In the Hugh Grant–Sandra Bullock rom-com Two Weeks Notice, there’s a scene where Bullock’s Lucy eats one chili dog too many and — while stuck in stalled traffic — really, really has to go. Well, as he revealed in a Reddit AMA with Florence Foster Jenkins co-star Meryl Streep, Grant had an unfortunate incident during the making of that film wherein life imitated art … in his digestive tract. That story, which ends with a makeup artist asking Grant, “Oh my god, did it blow your ass out?†is but one of the fun tidbits exposed in the Q&A, which, whilst on wiener-related business, also settled the difficult debate: Is a hotdog a sandwich? Read on for more (occasionally vegetarian) highlights.
Is a hotdog a sandwich?
Hugh: I had a very unhappy experience with Nathan’s hotdogs.
Meryl: Last night you had a hotdog.
Hugh: I had one last night, I got so hungry at the premier. Which I paid for myself.
Meryl: Only the best.
Hugh: I was filming Two Weeks Notice in Coney Island, and someone told me Nathan’s hotdogs were famous. What they didn’t tell me is you should only have one. I had seven.
Meryl: Seven?
Hugh: I was unable to return to the set after, because of the condition of my innards. I had a makeup artist from Brooklyn who did not mince her words. She said, “Oh my god, did it blow your ass out?â€
Meryl: It’s really a lovely story. I want to return to that, over and over.
Meryl: Is a hotdog a sandwich? Well with a bun, yes. Without a bun, no. It’s a canapé.
Hugh — About how often does “PoP Goes My Heart†PoP into your head? For me, it’s all the time and I don’t know why.
Hugh: I like to perform PoP Goes My Heart with all the dance moves every morning and every evening, with my children. It’s our little routine it’s like The Sound of Music. If they don’t do it I beat them.
Meryl: Oh that will go around the world.
What movie have you watched more times than any other?
Hugh: I think for me, it’s Four Weddings and a Funeral. It’s just so charming.
Meryl: For me, The Godfather.
Hugh: I agree. Or Goodfellows maybe, for me.
Meryl: No, no contest.
Hugh: Really? Well, I disagree.
Meryl: I mean I love Goodfellows and I love Nick Palleggi, but no, it’s The Godfather, 1 and 2.
If there’s any advice you could give to your 18-year-old self, what would it be?
Hugh: Don’t wear that jumpsuit. I had a girlfriend who decided in 1978 that I should have a jumpsuit, which were quite trendy. But mine was too small from crotch to shoulder especially after it had been in the washing machine, so I had to go around with a slight stoop and all the dye ran. I remember when I took it off I was bright blue. It was a mistake. We all made mistakes.
Meryl: I’m picturing that, and it’s such a beautiful thing. Jumpsuits for men are always so difficult when you get to that one area.
Meryl: Ok so me. I would say, don’t smoke.
Hugh: When was your last cigarette?
Meryl: Uh two days ago.
Hugh: Oh I see.
Meryl: No I’m kidding, but yeah, I did smoke in college and as a young actor and it’s stupid.
1) Meryl Streep — Would you actually accept a role playing Hillary Clinton?
2)Hugh Grant — Would you accept a role playing Hillary Clinton?
Meryl: For me … probably we should let Hillary play the role she was destined to play all by herself first.
Hugh: I would love to. From the age of 5 to 18 I played almost exclusively female roles.
Meryl: Is that true?
Hugh: Yea because I went to an all boys school.
Meryl: Because you were so pretty probably.
Hugh: I was pretty and undeveloped.
Meryl: Incurable!
Hugh; In many ways ravishing in dresses. And I miss those days. So yea, I would welcome that part.
Meryl: Go for it.
Mr Grant:
How did you become so very, very charming?
Is it like a thing you can turn on and off, or must you be utterly swoon-inducing in an endearingly self-deprecating way at all times?
Meryl: He turns it off often.
Hugh: Dead right. It is entirely phony, put on- switched on just for the occasion.
Meryl: Bullshit, it is not.
Hugh: No it is, I’m awful. Three quarters of my life I’m hungover, grumpy, and a miserable bastard.
Meryl: But you’re perfectly balanced because then you effervesce seemingly effortlessly. And it’s a thing a person can’t manufacture. You either have that or you don’t. You have charm or you don’t.
Scope out the rest of the duo’s answers here.