Hugh Grant Happy To Be Out Of Hollywood

Hugh Grant has told Sky News being involved with the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics was a "refreshing" change from making films.

The British actor spent three years as a campaigner and lobbyist as part of the public inquiry into press intrusion following the phone-hacking scandal.

"I was not desperate to make movies particularly. Over the last 10 years I've been stepping back anyway," Grant said.

"It's been interesting, I mean it's quite scary, challenging the whole political thing, but really refreshing to do something completely different."

The 54-year-old-star, who is back on the big screen this week in romantic comedy The Rewrite, was a victim of phone hacking and was given a substantial sum to settle his claim against the News Of The World.

At the Leveson Inquiry he gave evidence alleging that a Mail on Sunday story about his former relationship with Jemima Khan could only have been obtained through a voicemail.

The Four Weddings And A Funeral actor, along with other celebrities such as Charlotte Church and Sienna Miller, were able to use the inquiry to air their grievances about the press.

Post-Leveson, Grant appears pleased with its outcome, but added: "A lot of it is not publicised by the newspapers who are resisting Leveson.

"The great Harold Evans, the ex-editor of The Times, says that the way Leveson and the Royal Charter have been reported by our national press has been scandalous because it's just lies, basically, out of their own self-interest.

"So, although they are saying 'it's all dead in the water' it isn't at all. They've set up their fake regulator IPSO and meantime a lot of people involved with free speech, who really care about proper journalism, are setting up a proper regulator that is compliant.

"Once that comes into effect, which it will later this year, there's these incentives in law which will make it very difficult for the press barons who rely on abusing innocent vulnerable people for their profit line to go on doing that."

Last month it was revealed that actor-director George Clooney is to direct a film adaptation of Nick Davies' book Hack Attack, an account of Davies' investigation into Rupert Murdoch's media empire which uncovered the phone hacking.

"If it does get made it's in very good hands," Grant said.

"He's incredibly talented and also very much on our side. A couple of months ago he had a go at the Daily Mail and on the back of that he and I were emailing. He's definitely on side."