Hugh Grant Jokes a Colin Firth Box Office Bomb Is His 'Perfect Happiness'

Hugh Grant, Colin Firth

Hugh Grant just hilariously poked fun at his former onscreen nemesis, Colin Firth.

When asked by Vanity Fair to describe his “idea of perfect happiness” in an interview published on Thursday, November 7, Grant, 64, hilariously replied: “Drinking a pint of London Pride while munching Twiglets and reading about Colin Firth having a critical and box office catastrophe.”

Grant and Firth, also 64, famously starred as Renée Zellweger’s rivaling love interests in 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and its 2004 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Both movies saw Zellweger’s titular character caught in a complicated love triangle between Grant’s Daniel Cleaver and Firth’s Mark Darcy — resulting in two iconic and amusing fight scenes between the male leads. (Grant did not appear in the series’ third film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby.)

Grant’s recent comments are the not the first jabs he’s publicly taken at Firth. During the 2003 premiere of their film Love Actually, Grant interrupted one of Firth’s interviews by yawning behind his back. “Sorry. Go on with your very interesting answer,” he quipped before going on to praise his fellow actor.

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“I’m never very kind about Colin, but if truth be told, he’s just about the only actor in the world I genuinely like and admire,” Grant gushed.

In 2022, the faux frenemies went viral after Grant sponsored a chair at that year’s BAFTAs with a plaque that read: “In loving memory of Colin Firth. Not dead yet, but looks like it. Sponsored by Hugh Grant.”

Grant — whose new thriller Heretic hits theaters on Friday, November 8 — is set to reprise his role as Daniel in the upcoming fourth Bridget Jones installment, titled Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The film is set to follow the events of author Helen Fielding’s book of the same name, which picks up with Bridget as a single mother following the unexpected death of Mark.

Colin Firth and Hugh Grant

It has not been confirmed whether Firth will appear in the film, though photos and video obtained by The Daily Mail in July showed the Oscar winner on set filming a scene with Zellweger, 55.

While fans will have to wait to find out Mark’s fate, Grant revealed in a September interview with Vanity Fair that the film’s script made him “cry.” He shared: “I wanted to help with this one. But really there’s no part for Daniel Cleaver in it at all. They wanted him in it, and in the end, they’d done something I wasn’t crazy about.”

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Grant went on to state that he “wrote some scenes” for his character that the filmmakers incorporated into the story. “It’s absolutely the best [Bridget Jones book], and I think it’s very funny and very, very moving,” he said. “I’m not in a lot, I did a week’s work, that’s it … But when you see the film, you’ll be very moved.”

The film will also see the returns of former cast members such as Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis and Sarah Solemani. New additions include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker, Leila Farzad and Leo Woodall, the latter of whom is rumored to be playing Bridget’s new (and younger) love interest, Roxster.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy premieres in theaters on February 14, 2025.