Hugh Grant Names The One Film He Wishes He Could Erase

Hugh Grant has never been shy about poking fun at his own work. During a cheeky game on a late night talk show, he leaned into that reputation again. The setup was simple. Answer a tough question or face a stomach turning snack. He chose the answer.

Before he got specific, Grant warmed up with a self roast. He joked that he could do without much of his résumé. “I would happily shred my IMDb page, my CV, because I’ve specialized in being bad for decades really. I got better.” The audience ate it up.

Then he named the project that still makes him wince. It was a mid eighties swashbuckler made for television called ‘The Lady and the Highwayman.’ In it he played Lord Lucius Vyne, a dashing rogue in a hat and wig that have not aged kindly.

Grant did not hold back once the poster flashed on screen. “I’m a highway man. I’m meant to be sexy,” he said with a grin. “Low-budget, bad wig, bad hat. I look like Deputy Dawg.” You could hear the crowd laughing as he piled on.

He even acted out the voice that haunted him on set. “When I’m tense, my voice goes up two octaves. Deputy Dawg would come leaping out of trees when a carriage would come past and go, ‘Stand and deliver!’” After the bit, he summed it up with two blunt words. “It’s poor.”

For all the mockery, he made sure not to throw anyone else under the carriage. As he wrapped up his answer, Grant added a quick note for the people who worked beside him on that shoot. “But I apologize to all of my wonderful colleagues on it.” That grace note felt very him.

The moment fits a larger pattern. Grant has been candid lately about the parts that did not bring him joy. Speaking about his Oompa Loompa role in Wonka, he shrugged through a press chat and admitted, “I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.” He has joked that he still needed the work to keep his household running, but the candor struck a chord with fans who appreciate his dry honesty.

What makes this confession land is the balance he strikes. He can rib himself for a bad hat and a worse wig, and in the next breath tip his cap to the crew. It is the kind of self awareness that keeps his interviews lively and his fans loyal. Even if he wishes he could erase one early credit, the story behind it is pure Hugh Grant.