Hugh Grant.Photo: Magnus Sundholm/ShutterstockHugh Grantinitially thoughtFour Weddings and a Funeralwould be a flop.The British rom-com would go on to become a box-office hit in the U.S. and was nominated for multiple Oscars. The 1994 film ended up grossing$245.7 million on a budget of about $4.4 million.But after filming had wrapped, Grant did not have high hopes for the project — according to Sam Neill in his new memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?“I had dinner in London with Hugh Grant soon afterSirens,” Neill wrote. “I asked him what he’d been up to. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘a piece of complete crap calledFour Weddings and a Funeral. [Director] Mike Newell wouldn’t know comedy if he tripped over it. Disaster. Absolute and utter rubbish.’ ““Well,” wrote Neill, “that rubbish helped to make him exactly the kind of star I guess Universal meant back then.“Miramax/EverettGrant, 62,admitted that Neill’s fairly accurate:He told IndieWire in a statement, “I love Sam and miss him, and it’s true that we were all sure we’d made a giant turkey till the film had its first previews. I was clearly wrong and the film changed my life.“He added, “It was the beginning of a happy friendship with Richard Curtis, and I’ve always had the greatest respect for Mike Newell who taught me things I use to this day.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Four Weddings and a Funeraltruly did change Grant’s career and he went on to collaborate with screenwriter Richard Curtis in a series of wildly successful romantic comedies that includeNotting Hill(1999),Bridget Jones’s Diary(2001),Love Actually(2003) andBridget Jones: The Edge of Reason(2004).Grant even attended this year’sOscarsto present alongsideFour Weddings and a FuneralcostarAndie MacDowellfor a mini reunion.Kevin Winter/GettyBack in 2019, Grant, MacDowell and the rest ofFour Weddings and a Funeral’s castreunited to film a 12-minute sequelto the classic rom-com that depicted a fifth wedding that takes place 25 years after the original movie to benefit that year’sComic Relief’s Red Nose Day.At the67th Academy Awardsback in 1995,Four Weddings and a Funeralreceived nominations for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, thoughForrest GumpandPulp Fictioneclipsed the movie for the two awards, respectively.Sam Neill’s memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?is out now.
Hugh Grant.Photo: Magnus Sundholm/Shutterstock
Hugh Grantinitially thoughtFour Weddings and a Funeralwould be a flop.The British rom-com would go on to become a box-office hit in the U.S. and was nominated for multiple Oscars. The 1994 film ended up grossing$245.7 million on a budget of about $4.4 million.But after filming had wrapped, Grant did not have high hopes for the project — according to Sam Neill in his new memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?“I had dinner in London with Hugh Grant soon afterSirens,” Neill wrote. “I asked him what he’d been up to. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘a piece of complete crap calledFour Weddings and a Funeral. [Director] Mike Newell wouldn’t know comedy if he tripped over it. Disaster. Absolute and utter rubbish.’ ““Well,” wrote Neill, “that rubbish helped to make him exactly the kind of star I guess Universal meant back then.“Miramax/EverettGrant, 62,admitted that Neill’s fairly accurate:He told IndieWire in a statement, “I love Sam and miss him, and it’s true that we were all sure we’d made a giant turkey till the film had its first previews. I was clearly wrong and the film changed my life.“He added, “It was the beginning of a happy friendship with Richard Curtis, and I’ve always had the greatest respect for Mike Newell who taught me things I use to this day.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Four Weddings and a Funeraltruly did change Grant’s career and he went on to collaborate with screenwriter Richard Curtis in a series of wildly successful romantic comedies that includeNotting Hill(1999),Bridget Jones’s Diary(2001),Love Actually(2003) andBridget Jones: The Edge of Reason(2004).Grant even attended this year’sOscarsto present alongsideFour Weddings and a FuneralcostarAndie MacDowellfor a mini reunion.Kevin Winter/GettyBack in 2019, Grant, MacDowell and the rest ofFour Weddings and a Funeral’s castreunited to film a 12-minute sequelto the classic rom-com that depicted a fifth wedding that takes place 25 years after the original movie to benefit that year’sComic Relief’s Red Nose Day.At the67th Academy Awardsback in 1995,Four Weddings and a Funeralreceived nominations for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, thoughForrest GumpandPulp Fictioneclipsed the movie for the two awards, respectively.Sam Neill’s memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?is out now.
Hugh Grantinitially thoughtFour Weddings and a Funeralwould be a flop.
The British rom-com would go on to become a box-office hit in the U.S. and was nominated for multiple Oscars. The 1994 film ended up grossing$245.7 million on a budget of about $4.4 million.
But after filming had wrapped, Grant did not have high hopes for the project — according to Sam Neill in his new memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?
“I had dinner in London with Hugh Grant soon afterSirens,” Neill wrote. “I asked him what he’d been up to. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘a piece of complete crap calledFour Weddings and a Funeral. [Director] Mike Newell wouldn’t know comedy if he tripped over it. Disaster. Absolute and utter rubbish.’ "
“Well,” wrote Neill, “that rubbish helped to make him exactly the kind of star I guess Universal meant back then.”
Miramax/Everett
Grant, 62,admitted that Neill’s fairly accurate:He told IndieWire in a statement, “I love Sam and miss him, and it’s true that we were all sure we’d made a giant turkey till the film had its first previews. I was clearly wrong and the film changed my life.”
He added, “It was the beginning of a happy friendship with Richard Curtis, and I’ve always had the greatest respect for Mike Newell who taught me things I use to this day.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Four Weddings and a Funeraltruly did change Grant’s career and he went on to collaborate with screenwriter Richard Curtis in a series of wildly successful romantic comedies that includeNotting Hill(1999),Bridget Jones’s Diary(2001),Love Actually(2003) andBridget Jones: The Edge of Reason(2004).
Grant even attended this year’sOscarsto present alongsideFour Weddings and a FuneralcostarAndie MacDowellfor a mini reunion.
Kevin Winter/Getty
Back in 2019, Grant, MacDowell and the rest ofFour Weddings and a Funeral’s castreunited to film a 12-minute sequelto the classic rom-com that depicted a fifth wedding that takes place 25 years after the original movie to benefit that year’sComic Relief’s Red Nose Day.
At the67th Academy Awardsback in 1995,Four Weddings and a Funeralreceived nominations for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, thoughForrest GumpandPulp Fictioneclipsed the movie for the two awards, respectively.
Sam Neill’s memoirDid I Ever Tell You This?is out now.
source: people.com
