Judith Kranz's Till We Meet Again.

[Will Arnett]

Uh huh.

[Hugh Grant]

I was always, for some reason in these miniseries, I was always a champagne baron, an evil champagne baron. I did hundreds of those parts and I, you know, used to sell the family reserves of the best champagne to the Nazis and then get horsewhipped out of the house by Michael York.

[Sean Hayes]

Horsewhipped out of the house, yes.

[Will Arnett]

Another alternate title for the biography, Having.

[Hugh Grant]

Raped my half sister, Courtney Cox.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, my God, yes.

[Sean Hayes]

Jesus Christ. This has taken a turn for the better that I could.

[Jason Bateman]

And keep going And I'd love to see this.

[Hugh Grant]

Oh, there was another one where I was. You know, there's a brand of champagne called Charles. Anyway, I was him and.

[Jason Bateman]

What do you mean?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I played him. I played him. It was partly sponsored by the champagne makers themselves. It was not a high point in television history, I don't think.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay.

[Hugh Grant]

And I made the mistake of doing a French accent. I didn't have great lines. I remember I had to say things like, you must listen to the champagne. There is laughter in the bubbles, you know, with lines like that.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, God. How long. How long have you been a professional actor earning a paycheck?

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah. Well, 40 years.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow. Isn't that amazing?

[Will Arnett]

And it start. And before you were earning a paycheck, you were. You were learning, I'm guessing. Was there. Was there much training? Was there?

[Hugh Grant]

No.

[Will Arnett]

How early did the bug bite you?

[Sean Hayes]

You can tell.

[Will Arnett]

Maybe it was not great training. No, you're fine.

[Hugh Grant]

I never. I never trained it. The whole thing started by mistake. I had left university. I was heading off to do another degree in a different subject, which I didn't really want to do. Which was what?

[Sean Hayes]

Which is what?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I was highly pretentious. I'd just done a degree in English literature.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you.

[Hugh Grant]

I was off to do a history of art masters. And anyway, as I. In the summer, when that was about to happen, someone said, come and watch this amateur film that I had played a small part in while a student at Oxford, and I thought I might as well. I was showing BAFTA in Piccadilly that night and I went there on my bicycle and I watched it. It was not a good film, I was not good in it. But at that time in England, it was very much the vogue for actors to be hoity toity posh. It was the time of Chariots of Fire and Brideshead Revisited and things like that. So agents said to me, would you like to be an actor? We'd like to represent you. And I said, no, thank you very much, and went back to prepare for a world in the history of art. And then I suddenly thought, actually, I've got no money, so maybe I should do that for a year and then I'll go and do my other degree. So I rang them back, I said, yeah, look, I'll do this for a bit. And I got jobs, but I was so bad, I thought, I can't leave it at that. I'll do one more and try and be better. And that has gone on for 40 years.

[Jason Bateman]

Isn't that interesting? Yeah, because you're English like we all revere, and you just assume that you've had all this training as most.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I was going to say, yeah. And there are so many, of course, there are so many English actors who work over here and who as Englishmen or pose as Americans. But there is always that thing about having gone to drama school, having gone to RADA or whatever. And I wonder if growing up in that environment, now, of course you were coming out of Oxford, but growing up and a lot of your peers who were coming out of these schools, was there kind of a. I don't know, was there a thing about that? Was that something that those people. I'm not asking you to speak ill of your friends, but was there a kind of a thing about that where they kind of did. Where they lorded that over with the.

[Hugh Grant]

Ones who'd been to drama school?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, when I did this acting, I was nervous of them because I thought they must know stuff I don't know. And I did read books about, you know, the voice and the body, and I did tragic drills in the park by myself. But no, really awful, awful. I did one where you had to said, you must run backwards with your arms spread out, shouting, ha. From your diaphragm. And I was in the theater up in Nottingham in north of England at the time, and I went to the local park and I did these things. And then I remember looking over at some local kids who were saying, look, he's doing it again. What a wanker.

[Will Arnett]

There he goes again.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, in many ways they were right.

[Will Arnett]

Do you remember what? The big switch and change when you went back to do it again and do it better and not be quite as. As bad an actor as you say you were. Do you remember, did you do anything on purpose that pushed you more towards the higher quality performance? Was there one thing?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, you all know this. It's only about parts. It's just about how good the part is, really. And in the end, the script for Weddings and a Funeral came across my desk and I auditioned and they really didn't want me. The guy who wrote it, Richard Curtis, really didn't want me, thought I was all wrong, but the man who directed it did, and that seemed to help. Although I must say, I never really felt I. I got that part. I, you know. You know, you get that feeling, don't you, when you think I'm being rather good. I'm absolutely in character here. I never. I never felt that with. How do you mean that guy?

[Sean Hayes]

How do you mean?

[Hugh Grant]

I couldn't hear him. I have to hear them. And I couldn't hear him. Well, I couldn't anyway, off the page. It helped after I finally met Richard Curtis, who wrote it. Who is that guy? And so in some ways I'm just doing an imitation of him in that film.

[Jason Bateman]

Do you ever sit back? Because, I mean, we've all seen so much of your work. Do you absorb how do you get a moment of how being proud of yourself and like taking it all in and being like. I mean, you don't seem the type, but like my wish for you is that you. Is that you accept it, you know, accept all the great work you've done.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, it's night of you. I've got better. And that is a mystery. It's part again. I think it's partly part. So when I got too old and ugly to do romantic comedies and started being offered these weirdo parts, it suited me best.

[Will Arnett]

Now you're, now you're killing people. We're running down the street.

[Hugh Grant]

And you know, I have another weird. I have two theories about it. One is I learned really much too late in my career that you have to mean it, that you have to think it. There's a whole other script behind the script which is all about thoughts and feelings. And prior to that, I'd always just thought, I just need to land this funny line, right timing. And that's, that's not the way to be good. So. Meaning it was one thing, but the other thing was I have a weird theory that it was having children. I think I. I was a dried up, middle aged, golf addicted Englishman. Then I had children and suddenly I had heart and I think had more layers or something.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait a second. Now you're speaking our language. Jason and I are, we're in two hours, we're teeing off and if you ever are in town and you want to play with us.

[Jason Bateman]

Hugh, you just said, can I come?

[Hugh Grant]

I just asked.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Hugh Grant]

Now I can't today, but you'll be glad to.

[Will Arnett]

We need a fourth one.

[Sean Hayes]

We need a fourth if you can play tomorrow.

[Will Arnett]

So, Hugh, talk a little bit about, you know, when you say, jokingly you said, you know, too old, too ugly to do the rom com parts anymore, but you know, talk a bit about sort of the half serious part of that where, you know, your looks still are incredible, but that was a large part of what we knew and loved about you, was this incredibly handsome, dashing man providing the lead in all of these films, which I'd like to still see you do, considering your Incredible looks maintaining here. But, like, was that something that got in your way? Like some sort of, you know, famous, famously beautiful actresses of our time have often mentioned that, you know, they weren't taken seriously because they were so gorgeous. I mean, you know, was that ever something that you thought, well, you know, I want to be taken seriously as an actor, but people are hiring me for my looks. Was that ever something that was a problem?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I entirely lost faith that I could do anything else. I believed my critics, really. But I see now maybe I was wrong because at the very beginning, if I had any talent, it was for doing strange characters and silly voices and things outlandish things that were nothing like me. And I had this comedy group that was actually quite successful, the London and Edinburgh sort of fringe circuit, which was all character stuff, you know, silly characters.

[Sean Hayes]

What kind of year was it?

[Hugh Grant]

Sorry, that would be mid-80s.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Hugh Grant]

And yeah, we used to perform in pubs with people like Mike Myers. He was next on the hill. Yeah. And that was fun. And actually, just after I made Four Weddings, I shot another film with the same director before Four Weddings was actually released, which was, you know, I was a nicotine stained, predatory, evil, twisted, unpleasant theater director. And I was pretty good. And I wish that at least I'd kept that other strand of my career going through all those years and years of rom coms. Not that I hasten to add, not that I hate the romantic comedies. I'm proud of them. It's nice to have made films that actually entertain people. And they're much harder than people think and in some cases much better, I think, than the sneers think. My wife's good on this. She was watching, I think, Love actually the other day, because we like to watch one of my films every night. I make all the children watch them. If they don't watch them, they don't get fed. And she said, quite correctly, she said, what's good about this film is that it's about pain. And those, the good romantic comedies I did were really about pain. It's about humor, dealing with pain, the pain of being in unrequited love, et cetera.

[Will Arnett]

And so do you feel that perhaps, but for the massive success of the more sort of commercial efforts that you made, the rom com stuff, that you would have maybe had a better chance at being received as a thespian. Sometimes our great directors get stuck in that too. They're incredibly sophisticated, but then they direct some big popcorn success and now they're.

[Sean Hayes]

That director where they're shackled by financial success.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, exactly. Greed plays a big part in this.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Greed and laziness. And those two have played a huge part in my career.

[Will Arnett]

Well, but you're being falsely modest here, but do you think that. Would you have made different decisions earlier on to balance out more of the output, like chosen some weird characters alongside the others?

[Hugh Grant]

Yes, yes, yes. Well, I still had some confidence coming off this other weird film I did before Four Weddings and then another one called Restoration, which was not a very successful film with Robert Downey, but I played a kind of freakish cameo in that and I was pretty good, I thought, and I should have at least kept that going.

[Will Arnett]

Well, are you looking forward to now this stage of, you know, maybe like saying, well, check out what's been under this all this time. And here comes some more interesting parts from.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, well, I suppose that's. That's what I've been doing for the last seven or eight years.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I was going to say that. It seems like you've kind of been on that track a little bit. Yeah. And you've been sort of mixing it up.

[Hugh Grant]

I. Yeah, I have mixed it up.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Just I'm so late to the party. But the Undoing is a perfect example that you were so great in that with Nicole Kidman. And I loved that series because I'm a big fan of thrillers and stuff like that, so that was incredible. I loved that series.

[Hugh Grant]

Oh, that's nice of you. Yeah. Not easy, but very well directed, that thing. Very well. Susanna, Beer Danish. You know, that whole Scandinav thing she brought. She made that what it was, I think really cool. I think so, yeah. I mean, I was going to say, I don't want to spoil it, but it's ancient history now to be that charming guy, the ideal husband. He's a cancer doctor for kids, loving to his child, loving to his wife. Marvelous. Then it turns out he's an absolute savage psychopath.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, I love that.

[Sean Hayes]

You know, it's funny, Hugh, you seem to have like this very sort of, I gotta say, kind of refreshing and very. I don't even know what to say. Sort of honest, this sort of, sort of self appraisal that you're doing. And maybe it's because. And I will say I do share with you as now that I'm north of 54, I spend a lot of time. I don't take as many things as seriously as I used to when I was a young man, certainly when I was a young actor, certainly my career, I didn't have the career that you did. In film. In fact, I always joked that if it wasn't for bad films, I wouldn't have made one. But you seem to have this very sort of healthy, self deprecating thing. And it's not even self deprecating. I think it's quite. It's obviously very funny. But it's also. I wonder how much of it for you is cathartic to just kind of let it all go and not be serious about it. Is that a conscious decision? I quite like it. And you're encouraging me to do it more about myself.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I don't know. I mean, I feel actors can sometimes get a little pious or reverent about what they're doing, and I've never been able to go down that alley. I do in the end think we're in the entertainment business. And if you're not entertaining people, what are you doing? What are you doing? It's a bit of a. It's a bit masturbation.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

[Sean Hayes]

Sean, you want to speak to that?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, thank you. No, I totally agree. I always thought that, like, if you. Exactly what you just said, like there's a lane to pick where you make great things that speak to your heart and that are true for you and that you want to make. And that's called art. And in some form it's all art. But if nobody's watching you make that art, it's like if a tree falls in the forest, you know, like, then what are you doing?

[Hugh Grant]

I know, but that's not right either.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Hugh Grant]

I take back everything I just said.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay.

[Hugh Grant]

Because if you don't have the people trying new stuff.

[Jason Bateman]

No, I know. It's a balancing act.

[Hugh Grant]

It's a balancing act. And the problem is, I think under the umbrella of art comes an awful lot of pretentious dross that deserves to die in the forest, but also some absolute gems and artistry that actually, genuinely gets me going. On the plane last night, I watched a Zone of Interest and you. You cannot get.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, that's incredible.

[Hugh Grant]

More incredible filmmaking in every aspect amazing than that film.

[Sean Hayes]

It's incredible.

[Hugh Grant]

And that clearly is not made for, you know, Right. The masses, what you might call entertainment or money, but it's, you know, incredible.

[Sean Hayes]

Sean and Scotty, you guys don't. Because you. It's not part of the MCU, as we'd call it. Right. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, so. Adore. Sean and his husband can often be found with sort of children's lightsabers battling on the front lawn.

[Will Arnett]

Spocky.

[Jason Bateman]

I like to Call it the front line, but yeah, no, we were big sci fi fans, but I know what you mean. I think the goal then, if you're making the thing, something like Zone of Interest, and it does find an audience as it has, I believe that's the real win, is when you're making.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, because it's illuminating. It's illuminating, right? I mean, not only is it great art, there's also a message, but it's illuminating and exposing people to art sometimes. Jason, as you say, making the medicine go down earlier. I hate even calling it medicine because it is. But also getting into conversations about what is art and what is not art is a very slippery slope into douchebaggery.

[Jason Bateman]

Right, right, right.

[Will Arnett]

For sure.

[Hugh Grant]

And I think what sometimes has got lost, or perhaps has got lost is that it was possible to make big, successful box office films that were smart. I used to have a deal with Castle Rock Pictures and Rob Reiner, who was the kind of boss of that, always said there are $200 million movies in this country. One of them's moronic and the other is very bright. And you can make big successful films that are intelligent, smart, you know, groundbreaking. And he did lots of them, you know, and I think it's sad that that's got lost, that that doesn't seem to exist so much anymore. Or maybe it's. It's moved over to Netflix or something.

[Will Arnett]

We'll be right back.

[Jason Bateman]

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[Hugh Grant]

At Apple like a new iPhone 16.

[Jason Bateman]

Or Apple Watch Ultra. Apply now in the wallet app on.

[Hugh Grant]

Iphone Subject to credit.

[Jason Bateman]

Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank.

[Hugh Grant]

USA Salt Lake City branch terms and.

[Jason Bateman]

[e-mail].

[Sean Hayes]

And now back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

Now what about junkets now like the older you get for my sister Tracy, who doesn't Junket is a press tour for any project you're working on.

[Will Arnett]

And you, I bet you that's what Hugh's in town for. Hughes in town to answer a bunch of questions about this new movie coming out. And it's part of sort of. Yeah, you gotta bang the drum light your hair on fire.

[Sean Hayes]

Not only that, let's discuss the worst part, which is the back to back junket days when you sit in a room and then they trot.

[Will Arnett]

He's about to go downstairs and start.

[Sean Hayes]

That and you do and they say, okay, so today it's 35 and tomorrow it's 41 in a row. And I know you're listening at home and you're saying, hey, fuck you. I stare at a wall all day and then I drive home. But this is equally as mind numbing, I assure you.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. To that point my question is just like what we were talking about before. The older you get, you kind of have. Don't you have the power to say, guys, I'm gonna do like three today and that's it? Or I don't know.

[Hugh Grant]

Yes, you do, I suppose. But you feel a bit of an asshole if you do that.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Because you come to love the filmmakers, don't you? You love your. You know, everyone's put themselves out there and it's a terrifying moment when you're about to present something to the public and just walk away and say, I'm too grand to talk to the media is a bit wanky.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Will Arnett]

But what happens in the scenario where you've seen the film and you're like, oh boy. Oh, this come together. This did not work yet. You still have to go out and.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And champion it. Is that. Is that difficult?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, traditionally at that point I like to get arrested and then.

[Jason Bateman]

Brilliant.

[Hugh Grant]

Then you're kind of out of the loop.

[Will Arnett]

Very smart plan.

[Jason Bateman]

You're n a.

[Sean Hayes]

Tech. Not avail la.

[Will Arnett]

But this one, I imagine this one you're excited to talk about. You're in one of those really cool new. I love this new. I guess it's not a new genre, but it's a tilt on the genre of horror films where they've really, over the last, what, five or 10 years, become much more cinematic. Like these are really, really well made films. They're beautiful and they're challenging and I would imagine this is one of those. Did you have a great time doing it? Are you happy with the end product?

[Hugh Grant]

I am very happy with the end product. And you're right. Well, part of the reason I did it was because it was a 24 and.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

It's not often in life that you get something as surprising and uplifting as what they've done for cinema with just sheer balls and courage and good taste. Creating film after film that's. That's fresh and new. And often utterly fucking terrifying. I'm still getting over mid summer. You ever seen the film?

[Jason Bateman]

No, I want to see that. I haven't seen.

[Hugh Grant]

Oh, my God.

[Will Arnett]

Well, it's kind of like what you said, what Rob Reiner said, you know, like, why can't you have something that is artistically sound but also so enjoyable and so satisfying and delivers so thoroughly that it makes a whole lot of money, sells a bunch of popcorn at the same time?

[Hugh Grant]

And that's the dream scenario. Exactly.

[Will Arnett]

That's. The Bullseye Heretic has got that.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, it's definitely very smart. I mean, it's, it's, it's fascinating. There's. I'm a character who makes a lot of quite long speeches in it about religion. And they were genuinely fascinating to me, these two weirdos who wrote and directed it, Scott and Brian, who also wrote, for instance, A Quiet Place. They're interesting guys. They did years of research to come up with the arguments I make in this film. And I think they are really quite startling and fascinating. And so, yeah, I enjoyed all that part of it. And it's filmy. I am obsessed with films being filmy and not just like big format tv. So it's got incredible production design, incredible photography, and it's daring. Because traditionally, as you know, films tend to try and keep their dialogue quite pithy and short. This is very dialogue heavy.

[Will Arnett]

And how are you at learning your lines?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, worse and worse. You know, the older I get, the more I drink. But I now start weeks and weeks early and I go for walks every day going through every single line over and over again because I think they. I have a theory that they're like dance steps and that the more you repeat your dance steps, the more you can't forget them on the day. And then on the day you can have other thoughts and other feelings and do what actors are supposed to do.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, because it's in your skin.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, it's in your skin. And I hate seeing in my eyes or any other actor's eyes. I think he's just looking for his next line there.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you record? Sorry, go ahead, Sean.

[Jason Bateman]

I was gonna say Jason has the opposite. He can look at something and memorize it in five seconds.

[Sean Hayes]

He's very good at that.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't understand it.

[Will Arnett]

I don't understand it that great, but I do. It's sort of a self preservation thing. I find if I. If I wish I could do what you do, Hugh, But I find if the more I do that, the more I sort of Nail, in a way, I'm going to do that line. The more and more I talk about it and rehearse it, then I'm less flexible on the day when I see what the other actor is doing, and I actually have to change a little bit.

[Hugh Grant]

Yes, yes.

[Will Arnett]

It's harder for me if I'm really nailed down with the lines.

[Hugh Grant]

You're right. I worked in the theater once with a very good director who used to say, don't nest. You're nesting your lines in rehearsal, you know, and that was brilliant. You don't want to nest. But at the same time, I've worked with actors, as I say, where they're just struggling for their lines the whole time. That's all that's going on in that.

[Sean Hayes]

We used to sort of 20 years ago, when Jason and I were doing a television show called Arrested Development, and we used to constantly be getting rewrites at the last second. And so we'd have our sides with us on set, and we'd be looking at them and we'd blah, blah, blah, and just trying to jam it in, jam it in. They'd be like, rolling. Okay, rolling. Here we go, guys. Everybody's up in front of them. We're just looking, looking, looking. And one of the sets was this living room of this house, and we jam our sides between the cushions. So years later, do you remember this, Jay? Years later, we went and we did a few more seasons of the show for Netflix, like, whatever it was, eight, 10 years later. And they had all the old sets. They preserved them somewhere out in, I don't know, in the desert where they keep sets of old television show, and they brought the original stuff, and we go to rehearse. The first day, we're sitting on the couch, and I reach, and I think, there's no chance. I reach between the cushions, and there are all these sides that had been jammed in there years earlier from the last second, jamming them in.

[Will Arnett]

Isn't that funny? Hey. Well, Hugh, you know, you sound like you are. You're a big film fan as far as the way things are shot and designed and whatnot. With all your set experience, have you ever flirted with directing? Is that an interest to you?

[Hugh Grant]

It is of interest. There's lots of it, which is of interest. The bit that would get me down is the word. A year or two years on the same story. I've produced films in the past, and, you know, by the end of the year and a half, you just think, I don't care anymore. Just get it out you know when you're in a Foley session about which footsteps for the postman coming up the stairs.

[Jason Bateman]

But Jason, you love that kind of intricacy stuff.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, he loves the placement approaching.

[Will Arnett]

I do. I actually, yeah. We're coming up with the sound of what. What does it sound. What is the sound of a body hitting the ground? I did that on, on Ozark once. It was from 40 stories. And now we've got this other one and this new one where it's just three stories and it's going to be a different sound. And I'm find that. Yeah, exactly.

[Hugh Grant]

How did you get the 40 story one?

[Will Arnett]

It's just.

[Hugh Grant]

Did you actually throw someone out?

[Will Arnett]

No, that was something that we thought about doing, actually. Like throwing a big bag of something out. But yeah, anyway, it was just louder than the three story one. But I do anticipate that process becoming a bit tiresome. At some point. I'm going to gas and I'm going to be like, yeah, you know what? It's just the acting part from. For a while now.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, you think so?

[Will Arnett]

Perhaps.

[Hugh Grant]

It's also very, very hard to see the story. I find after a year or a.

[Will Arnett]

Year and a half to lose your objectivity.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah. Produce one of those films. We used to call, you know, the cleaning lady in the editing room and just say, come and watch this film. And then suddenly you could see it. You see it through someone else's eyes. But I couldn't. I couldn't see what other people.

[Sean Hayes]

What about. What about writing, Hugh? Have you done any writing or any film writing? Any other kind of writing?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, increasingly I ginger up my dialogue. Not on every film, but on some of them. A lot. A lot. It may be up to 80% is scribbled by me.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, really? Yeah, that's, that's. There's nothing wrong with it.

[Will Arnett]

And then how do you navigate that tricky process of not offending anyone? Ask. Well, yeah, and like you gotta kind of pitch that to the director and, or the writer or the other actors. And then what if they say, yeah, no, I like it the other way. And then you're like, yeah, but I'm the one talking and I don't want to sound like an idiot. So here's the better dialogue.

[Hugh Grant]

I agree.

[Jason Bateman]

It's Little Window.

[Hugh Grant]

I'm a master of that particular labyrinth, though. And I also am fully aware that nine times out of ten when an actor says, I got some ideas, it's going to be shit and you don't want to hear it and you dread it. And then you know, sometimes the director will have to say, now let's do one of yours. Just which, you know, is going to end up on the cutting room floor.

[Sean Hayes]

Just to keep them happy, I imagine. I don't know you, but I imagine that diplomacy is one of your strong suits.

[Hugh Grant]

You're flat out genius at that.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, that comes across.

[Will Arnett]

It would help you with directing.

[Sean Hayes]

It would actually help you with directing because that's all it is, isn't it? I mean, it's a lot of it.

[Jason Bateman]

Hugh, when you come to, when you come to la, what are the things you look forward to doing? Or as you say, when you just quote, get out of the house, what are the things you look forward to?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I was a golf addict for 12 years, so I used to get the guys together and go in golf in the very old days in the Judith Krantz till we meet again days, I used to go to Rancho Park. I bet you never played there.

[Sean Hayes]

Of course we have.

[Will Arnett]

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

They used to announce your name through a loudspeaker.

[Sean Hayes]

They still do, they still do.

[Hugh Grant]

And you team up with three guys you never met.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

More rounds played on that golf course than anywhere in the country.

[Sean Hayes]

And tell you what, if you like a seven hour around Rancho is your place.

[Will Arnett]

So you've kicked, have you kicked the habit. Having, having kids is, runs counter to it.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, that, that killed everything. And also I got the, I got the shanks.

[Will Arnett]

Uhoh.

[Sean Hayes]

Did you?

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, I got the shanks or the tom hanks as we call them in rhyming slang, worse than anybody's ever had them.

[Jason Bateman]

What's shank? What, what are the shanks?

[Will Arnett]

That's when the ball goes far right instead of straight, or it's almost impossible.

[Hugh Grant]

To achieve if you try to do it. But it's where the, the head of the club meets the shaft of the club and so the ball goes humiliatingly the hosel.

[Sean Hayes]

You know, there's a very quite famously, Ian Baker Finch who won the Open and who's now a broadcaster here in America, a golf broadcaster. And he's by the way, very good golf broadcaster and he still plays. We actually saw him last year playing. I mean, not professionally. He doesn't play professionally because he won the Open. He was sort of at the top of the game and he got the shanks and he couldn't hit a fairway and he couldn't. And it's so shanks.

[Jason Bateman]

Shanks for nothing.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, well done.

[Hugh Grant]

I once lost. I lost a ball chipping from off the green on live Television. I was in a big Pro Am in Scotland, and all I had was the tiniest chip up onto this green, one of those quarters in Scotland, shanked it, went into one of those little streams and was taken out to sea, lost.

[Sean Hayes]

That's funny.

[Hugh Grant]

That's probably when I gave Jason.

[Sean Hayes]

Jason one time at a Pro Am at Pebble beach two year. Two, three years ago, playing a couple groups ahead of me. Was in a bunker on the third hole, and he thinned one. He hit it thin out of the bunker, and it went straight into the windshield of a car.

[Hugh Grant]

Oh, that's magnificent.

[Will Arnett]

And I just dove in the bunker and just got outside, walked away, and.

[Sean Hayes]

Went to the next hole.

[Hugh Grant]

That's shameful.

[Sean Hayes]

I know.

[Hugh Grant]

Would you like to know my most shameful moment like that?

[Will Arnett]

Please.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Took my dad and my brother to play golf in Northern France, and there was one course we wanted to play on. It wasn't open, but they said, because we got our big tournament today. But we will open it especially for you, Mr. Grant. Monsieur Grant. In fact, come early. We'll cook you a special breakfast, and we'll take you to the first tee. As long as you get off before the tournament, everything's fine. So we turn up, they cook us a lovely breakfast, they drive us to the first tea round. About the third hole, I'm already in a rage. I had terrible golf rage I've had. I got the shanks with some chip and threw my wedge as far as I could over a kind of hill by the side of the third green into the bushes. Thought, right, I never want to see that funky thing again. Then realized over that hill was not the bushes, but was in fact, the first green. And I go over the top of the hill, and there is my wedge embedded like a tomahawk in the middle of the green, right next to the hole. And the competition has now started with their best players coming up the green and the guy who'd cooked us breakfast sitting in a buggy right by the green.

[Jason Bateman]

Hello there. Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Bonus.

[Will Arnett]

Some crazy man stole my wedge and threw it over this hill. I'm so glad I found it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Will Arnett]

Did you ever get to. Did you ever get to be a single digit?

[Hugh Grant]

I did. I got to 6.7. That my zenith.

[Will Arnett]

Nice.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, but you're lower than that. I can tell from your face.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all. I can't play to that at all.

[Jason Bateman]

Hugh, are you with your. Any of your family, Your kids, your wife, did they travel with you, or are you solo?

[Hugh Grant]

No. Thank God.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

Actually, my wife. My wife is coming out tomorrow.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, that's fun. Will you guys go out to eat? Will you guys go out to, like.

[Hugh Grant]

Yes, yes.

[Jason Bateman]

We miss concerts.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah. No, not concerts. No. We'll go. We'll go out for scandi. Drinking dinners.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, good.

[Hugh Grant]

Wonderful. And I still have friends here, remarkably. Especially my old Castle Rock friends.

[Will Arnett]

I'll bet.

[Hugh Grant]

Doing golf with them. Doing.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, good.

[Sean Hayes]

Last thing I want to ask you, Hugh, and then we're going to let you go. And I know you're busy and you're exhausted and this is a drag, but where do you see the next five? Because you're making all these changes and doing all these. If you had it your way, what are the next five years for?

[Hugh Grant]

Well, the fantasy, which is the same fantasy I've had for 40 years, is that I finally knock it on the head and write my novel or possibly a wonderful script, but I can't seem to get over that hurdle. I sit down and I. Terrified of failure, but I have pages and pages and pages of ideas and notes, and that would be really nice because also, I think. Right. In the last few years, it's become less enjoyable to be recognizable in the street than. Well, it's just harder now. I find it hard.

[Sean Hayes]

The camera. Because everybody's got a camera.

[Hugh Grant]

The camera thing is tough, particularly with children and.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Hugh Grant]

So it would be nice to gently disappear.

[Sean Hayes]

I would be first in line to read your book, and I think it would. I imagine it would be quite good. So.

[Jason Bateman]

And I would be second in line to listen to it.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Audio, for sure.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, you can do the audio book at the very.

[Sean Hayes]

Sean and Jason will listen to it. But please do. Please do write that book. I think it would. I imagine you'd have a lot to.

[Hugh Grant]

Say, so you've been very nice to me. Thank you.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, we're such a huge fan.

[Sean Hayes]

Massive. Massive fan, man. Massive fan. For a long time in.

[Hugh Grant]

Well, I looked at your three names and thought, I'm frightened of all three of you because they're all brilliant.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no, you're very sweet.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And you might.

[Hugh Grant]

And then I googled this podcast because I don't know much about podcasts.

[Sean Hayes]

Sure.

[Jason Bateman]

No, nor do we.

[Hugh Grant]

It's gigantic. You're the richest people I've ever met. I mean.

[Will Arnett]

No, there's plenty more.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. There's plenty more. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Do you do.

[Hugh Grant]

Do you do concerts? You know, and you sort of.

[Sean Hayes]

We did a tour. We did a tour early. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we Went to. We went everywhere actually. We were going to come to London last. This time last year. But we.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, we may end up doing a European version of it one of these days. But yeah, we love going out there on the road. It's.

[Sean Hayes]

If we come to London and we. Even if we. Would you. Would you agree now and we won't hold you to it to jump on stage and say hello if we do a show and London.

[Hugh Grant]

Yes, I do that. Yes, we play. We play golf at Sunningdale.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, that be crazy.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, Sunningdale.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes, that would be great. We, we. Jason and I had said. We talked about the London trip and the tour and we said, well, we're going to have two dates in London and then we'll bring our clubs and then we. We'll also do a date in Dublin. So we'll play in Ireland as well. We had planned it all.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

One of those I played in my. My golf story, which I've told a long, long time ago here really, really fast. I played in Dublin with my brother Kevin. And this is a true, true story. I hit it. I don't know what's shank or what's shanked again. When you hit it in the brush.

[Will Arnett]

Kind of shanks goes bad.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. So I hit it. I shanked and it hit a. And I hit it really hard. It hit a tree, bounced off and smack hit me in the neck. My own ball hit me in my own neck. I swear to God.

[Will Arnett]

Jesus Christ.

[Jason Bateman]

It was horrible.

[Sean Hayes]

It was the universe saying get the fuck out of here.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, and we didn't have. Yeah, exactly. And I did. We didn't have a little cart cart. We just had to walk everywhere. It's like, God, why is this enjoying.

[Sean Hayes]

We never play with a car.

[Jason Bateman]

We never walked 75 mile walk. I don't know.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, it's a nice walk. Why you walk in a garden and you get to play a game at the same time.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, for sure.

[Jason Bateman]

Hugh, thank you so much.

[Sean Hayes]

Grant. Continued success, man. I hope you get to do exactly what you want to do. You deserve it and we deserve to hear about it and thank you for your time and get some rest.

[Hugh Grant]

It was nice to meet you all.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you.

[Jason Bateman]

And I can't wait for heretic.

[Hugh Grant]

Yeah, thanks.

[Jason Bateman]

Thanks.

[Will Arnett]

Nice to meet you. All right, good luck with the show. Thanks you.

[Jason Bateman]

See you.

[Sean Hayes]

All right.

[Will Arnett]

Bye, pal.

[Hugh Grant]

See you guys.

[Sean Hayes]

Bye.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow, is he funny.

[Will Arnett]

I love how dry and candid and me too. Honest, refreshing. Reminds me what's that Brian Cox quote I'M too old, too rich and too famous to give a fuck. Isn't that what he said? Yeah, it was very, very refreshing. I've always been a fan of his. Never met him. Never really heard or seen an extended interview with him. So that was really nice.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, me neither. Yeah, it's one of those. I don't feel like I know a.

[Jason Bateman]

Lot about him, but I love his career trajectory too. Like.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, he's made like 100 movies too.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah. He's made so many movies and he's made, made and he's made kids movie. Didn't he make. I'm gonna look. God, I should have looked this up. I mean, terrible. He made that. The film. That was Paddington, right?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, Paddington was a great movie. Great, well done.

[Sean Hayes]

Great. Remember that?

[Jason Bateman]

That was a long time ago. Gosh, I wonder, like, oh, here comes.

[Sean Hayes]

You know back Bridget Jones, by the way, Bridget Jones. All the Bridget Jones films. Fucking Notting Hill. He made all those, all those movies with Richard Curtis that Richard Curtis wrote. Talking about the fact that Richard Curtis did not want him for Four Weddings. Who had written it and then they went on to work together and have like a wonderful working relationship.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And I wanted to get into that, but he was being too self deprecating and funny about his life to interrupt him.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, but I've always been a fan of thrillers and stuff like that. And he's got. What's it called? Heretic.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh my God.

[Jason Bateman]

Heretic. Yeah. I can't wait to get a ticket for that. Or not get a ticket, but, but. Bye. Thank you.

[Sean Hayes]

It's so. Honestly. Here's the thing. Here's the thing, Sean. No, it's too lazy.

[Will Arnett]

Just hang up on him, Sean.

[Sean Hayes]

It's not clever. It's not clever. It's just lazy fucking. Bye. Smart Less. Smart less. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbicow, Michael Grant, Terry and Rob Armjarf. Smart Less.

[Jason Bateman]

What's your boldest, truly ambitious life goal? Everyone has one and everyone deserves a way to get there. That's why State street offers a wide variety of ET to give all investors access to the market and the chance to reach their goals. Like with DIA where you get 30 US blue chip stocks in a single trade wherever you're heading. Getting there starts here with Stage Street.

[Sean Hayes]

Before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives.

[Hugh Grant]

Risks, charges and expenses.

[Sean Hayes]

Visit ssga.com for perspectives containing this and other information. Read it carefully.

[Hugh Grant]

DIA subject to risks similar to those of stocks all atf's are subject to.

[Will Arnett]

Risk, including possible loss of principle.

[Hugh Grant]

Alps Distributors, Inc.

[Sean Hayes]

Distributor.