Why Connie Chung Thinks She Annoyed Hugh Grant
Connie Chung was one of the most prominent journalists in the world during the 1990s as she worked on "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" and later her own series, "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung." After being met with backslash over two interview controversies, however, Chung was given an ultimatum from CBS to either return to weekend news or resign from her role. Chung chose the latter option, and cited sexism as a large factor in the criticism she was facing.
She later worked for ABC for a time, then got her own show, "Connie Chung Tonight," on CNN, which lasted for about a year before being canceled. She also co-hosted a weekend program with her husband, television personality Maury Povich, in 2006.
In the years following, Chung has mainly stayed out of the spotlight, aside from sporadic interviews and appearances. In recent years, however, she added a new credit to her résumé when she was on the HBO television series "The Undoing," in which she played herself alongside actor Hugh Grant, a star of the thriller show. Things between the two, however, did not go especially smoothly on set, and Chung believes she may have upset Grant while they worked together.
Connie Chung noticed a sharp reaction from Hugh Grant on set
Connie Chung spoke to Andrew Goldman of Los Angeles Magazine for an interview on his podcast, "The Originals" in December of 2020. During the chat, the two talked about Chung's experiences of working on "The Undoing." Goldman complimented her performance in the HBO series, but mentioned that he wished Chung had been more heavily featured in her guest-starring role on the show.
She then offered potential explanations as to why she may not have been favored during the editing process. One reason was that Chung could have irritated Hugh Grant with comments she made about his attire. Chung detailed how she noticed Grant's tie was out of place while on set, which prompted her to let him know it could use some adjusting. "I said, 'Hugh, straighten up your tie.' And he goes [and] fixes it," Chung said during the interview.
This wasn't, however, the only imperfection Chung noticed in Grant's wardrobe. She also saw that part of his collar was sitting outside of his suit, which she advised him to alter. When Chung was about to further explain how the collar should sit, Grant chimed in with a tone that Chung felt was irritable. "[Grant] goes, 'Now what?'", Chung recalled, before adding, "He was not very friendly."
Connie Chung might've upset The Undoing's director too
Connie Chung not only mentioned this exchange with Hugh Grant, but also explained how Susanne Bier, the director of "The Undoing," seemed on edge with Chung over script revisions she made prior to shooting her guest spot for the series. After she reviewed the original script for the episode, Chung asked if she could change her lines to questions she would be more likely to ask as a journalist in real life. While she said the show's creator and writer, David E. Kelley, was fine with this, she apparently later experienced a different attitude toward the subject from Bier.
"I show up at the shoot, and [Bier] looks at me and says, 'What happened to the other script?'" Chung said to Andrew Goldman in "The Originals" podcast interview. "And I said, David E. Kelley let me rewrite it. She said, 'Oh no, we're going back to the original' ... I thought, oh God, now I have to memorize a whole new set of questions that don't sound like me."
Well, hey, sometimes you don't exactly vibe with your coworkers, and that's okay! The positive part of the story is that Chung gained a new experience and the episode was completed successfully.