HUGH GRANT is joining the cast of Guy Ritchie’s “Toff Guys,” which also includes Henry Golding, Kate Beckinsale and Matthew McConaughey.

Ritchie and Marn Davies wrote the script, which explores the collision between European “old money” and the modern marijuana industry. It follows a British drug lord attempting to cash in on his highly profitable empire by selling it off to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires. Grant has been tapped to play a British tabloid reporter.

The movie will see Ritchie returning to his grittier roots after a foray into family filmmaking with Disney’s live-action “Aladdin.” Miramax picked up the project at Cannes for US$30 million after the company secured a five-year, multi-bank revolving credit facility of US$300 million. Production is set to start this fall in England.

Grant was last seen in theaters playing the resident villain in “Paddington 2,” earning kudos for his comic turn as a fading actor. He can also currently be seen in Amazon’s “A Very English Scandal,” in which he plays British member of parliament Jeremy Thorpe, who was tried for attempting to murder his ex-lover.(SD-Agencies)