Two Different Kinds Fall in Love

Hugh Grant looks like a man who gets hundreds of chocolate boxes on Valentine`s Day. He is in fact still careless and irresponsible but an irresistibly charming playboy in his latest movie `Two Weeks Notice.`

Lucy (Sandra Bullock) complains, ˝Why do you treat your attorney as if she were your personal secretary?˝ Then he answered in an unexpected way, ˝I am having hard times, too. Since I hired you, I have completely dependent on you for every decision.˝

When Lucy`s mother reproaches him by saying ˝Being too rich is a shame. Can you sleep well at night?,˝ he plays the innocent, ˝Ah, I listen to the sound of waves in bed.˝

He avoids every serious and burdensome situation and makes worries disappear with his gentle smile. Yet, he is not totally helpless, though. He listens to Lucy better than her comrade boyfriend, and put all the chards on his plate knowing Lucy does not like chards. We had an interview with Hugh Grant `the king of romantic comedies.`

- You did a romantic comedy again. Don`t you feel tired?

˝You may well think that I prefer romantic comedies, but I must be the one that have turned down scripts for romantic comedies more than any other actor in the world. When I began to read the script for `Two Weeks Notice` with little expectations, I was soon attracted to the story. Then I handed the script to one of my friend in London, `I might be addicted to drugs or alcohol, will you find this story funny and refreshing as I did?` Days later, he called and said to me, `You are not crazy. It is very funny.`˝

-Which part of this movie you found interesting?

˝This movie is like a dedication to good old romantic comedies back in the time of Spencer Tracy and Audrey Hapburn. They are completely different kinds and disagree all the times, but they still fall in love. `Two Weeks Notice` is never out of date and reminds people of the golden years of romantic comedies at the same time. ˝

– Did you enjoy working with Sandra Bullock?

˝I am infamous for being picky on the set. I had not enjoyed the shootings since 1989, but this time it changed. Sandra is the funniest partner I ever had. She has a kind of childish humor like me. We just knocked the staff down by doing our own comic scenes even after the camera was turned off.˝

– What is the secret of being `the king of romantic comedies` for so many years?

˝Well…. I just can`t understand why people keep thinking like that. There is a scene in this movie where the man says, `I am just an attractive monkey. That`s all.` I think I am like that, which is a tragedy to me in some respects.˝

Hee-Kyung Kim susanna@donga.com