Hugh Grant has declared himself too old for romantic comedy at the European premiere of his new film The Rewrite.

The 54-year-old plays a washed-up screenwriter who is forced to take a job teaching at a small-town university to make ends meet in the romantic comedy, released in cinemas tomorrow.

Grant walked the red carpet at the Odeon Kensington in west London where he was joined by ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral star said: “Nowadays I pretty much turn everything down anyway, because I just feel too old, certainly for romantic comedy and certainly for show business in general. Occasionally, they wheel me out.”

Hugh Grant at the premiere of The Rewrite at the Odeon Kensington, in west London. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

The actor, a member of anti-media intrusion campaign group Hacked Off, signed autographs and posed for selfies, but insisted: “I’m not very showbizzy at the moment.”

In The Rewrite, Grant’s character Keith Michaels initially sees his new position as a way to avoid doing any work and meet attractive young girls. But he ends up learning as much from his students as they do from him and meets single mother Holly (Marisa Tomei), who is determined to prove to him that people can get a second chance at life.

Grant said: “I know it’s being billed as a romantic comedy and I see what they’re trying to do, but it’s really only partly a romantic comedy.

“It’s also about a man who’s sort of lost in life rediscovering himself and finding new things that he actually loves in life.”

The film is Grant’s fourth collaboration with writer and director Marc Lawrence, following Two Weeks’ Notice, Music and Lyrics and Did You Hear About the Morgans? But the actor admitted he had not said yes right away to the role.

Grant said: “I’m very difficult and queenie, even with him. I put him through the ringer and there were many drafts before I deigned to sign on the dotted line.”