Last night, Hugh Grant appeared at the AFI Fest, where he and the movie’s filmmakers announced their new horror title, Heretic.
The film’s directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, began by explaining the inspiration behind their upcoming work and taking a moment to appreciate the broader AFI Fest event and its very Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre location.
But Hugh, who was handed the mic for less than a minute, managed to shock the crowd in reference to the latter.
“This movie theatre is absolutely magical to us. I’m sure it is to many of you in the audience,” director Beck said.
“It’s a beautiful thing that there’s hundreds of us here, many of us are strangers, and yet it’s a rarity to be here together in an age where we could sit at home on our own personal devices.
“First and foremost, thank you so much for showing up; for preserving the cinematic experience.”
Then, co-director Woods asked, “Mr. Hugh Grant, will you just say a few words please?”
The Notting Hill star replied, “I have nothing interesting to add to that except that it is very nice to be here. Hollywood Boulevard has always been a lucky place for me.”
The second part of that comment seemed to refer to his 1995 arrest for “lewd conduct” with sex worker Divine Brown.
His speech ended, “It was nice of the [Heretic] producers to pay me so little.”
Hugh has previously made light of the arrest.
When he started campaigning with the Lib Dems in 2019 to encourage “tactical voting,” some who disagreed with his views brought up his past charges.
In response to “trolls,” the actor shared his own mugshot from the case with the caption, “To my dear trolls. Hope this is helpful. Now you have more time to spend with mummy.”