Latest news with #HughGrant
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Welsh actor looks unrecognisable almost 30 years after his breakout role in iconic film as he strolls through London - but can YOU guess who it is?
A Welsh-born actor known for his roles in breakthrough films Twin Town and Notting Hill looked unrecognisable out in London on Friday. After his breakthrough, the actor went on to star in The Amazing Spider-Man and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, most recently making an appearance in the House Of The Dragon. He presented Welsh-language television programmes on S4C after leaving school, before making a play for the stage by studying at the Guildhall School Of Music & Drama. The BAFTA-winning actor a low profile as he stepped out in the capital on Friday on a rainy summer's day. For his outing, he wore a simple black t-shirt and grey jeans and trainers, adding a pop of colour with a colourful baseball cap. He appeared to be sporting a recent injury as he could be seen with a black wrist support glove on one hand - but can YOU guess who it is? It's none other than Rhys Ifans, who played the iconic role of Spike in the 1999 film Notting Hill alongside Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Rhys previously revealed how he led a double life of studying in an elitist drama college while breaking off doors to live illegally in around fifteen squats for months at a time. The Welsh actor said he would remove steel doors of empty council properties and change the locks before using them as his accommodation for over four years. The Notting Hill star recalled his 'great life' squatting while studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the Nineties, but added he knew it was 'illegal and dangerous'. He told Rob Brydon's podcast: 'I'd been in London a year before I went to drama school. I moved down with a mate of mine. 'For my whole period in drama school I lived in squats. I lived in about fourteen, fifteen different squats. 'It was of course illegal, and I guess looking back, dangerous. But it was a great life. 'It would be council properties, council flats. You take the steel door off in the middle of the night and then as soon as you change the locks put a notice on the door. 'They had to then switch the gas and electricity on and then you could be in it for weeks to months.' He added: 'But it was a constant case of we moved around a lot with a group of lads and girls from Belfast who I'd met at a Cramps gig and we lived together for four or five years moving in and out of different squats of varying degrees of comfort and discomfort. 'In a sense I had this real double life, which was wonderful. 'I had this kind of elitist wonderful life in college and then this extraordinary kind of vagabond existence when I went home each night. 'It was easy to do then. It's nigh on impossible now to break a squat but then it was relatively simple.' In recent years, Rhys has played Fool to Glenda Jackson's King Lear, and Scrooge at the Old Vic. He led the National's Exit The King; and then starred at the Royal Court in Ed Thomas's play On Bear Ridge. It comes after Rod Stewart revealed in 2020 that he wants a movie to be made about his life, following the success of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman - and tapped actor Rhys to play him. Sharing his thoughts on why the Notting Hill star was perfect, he said: 'Yeah, Rhys would be a very good idea. [But] he has got to do something with his barnet.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
My advice to people who want to write a romance novel? Don't get dumped before you finish it
There is one incredibly important way that the shiny romantic comedy genre differs from the cold and grimy indignities of reality, and it explains the global love affair (pun sadly intended) with the form: the happy ever after. It's obviously not the only difference between reality and romcoms – for example, romantic comedies seem to believe that most women run failed cupcake bakeries, that you can fall in love with someone you hate with a fiery passion, and that most people keep their bras on during sex – but the happy ever after is the defining contrast. For those unfamiliar, the 'happy ever after' is the defining trope of romance narratives over books, TV and film, which posits the insane ideal that once the movie's (brief) romantic conflict has been resolved, the couple in question will be in love together, forever. It's also implied that such is the transformative power of that love, that most of their other problems (failed cupcake bakery, family farm being sold, gangrenous leg) fade into the background as a result. The happy ever after is given to us in a climactic and usually iconic scene that often involves running: Billy Crystal sprinting through the streets of New York to declare his love for Meg Ryan before the ball drops, Hugh Grant driving down one-way London streets to interrupt the press conference to declare his love for Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston inexplicably getting off the plane for David Schwimmer. These scenes have to be huge and dramatic because they have to make us believe that love has overcome all obstacles. It's this certainty that makes romance narratives so compelling – in an uncertain hell-world, at least we can disappear into a make-believe universe where we know love will always triumph. In the real world, obviously love does exist – but we don't get the comforting finality of the credits, which tell us that, for these characters, they will be happily in love forever. We get all the uncertainty of being a disgusting real person who needs antibiotics for their rotting leg wound and a prenup. All the best romantic comedies have a big happy ever after ending – which is why it was so annoying when the only thing left to write in my romcom was the climactic ending, and I got unceremoniously broken up with, out of the blue. There's nothing like having your belongings put into storage, sleeping on your mum and dad's couch and applying for one-bedroom apartments for you and your dog to really make you believe that not only is a happy ever after a myth but that love might actually be a lie. There's a unique humiliation in jumping on a Zoom call with your publisher and explaining that you can't meet your delivery deadline because you're too heartbroken to write the scene that's meant to encapsulate the feeling of being in love. There's nothing like accidentally writing a happy every after scene so unintentionally depressing that you briefly consider rewriting the rest of the novel to become a sad literary tale about Irish teens who never learned how to be happy and enjoy having emotionally ambiguous sex. It's one thing to break my heart, but making me miss my deadlines is unforgivable. I didn't like this limitation I'd discovered in myself – after all, an author's job is to imagine things, so surely I could imagine the idea of being in love, even if I didn't feel or believe in it any more. Literary fiction authors use their imagination to invent a world where it isn't weird for university lecturers to date their students all the time! Sport memoir writers imagine a world where people care about cricket, and cookbook authors like to imagine that people read all the stuff before the recipe. Fantasy authors imagine things that don't exist all the time too – dragons, magic, a world before the invention of toilets that doesn't stink and suck – so surely I could use the awesome powers of my creativity to imagine two boys falling in love and having a climactic smooch? But unfortunately, I found myself stuck on the precipice of an imaginary happy ever after, bitterly wishing I'd written another book about old people solving quaint village murders instead. Ultimately what helped me write my happy ever after was the same delusion that helped me recover from heartbreak and go out and fall head over heels in love again: turning my rock bottom breakup depression into a necessary part of the narrative. When I realised that you can't get a happy ever after in a romance book without earning it first through trial and pain. You need to have your rock bottom scene for there to even be a romcom in the first place – Bridget Jones drunk and crashing out about being 'old' and alone in her apartment – before she can have her big moment of snogging Mr Darcy in the street with no pants on. Instead of bashing my head against my final scene, I went back and rewrote the beginning of the book, where my character was sad and alone and hopeless – this time with added feeling. That made me remember what fuels our love of a happy ever after romance story – it's the hope that this moment of sadness will one day end and everything will work out again. All I needed to do was remember that to write a good end to my book, only a little bit late. The gangrenous leg will heal. In order to justify that big climactic moment of happiness, we had to go through the sadness first – a good lesson for anyone writing a romance book, or recovering from a heartbreak. Patrick Lenton is a writer. His novel, In Spite of You, comes out 1 August 2025
Fox News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Hugh Grant falls asleep at Wimbledon tennis match while seated behind Queen Camilla
Hugh Grant saw an opportunity for a snooze and he took it. While attending the 2025 Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday, the British actor - who was accompanied by his wife, Anna Eberstein - seemingly took a nap during the men's singles quarter-final match between Novak Djokovic and Flavio Cobolli, according to multiple videos and photos shared on X. The moment quickly went viral as Grant - who was donning a stylish pair of shades and wearing a dark blue suit - was seated directly behind Queen Camilla. HUGH GRANT BLASTS HIS CHILDREN'S 'POSH PRIVATE SCHOOLS' FOR 'PATHETIC' RULES "Not convinced Hugh Grant is awake," one viewer wrote on X. "Can someone check on him as he's a National treasure." "Fell asleep in front of the entire UK like it was nothing," another person penned. "Hugh Grant dozing off at Wimbledon is such a classic moment — even the thrill of Centre Court couldn't keep him awake through the match!" another wrote. LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS A representative for Grant did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER The stars are known to show up for the prestigious tennis event every year. Olivia Rodrigo, John Cena, Dave Grohl, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas have been spotted sitting in the Royal Box at this year's event. "It's so special in the Royal Box to have those kind of people in there. It definitely adds a bit of pressure, I guess, if you look up and you kind of recognize (them)," 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain said, via the Associated Press. "That's why I try and stay with my eyes on the court as much as possible. Only after, you kind of look up and take it all in, if they're still there." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The seats in the Royal Box behind one of the baselines are by invitation only.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Gwyneth Paltrow thought Brad Pitt wasn't 'sophisticated enough' for her Hollywood tastes: book
Gwyneth Paltrow believed she was "smarter, better educated, more sophisticated" than Brad Pitt, according to a new biography. In an excerpt of "Gwyneth: The Biography," which was obtained by People, author Amy Odell detailed the early stages of the former couple's relationship and wrote about Paltrow's alleged concerns about Pitt. The pair met in 1993 during an audition for "Legends of the Fall." Paltrow didn't land the role, but later Pitt suggested her for the role opposite of him in the movie "Se7en." At the time, Paltrow was also offered a role in "Feeling Minnesota," which starred Keanu Reeves. "She consulted with a friend, who said, 'Well, who do you want to date, Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves?' Gwyneth chose 'Se7en' and Pitt, and Cameron Diaz took the 'Feeling Minnesota' part," Odell wrote. Paltrow and Pitt dated for two years before they got engaged in 1996. "Her dad [Bruce Paltrow] loved Brad. Her friends loved Brad. They thought he was the nicest guy," Odell wrote. According to the author, Paltrow had doubts about her relationship with Pitt early on. "Gwyneth expressed doubts to a crew member [while making the 1996 film 'Emma'] that Pitt was right for her, and admitted she had a crush on Hugh Grant," Odell wrote. She continued, "He was brought up very religious, in Missouri. It's just a very different world from hers, growing up in Manhattan, going to Spence, I think she thought he wasn't sophisticated enough for her. She thought she was smarter, better educated, more sophisticated." The book also references an interview Paltrow previously gave on her relationship with Pitt. "Brad and I have very different upbringings. So when we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad 'This is beluga and this is osetra,'" Paltrow said, per People. Pitt and Paltrow eventually called it quits in 1997. Representatives for Pitt and Paltrow did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The Sun
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Jo Bacon dead: EastEnders and Love Actually star dies aged 72 as tributes flood in for ‘brilliant' actor
ACTOR Jo Bacon who featured in EastEnders and Love Actually has died at the age of 72. The "brilliant" actor starred alongside Hugh Grant as she played Natalie's mum in the beloved 2003 classic. An iconic scene shows Natalie, played by Martine McCutcheon, coming down the stairs to meet the Prime Minister - her love interest, played by Grant - as her family stand at the door in awe. Bacon's funeral took place yesterday, following a cancer diagnosis in January. Tributes have poured in for the star, and many actors were in attendance at the ceremony on Tuesday. More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun. 1
