HOLLYWOOD -- Whatever became of ... Hugh Grant?

Yep, that's right -- Hugh Grant.

The last time we saw Ol' Hugh Eyes fluttering his perplexed peepers, he was dueting with Drew Barrymore in the romcom, Music and Lyrics.

That was almost two years ago, and, in the interim, Grant had been keeping quite the low profile, to the extent that even paparazzi no longer fear getting pelted with take-out food containers.

He was supposed to end his sabbatical with Lost for Words, a romantic comedy in which he signed on to play a British star acting in a Chinese movie who initially falls for his translator and, ultimately, the film's female director, played by the lovely Ziyi Zhang, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon renown.

That all changed over the weekend when Grant exited the project, with his spokesman citing those ever-pesky "creative differences."

Although Hugh's now gone, Lost for Words is expected to go on with a still-to-be-determined replacement.

As for the man with the patented stammer, he doesn't appear to have any Plan B in his back pocket.

At one point, there had been talk of him teaming with George Clooney in The Persuaders for DreamWorks, in which they would play a pair of globe-trotting, crime-solving playboys.

But that project, a reworking of the short-lived, early '70s TV series of the same name starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, has been lingering in script development hell for the past several years.

So, barring the prospect of a Mickey Blue Eyes 2 (kidding!), it looks like Grant's going to be out of the picture until late 2009 at the earliest.

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