Hugh Grant has said he was “crammed” into the new Bridget Jones film as there was “no obvious role” for him.
The Love Actually star, 64, has reprised the role of Daniel Cleaver for the upcoming movie, adapted from Helen Fielding’s novel Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which sees Bridget navigate life as a single mother after the death of her husband Mark Darcy.
Grant told The Graham Norton Show: “It is a good and moving script – it is extremely funny but very sad.
“There was no obvious role for me, but I was crammed in.
“So we didn’t have a 60-year-old Daniel Cleaver wandering around looking at young girls, I made up a good interim story for him.”
Daniel was a former love interest of Bridget, played by Renee Zellweger, and is the main antagonist in the film series.
Grant also spoke about his parents’ view of his acting career, saying: “They were not at all supportive.
“My mother was a churchgoer and wanted me to be the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“In their world showbusiness meant nothing.
“I remember when Four Weddings And A Funeral came out, my mother went to a dinner party with like-minded people and when asked about her two sons she said ‘One is an investment banker and the other is a film star’.
“Another guest said, ‘How very interesting, which bank?.’ That’s the world I grew up in.”
Also on the show was actor Sebastian Stan, who talked about his role playing former US president Donald Trump in the film The Apprentice.
Stan, 42, said: “Naturally there were a lot of people asking, ‘Why do this?,’ but every time I was told not to do it, all I could think about was doing it.”
Asked about his approach to playing the Republican presidential nominee, he said: “I tried not to do an impersonation. It is bizarre but I didn’t know if I was going to get it right and I still don’t really know.
“It’s just my take on the situation.
“I also had to put on weight to play him so for a month-and-a-half I just ate ramen with soy sauce, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Coca-Cola. It was a very interesting experience.”
Singer Neneh Cherry and comedian Greg Davies were Norton’s other guests, while singer Perrie Edwards performed live in the studio.
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One on Friday at 10.40pm and is also available on the BBC iPlayer.
