About Hugh Grant
Charmer Shows a Slightly Darker Edge in About a Boy

 Listen to Jacki Lyden's interview with the film's directors, Chris and Paul Weitz.

 Listen to Bob Mondello's May 17, 2002 review of About a Boy.

 Listen to a Fresh Air segment that includes an interview with novelist Nick Hornby, author of About a Boy.

About a Boy's Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. Courtesy Universal Pictures

"We were working up the courage to ask him to cut his hair, when he came in and said 'You know, I think I'm going to do without one of my favorite props, and cut my hair.' And it was front-page news in England.... Slow news day, but his forelock was kind of a national treasure." About a Boy co-director Chris Weitz  About a Boy directors Chris and Paul Weitz talk about the risks of Hugh Grant's famous hair.

Grant's character argues with his female friends about staying emotionally independent. Courtesy Universal Pictures  Watch a clip from the movie.

May 18, 2002 -- Being handsome, financially independent and self-absorbed is not as easy as it looks -- but given enough practice, a man can indeed be an island unto himself. Hugh Grant's character in his latest film, About a Boy, describes a typical exhausting day:

"The important thing in island living is to be your own activity director. And I find the key is to think of the day in units of time no more than 30 minutes. Taking a bath, one unit. Exercising, three units. Having my hair carefully disheveled, four units."

In fact, Grant's haircut was a matter of no small consequence. In an interview with Weekend All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden, directors Chris and Paul Weitz -- the team of brothers who made the 1999 teen comedy American Pie, and co-wrote the script to About a Boy -- say they were hesitant to ask Grant to cut his famed forelocks.

"We were working up the courage to ask him to cut his hair, when he came in and said 'You know, I think I'm going to do without one of my favorite props, and cut my hair,'" Chris Weitz tells Lyden. "And it was front-page news in England.... Slow news day, but his forelock was kind of a national treasure."

About a Boy is the latest Nick Hornby novel to be made into a movie -- the last film was the critically acclaimed High Fidelity, directed by Stephen Frears. And once again, Grant plays an adorable, self-deprecating charmer -- similar to roles in Bridget Jones' Diary, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

But critics agree that About a Boy marks Grant's gradual departure from his usual on-screen persona. He allows his character to be darker, filled with an emotional emptiness that is filled by the most unlikely of sources for a confirmed bachelor: a 12-year-old boy, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult).

Fearful of commitment and responsibility, but still looking for love, Grant's character meets women at single parent self-help groups, inventing a fictitious 2-year-old child. He figures that women who already have a child are less likely to want to enter into a relationship. But he finds that hopping from bed to bed isn't fulfilling -- and his friendship with Marcus helps him end his perpetual adolescence.

Other Resources

• About a Boy official Web site.