Damian Hurley reveals future of unseen movie starring mum Elizabeth and Hugh Grant-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Filmmaker Damian Hurley has released his first feature-length film (Picture: Rex/Getty)

Damian Hurley is not one to brush off – or be offended by – the ‘nepo baby’ label thanks to his actress and model mum, Elizabeth Hurley.

The 22-year-old is releasing his first feature-length film, thriller Strictly Confidential, which was shot on the Caribbean island of Nevis and in the can back in December 2022.

He also boasts actors on his CV from his fledgling filmmaking career including both his mum and godfather, Hugh Grant – more on that, and the film they made together, later.

With his mother on board both as producer and in a starring role for this glamorous independent film, Damian says it’s ‘absolutely’ fair that people may see his precocious filmmaking career as being linked solely to his surname.

‘Look, it’s a very valid first conclusion to draw. You know, I was 20 when we made the film,’ he says over a crackling phone line from his home, Elizabeth’s sprawling Georgian estate near Ledbury in Herefordshire.

Well, nearly from his countryside home.

He tells me he’s actually crouched in his neighbour’s kitchen cupboard, struggling with mobile reception, after having to abandon Zoom as planned.

Damian, 22, and mum Elizabeth, 58, worked together on his debut feature-length film, Strictly Confidential (Picture: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)

However, he hasn’t let that setback get in the way of his busy promotional schedule for the movie.

And as far as he’s concerned, the ‘foot in the door’ he was given courtesy of his surname and connections? He’s now ‘keeping himself there’ and making the best of the opportunities he’s been given.

Speaking of the opportunities, the young writer-director was offered the chance to film Strictly Confidential after he made short film The Boy on the Beach in 2022, also shot in Nevis and also starring Austin Powers actress Elizabeth – as well as himself.

Damian’s also already got his next film in the pipeline – not that he can share any details at the moment, other than to reveal mum Liz is working with him once more, after she previously said she would love to.

Damian assures that ‘the feeling is mutual’, but rather dodges the question when I ask if his godfather Hugh is someone he’d want to work with in the future.

The Paddington 2 star has continued to enjoy a run of high-profile, fun roles in recent years, including in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, as the Oompa Loompa in Wonka and, most recently, appearing as Tony the Tiger in Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tart creation movie, Unfrosted.

Hollywood star Hugh had a 13-year-relationship with Liz before Damian was born in 2002 and has remained very close to both her and him since, attending Strictly Confidential’s UK premiere in London on Wednesday.

‘I think there are so many pitfalls to being so young in the industry – but I think the nice part of it is the world is one’s oyster, I have absolutely no idea what the future holds!’ he hedges.

Moving onto the safer territory of his mum however, he reveals that their shared desire to team up again has now come to fruition.

‘The film that I’m putting together now, which sadly has a gag order on, I’m not allowed to say much more about it – but I have asked her to come on board,’ he shares.

The mother and son share a close relationship, which has spilled over into a happy professional one as well (Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Lionsgate and Grindstone)

‘She’s not going to be in this one, but she’s coming on board as creative producer.’

Damian calls it ‘quite nice’ to have this support from a parent as he acknowledges: ‘I am still very young, [so it’s good] to have someone totally team Damian with no agenda, nothing but wanting the film to be as beautiful as possible.’

I remark on the recently-revealed unseen film he made as a youngster starring both his mum and ‘long-suffering’ Hugh (Damian’s words) that saw them running through an airport with a fake dagger.

The former couple have only worked together on one released film, 1988’s Rowing with the Wind, which is where they met. Damian reuniting them onscreen is something many fans would love to see, I point out.

‘Yeah!’ he agrees, chuckling. ‘It’s so funny, I was laughing the other day with Hugh about the idea of releasing some of my short films one day. We all sat down and watched them again, and I don’t think I could bear to let them see the light of them day for anyone other than my immediate family or friends!’

Elizabeth’s ex Hugh Grant is also close to Damian, as his godfather (Picture: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

Hugh, pictured with Damian in 2012, has previously starred with Elizabeth in a film Damian made when he was a youngster (Picture: Jon Furniss/WireImage)

However, Damian said he ‘couldn’t bear’ to let his old movies see the light of day (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock)

‘I was eight when we made them, so things have changed a little bit!’ he says, before adding: ‘But the essence is the same.’

So that sounds soundly like a pretty firm ‘no’ to any fans hoping to see Hugh and Liz in a film together once more.

As someone so closely tied to his mother and only coming into his own more now, following a ‘dabbling’ in fashion and his acting debut in Liz’s splashy E! series The Royals, the budding filmmaker is unfazed by any public misconceptions about him.

Strictly Confidential has generated most of its headlines thanks to a sexy lesbian scene featuring Liz and co-star Pear Chiravara, who plays one of her character Lily’s dead daughter Rebecca’s (Lauren McQueen) friends, Natasha.

Strictly Confidential follows an unfolding mystery around the suicide of character Rebecca (Lauren McQueen, pictured with co-star Freddie Thorp) (Picture: 101 Films)

Liz plays Rebecca’s mother Lily, who hosts all her friends at her Caribbean home in the wake of her death (Picture: 101 Films)

Rebecca’s tragic suicide informs much of the movie’s plot as her friend Mia (Georgia Lock) struggles to accept that she’s gone and starts to dig deeper into the mystery surrounding her death.

It’s a film for which the director says he’s drawn a lot of inspiration from European cinema, in wanting everything to look ‘exquisite’, regardless of the ‘heavy’ subject matter.

‘I think there’s a time and a place for realism in film, but it wasn’t what I wanted aesthetically in this film,’ he shares of Strictly Confidential’s sweeping shots of the ocean and the Caribbean estate where it’s set.

This glossy vibe also includes private jets, speedboats and all characters dressing for dinner.

Damian is game to talk about the fuss surrounding mum Liz’s steamy scene, which fans branded ‘perverse’ and ‘shameful’, although he gives his answer as a director first.

‘I think everyone who’s ever filmed a sensual scene, knows there’s nothing remotely sensual in real life!’ he laughs.

Many headlines have been captured by Liz’s steamy scenes with co-star Pear Chiravara (Picture: 101 Films)

‘You’re sweating, being divebombed my mosquitoes, losing the light… when you’re making a film, every moment matters, every second counts. You don’t have time to sit and think about anything except getting the shot and making the scene as beautiful as possible.’

Then, replying with his ‘son’ hat on more, he chuckles good-naturedly.

‘People have been getting very wound up about this scene – I don’t even really think we can call it a sex scene – there’s definitely nothing gratuitous or exploitative,’ Damian insists.

‘But I think probably people are relating that back to their own lives, the idea of their parents who aren’t in the industry doing it – even the idea of knowing that their parents have had sex is probably daunting to people, let alone what happens in this film!’

‘I don’t know, I just think, you know, it’s our job – and it was all very professional,’ he adds.

The mother and son are also known for taking each other’s Instagram photos – which involve a lot of bikini shots of Elizabeth snapped by Damian – but they do have boundaries in place in their relationship.

Damian can understand some of the backlash about him directing his mum’s intimate moments from people whose parents aren’t actors – but also calls it ‘hardly a sex scene’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Both are currently seeing people, they’ve recently shared, but they don’t discuss each other’s love lives.

Damian’s father was American businessman and film producer Steve Bing, who died by suicide in 2020. The pair had initially not been close but are believed to have formed a bond ahead of his death. Damian is open in sharing that the storyline for Strictly Confidential was inspired by Bing’s death.

Looking back on the experience of making Strictly Confidential now it’s out in the world, Damian recognises there were challenges he was anticipating, and those he was not.

‘When you’re shooting an independent film, you know there’s not a lot of money, you know there’s not a lot of time. And when you’re shooting on an island with no film infrastructure, you know it’s remote – you can’t nip down the street and grab an extra pair of lenses if something goes wrong. It’s a very high anxiety environment!’

The young writer-director already has his next project lined up (Picture: 101 Films)

‘But I think what really startled me most and what I couldn’t quite understand the magnitude of, is how much of the everyday stress would have absolutely nothing to do with my job,’ he admits.

He says he was ‘thrilled’ with the writing and directing aspects but rather less so by ‘the logistical hell that comes at you from every conceivable angle that you couldn’t possibly have imagined could be a thing’.

‘I think that is what, going into my next film, I will be much more prepared for.’

Strictly Confidential is available to watch on digital, including Sky, Amazon, Google Store and iTunes, on May 13.

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