HUGH GRANT

When I think about actors I know, I'd much rather hear about who they're shagging than what film they're doing next.

I'm horrible in the mornings. I'm grumpy.

I'm such a chronic relativist, I can't hold down a strong opinion about many things long enough.

I cling to the fantasy that I could have done something more creative. Like actually writing a script, or writing a book. But the awful truth is that I... probably can't!

Most actors really love it, that's what they want to do. They burn to do it. And so they'll read a script and think, that's an interesting part. And because they love acting, that blinds them to the fact that the rest of it is pretentious nonsense, which it very often is.

I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say I think that being in a relationship is a natural state for a human being.

Strangely enough I'm better on a stage. I love that I feel like I blossom in front of a whole bunch of people.

I had Courtney Love's left bosom out of her dress on my plate in front of me. It was extraordinary. I didn't know where to look.

But when you're a celebrity, you discover that you're no longer the pursuer, but the one being pursued. That's one of the disappointments I have had since becoming a single man.

At home, I hardly ever leave London. I don't like the countryside in England.

I think maybe in a way it gets worse because you come in with a real reputation and they've paid you lots of money and all that.

The truth is, I'd never seen a Cary Grant film. Since then I have watched his stuff and it's astounding, but I don't see any similarity between us. Except for the fact that I'm told he used to wear ladies' underwear, which is something I also do.

I don't think there's much point in putting me a deep, dark, heavy, emotional film because there are people who do it so much better than I do.

I'm quite proud of some of the films I've done, but less for the acting than for the fact that they're unpretentious and entertaining. I'm proud of having made unpretentious choices.

I find it hard to understand why Scorsese has never called. You know, given the natural menace I bring to the screen.

The reason I turn down 99% of a hundred, I mean a thousand, scripts is because romantic comedies are often very romantic but seldom very funny.

Japanese women have always loved my films, even when no one else did. Ever since I made 'Maurice' in the 1980s, I've been getting hundreds of letter from Japanese girls. They definitely have a special place in my heart.

I look at life and I see some very happy relationships, but I also see the vast majority as not being that happy.

Neither Elizabeth or I are keen to do a real-life couple on the screen. It's not very electric.

If you have a smothering parent, the effect it can apparently have on a child is to give them, in equal doses, a sense of too much self-esteem, because they are mummy's little princess or prince, and low self-esteem. It affects future relationships.

I'm very unrelaxed doing a newspaper interview.

As it is, I have a limited range as an actor - light comedy. I have never been a fan of romantic comedies, and yet that is what I have ended up mostly doing.

And I particularly like the whole thing of being boss. Boss and employee... It's the slave quality that I find very alluring.

It's very rare in life to be sure about something - particularly when it's an issue.

I think that's the whole point of Bridget Jones. It's all about that it's okay to fail.