Hugh Grant, who later found international stardom with "Four Weddings and a Funeral", had appeared in only one previous film, "Privileged". He was doing review comedy at the time and had lost interest in professional acting when Celestia Fox, the casting director, sent Grant to Ivory who immediately gave him the role of Clive. It helped that Grant and Wilby had worked together in Grant's only previous film, made at Oxford. Rupert Graves was cast as Alec Scudder, Maurice's working-class lover. He had appeared as Lucy Honeychurch's young brother in "A Room with a View", a performance with which he was unsatisfied, and so he appreciated the opportunity to deliver a better performance.