Hugh Grant Joins Richard Madden, Stephan James & More For 'THR's Drama Actors Roundtable Issue

Hugh Grant joins Stephan James, Diego Luna, Richard Madden, Billy Porter and Sam Rockwell on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter‘s drama actor roundtable issue, available now.

Here’s what the group of actors had to share with the mag:

Hugh on being known for doing only romantic comedies: “After Four Weddings, and the world was my oyster, I should’ve made interesting decisions and done different stuff. Instead, I repeated myself almost identically about 17 times in a row…I’ve gotten too old and ugly and fat to do them anymore, so now I’ve done other things and I’ve got marginally less self-hatred.”

Stephen on when he knew he made it: “I found myself in the White House. Barack and Michelle Obama invited us for a special screening of Selma. And I remember when I got the email, I sent it straight to my junk because I thought it was fake. Literally, the email said, ‘The White House.’ And you want my passport and my Social Security? Yeah, no way. A week later, I’m in the White House theater with Michelle, and she’s like, ‘The popcorn is over there, make yourself at home.’”

Diego on how directing changed him as an actor: “Directing brought me patience. I used to be a pain in the ass, but with directing, suddenly you are telling the story of others and trying to read a perspective and a point of view and to honor that point of view, and it’s exhausting. And sometimes you work with assholes and you didn’t know it before and you have to keep going and get to the end. After I directed my first film, I phoned a few directors [I'd worked with], saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ But it changes once you go through that process of actually having to answer every question and sound secure to convince everyone I knew what I wanted when you [really] don’t. It’s impossible.”

Click inside to read more from the roundtable discussion…

Richard on the most challenging point in his career: “I did 11 months where I was broke and had nothing. I was turning down theater gigs — small theater gigs — because I wanted to try and do some camera acting. And the offers stop coming after you turn them down for a while and you go, ‘Right, I’ve now ruined that bit of my career.’ And I’m not getting the camera stuff. I’d shot myself in the foot. Then I got Game of Thrones, and that helped change things a bit.”

Billy on the roles he’s tired of being approached for: “I was labeled very early the flamboyant clown, and I fought that for decades. Nobody minds stopping a show, let’s get that straight — it’s fun and fabulous — but I’m finally in this moment in my life where I’m able to play that character as a fully developed human being and not just the two-dimensional version that is set up to entertain. And to have lived long enough to see that happen on my terms is fabulous.”

Sam on consulting his therapist about Fosse/Verdon: “Bob Fosse was a complicated dude, and, as Hugh said, I took a deep bath in this and it can mess with your head a little bit. But there were a lot of elements to playing him. Like the dance parts. Early on, the choreographer brought me together with this young lady who was a dancer, and I fancied myself a hoofer and I was cocky about it, but I realized quite quickly that I was not a dancer and I had a lot of work to do.”

For more from the roundtable talk, visit THR.com.