Noted actor Hugh Grant had recently made an open confession to Justice Smith, his co-star from Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, stating that he only chose the acting profession "to be famous and make a lot of money".
The actor shocked Smith with his candid confession and the 30-year-old star was still unsure whether or not he was joking.
He shared those words during an appearance on the What Are We Even Doing? podcast hosted by Kyle MacLachlan. When MacLachlan probed Smith about his cameraderie with the veteran star during the film, he said, "I did. Oh, I love Hugh. When I worked with him, I was like, 'Hugh, you know, do you still love what you do? Do you still love this?' And he was just like, 'No.' He said, 'I've never loved it.' He's like, 'I just wanted to be famous and make a lot of money.' And I said, 'Really?' He said, 'Yeah'."
He further noted how the actor was "so funny" in real life. "And he's like, 'I've always hated the acting part of it.' And I was like, 'Oh.' But he said it with such sincerity," he added.
The words shocked Smith so much that he brought it up with Rosamund Pike while filming Now You See Me: Now You Don't to get her take on whether Grant was being serious or "just British". "She's like, 'No, I'm pretty sure he's just British.' I'm like, 'Are you sure?' I think 'cause it stuck with me. I was like, 'Oh, I guess you can be a really good actor and just want to like just do it for the fame and money'," he recalled.
During the same time Smith and MacLachlan agreed that despite his words, the 62-year-old star is a "perfectionist" and pushes himself hard with his work.
MacLachlan said he has "got a vibe about him", but "I feel like it's the torture of that experience as opposed to kind of letting it all go and just, you know, doing what he does. But I got to believe that he finds joy in it," he said, with Smith adding that his words were nothing but a sign of how great an actor he is.
"I would hope that he was joking, but also that British humour is so dry and like sometimes hard to permeate that I don't know 'cause he was so sincere. Then I watch him...he does the work, he puts a lot of effort into what he does. We were working on a silly comedy together, and you could tell he really cares about it. He's such a good actor, he'll make you believe that he doesn't," he added.
