Hugh Grant has mocked Drew Barrymore’s singing in the romantic comedy Music & Lyrics.
The actor co-starred with Barrymore in the 2007 film as washed-up pop star Alex Fletcher, who is hired to write a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen singe (Haley Bennett).
Barrymore plays Sophie Fisher, the songwriter that Grant’s character is teamed up with. During the film, they regularly sing the songs they’re writing, which Grant said required auto-tuning.
Speaking to Wired for a segment in which he answered “the web’s most-searched questions”, Grant was asked: “Does Hugh Grant actually sing in Music & Lyrics?”
He replied: “Yes, well I do, but I’m auto-tuned beyond belief.
“Actually, that's not true – I'm auto-tuned a bit, but not as much as some,” he continued, stating: “Drew Barrymore was in that film with me and I don't think she'd mind me saying her singing is just horrendous.”
He quipped: “I've heard dogs bark better than she sings.”
Grant said Barrymore improved “once they tuned her up” and that “she sounded way better than me 'cause she's got heart and voice and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Elsewhere, Grant was asked if he remembered what book he was reading on the bench at the end of the 2000 film Notting Hill. The actor, who referred to the scene as “nauseating”, then highlighted an in-joke placed in the scene by director Roger Michell, who died in 2021.
“In that nauseating moment on the bench at the end, I'm reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières, which was going to be his next film,” Grant said, adding “So it's a little in-joke from Roger Michell, God rest his soul.
The actor, who participated in the segment alongside Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, also revealed his favourite film is The Sound of Music.
Grant has been accused of “obnoxious” behaviour after a “disastrous” red carpet interview at the Oscars on Sunday (12 March).
His new film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, is out in cinemas on 31 March.
