I didn’t want Hugh Grant to be in Four Weddings and a Funeral, writer Richard Curtis admits – as producer says Liz Hurley in THAT dress was responsible for film becoming a massive hit 30 years ago

Richard Curtis has revealed he didn’t want Hugh Grant to star in Four Weddings and a Funeral – 30 years after the film became a huge hit.

Three decades after the film’s premiere, the screenwriter said British actor Grant, then 32, was too “glamorous” for the character he had in mind. Instead, he wanted stars like Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane or John Gordon Sinclair to star. from Karel.

Meanwhile, film producer Duncan Kenworthy has claimed that Liz Hurly’s iconic safety pin dress at the UK premiere was a leading factor in the film becoming so big – after the daring outfit appeared on the front page of newspapers for a week.

Hurly was in a long-term relationship with actor Grant at the time, getting together in 1987 and calling it quits in the year 2000.

Speak with The times, Curtis revealed his reasoning for not wanting Grant to star in the comedy-romance film. ‘I argued hard against Hugh Grant. “I had a less glamorous person in mind because I’m a very unglamorous person,” he said.

The big film hit Four Weddings and a Funeral was released thirty years ago, in May 1994

Hugh Grant and Andie Macdowell star in Four Weddings and a Funeral

The screenwriter said the team interviewed about 70 people for the role, but found it difficult to find someone with the “charm and humor” needed to make the role work.

‘Hugh noticed straight away. “He gives the impression that he is worthless and can’t act, but he worked so hard on every line,” he said.

At the age of 32, Grant claimed to be on the verge of giving up acting, but was happy with the script of Four Weddings after finding the main character funny.

Kenworthy, whose first time producing a film came with Four Weddings, recalled how Grant brought a recording of his best man speech to his brother’s wedding, which was “quite funny.”

Kenworthy added that the team wrote “wedding attire” on the invitation to the UK premiere, with about 10 percent wearing wedding dresses.

The producer recalled why Hurly’s daring outfit choice became such an important part of the film’s success. ‘And then of course there was Liz Hurley’s dress, which was not a wedding dress, almost not a dress at all. That worked so well for us because she was on the front page of the newspaper for a week,” he said.

Hurly’s famous dress – featuring large gold safety pins and a side slit – remains iconic to this day.

Hurly was in a long-term relationship with Grant at the time, getting together in 1987 and calling it quits in 2000.

Hurly and Grant at the British premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994

Screenwriter Richard Curtis (pictured) revealed he didn’t want Hugh Grant to star in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Andie MacDowell, who played Carrie, recalled meeting Grant for the first time and said she thought it would be “easy” because of his charm.

And Anna Chancellor, who played Henrietta ‘Duckface’, said she still loves ducks and even had one as a pet – Daphne – which she rescued from a neighbour’s garden.

The actor added that her husband calls her Duckface, while her daughter, who tragically passed away last year at the age of 36 after a battle with leukemia, calls her “Ducky.”

Last year, film writer Curtis said he was “stupid and wrong” for joking about people’s size in his films after being confronted by his daughter.

The director said he regrets much of his work and that he was “inattentive” and “not as smart” as he should have been.

He added that he would never use the words “fat” and “chubby” again.

But he defended himself by saying he had written a gay couple into the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Curtis said he felt “stupid and wrong” for thinking he couldn’t write about those parts because of his “very diverse school” and “bunch of college friends.”

He said, “I felt like me, my casting director and my producers, just weren’t looking outward.”