Half the battle of saving Two and a Half Men was trying to get Hugh Grant on board.

But the Notting Hill actor allegedly backed out of the opportunity to replace Charlie Sheen in the CBS show following his 2011 departure amid his public downfall and addiction battle, according to series creator Chuck Lorre.

“We had several meetings with Hugh Grant,” Lorre told E! News in an exclusive interview, “and Lee Aronsohn and I, my partner on that project, wrote several scenes to show him what we thought might be a character that he would play—very much like a Hugh Grant type of character.”

Plus, as Lorre noted in his new memoir Sitcom, out Oct. 13, CBS and Warner Bros. offered to provide Grant $750,000 an episode and a four-day work week. 

And Lorre told E! that Grant was “on board for a moment,” until he wasn’t.

“When it came time to sign a contract and proceed, he bailed. He just bailed,” he continued. “I’ve never spoken with him since that time. Just some agent or manager called and said, ‘Mr. Grant doesn’t want to do this.’”