Hugh Grant reveals that he feels like a 32-year-old man inside a 54-old body.
The popular rom-com star, whose new film ‘The Rewrite’ is in cinemas this week, tells HuffPostUK:
“One of the reasons I’m so nice is that I got success late in life. The ones who get really screwed up are the ones who get success when they’re Michael Jackson’s age.
Hugh Grant reveals his belief that his life got "frozen" at 32 when he found big screen success
“There’s a very interesting theory about success and emotional development. They say that people tend to freeze their life at the exact moment when they become very successful or well-known, and that’s why Michael Jackson continued to live as a kid throughout his life."
Asked if that has happened to him, Hugh agrees.
“I still live the life, almost identical, to how I lived when I was 32," he says. "Certainly the lifestyle hasn’t changed at all."
‘The Rewrite’ finds Hugh in rom-com mode, playing a screenwriter whose best, Oscar-winning days are behind him, and who must start again as a university teacher, tempted by the affections of young students and inspired by a mature student, played by Marissa Tomei.
20 years later, Hugh's still getting the love, this week at the premiere of his new film 'The Rewrite'
Despite his success playing this sort of character – hapless, hopeless screen lead, whose charm eventually wins out and gets him the girl - Hugh admits he still works extremely hard to bring it all together on screen.
“I am quite nervous so I do a lot of prep, even characters like this,” he explains.
“I’ve got pages and pages of biography of the character. The script is full of little notes, and alternative lines and things like that.
“I worry a thing to death, even after we’ve made it, I worry all through the editing process.”
Understandably, he doesn’t believe that playing a romantic lead is any less difficult than the kind of more intense character roles that invariably get the gongs come Awards Season.
“I’ve never pretended to have a high opinion of my own acting, but I never quite understood why people equate deep, dark emotion with good when it comes to acting.
“After all, what Cary Grant was doing in 'The Philadelphia Story' was pretty difficult and there are lots of deep, dark actors who can’t do that, and they look pretty silly when they try.”
'The Rewrite' is in UK cinemas now. Watch the trailer above...