Elizabeth Hurley’s New Hobby Earns ‘Paddington 3’ Nod From Ex Hugh Grant

Elizabeth Hurley’s new lockdown hobby has ex Hugh Grant ready to cast her in the next Paddington movie! The British actor, 60, who played villain Phoenix Buchanan in the 2017 sequel to the beloved children’s film, couldn’t help but poke fun at Hurley after her recent post revealing she had found a particularly wholesome hobby amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The actress, 55, sparked the hilarious exchange when she posted a photo holding up two jars of the beloved fictional bear’s favorite food — marmalade — joking in the caption, “Lockdown has turned me into a demented housewife: 47 jars of marmalade are nestling in my larder and another sack of Seville oranges await me.” Grant retweeted the post, simply writing, “Paddington 3.”

While it has been announced that there will be a third installment of the Paddington franchise, no details on the film have been released yet. Grant revealed in a November interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “That film, when I first saw it, I thought, it’s actually, it is a kind of masterpiece, even if you extract me. [Director] Paul King made a masterpiece. I believe it’s the only film on Rotten Tomatoes with 100 percent in the world. So I’m proud to be in it.”

Grant and Hurley dated for 13 years early in their careers but remained close friends after splitting in 2000. “We’re like brother and sister,” Grant said of his relationship with the Austin Powers actress on The Jess Cagle Interview in 2018. “I think it’s partly because we went from zero to somewhere together, and we went through terrible years in the beginning when neither of us had any work, living in a tiny flat. It was quite bonding.”

Hurley also has warm feelings for her ex, even naming him as the godparent to son Damian Hurley, 18, whom she shared with late producer Steve Bing, who died at just 55 in June 2020. Last year, she told The Times that her ex was one of the people in her life she can always count on for a laugh. “I have certain friends and family who make me howl with mirth: my sister, my son and my ex, Hugh, being the chief culprits,” she said at the time. Grant, for his part, moved on with his wife Anna Eberstein in 2018, with whom he shares three children. He is also father to two kids with ex Tinglan Hong.