Did Hugh Grant His Services To Debut Director?
7:41 am, August 18th, 2009
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“Accustomed to having the pick of Hollywood’s finest romantic comedies, Hugh Grant has suffered the embarrassment of being turned down by a young British director making her debut film,” begins an article that’s beginning to get picked up.
According to the story first published in the UK’s The Telegraph, and now being repeated without any fact-checking, Grant heard about a movie called “Will’s Diaries” (a film reportedly about the discovery of William Shakespeare’s diaries), and then dialed up first-time director Charis Orchard to tell her he wanted to star in it.
Orchard herself is quoted in the piece saying, “I thought [the caller] was the film’s writer playing a joke. I did compliment him on his Hugh Grant impersonation, though, and said he sounded just like him.” Orchard subsequently cast Craig Henderson, who bears a resemblance to Grant and who ironically did some ice cream commercials with Grant’s ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley.
The article goes on to say that Orchard later realized it was actually the “Love Actually” star, but according to a rep for the film, “by that stage she had Craig Henderson lined up and felt the movie would profit from an up-and-coming actor and Craig fitted the part perfectly.”
That’s a pretty good story. But that’s all it is – just a story. A source close to Grant assures Gossip Cop that “Hugh’s never heard of [the director] or her film,” and adds, maybe it’s wishful thinking that someone like Hugh would be interested.”
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