But Anna wants more and secretly takes a job at a love institute, where she meets star instructor Amir (Riz Ahmed) and begins to have her doubts about the whole process. "Fingernails" is set in an unspecified period to reflect the timelessness of love, said Nikou, a former assistant director to Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos, whose film "The Lobster" also anatomises relationships. Grant turned down an offer to play the owner of the love institute in "Fingernails" said Nikou, but the film still includes a tribute to the British actor. "We wanted to create an inside joke that the owner of the love Institute is Hugh Grant, because he's always the guy who gets the girl at the end. "And then he said 'no' and now he's on the marquee of a cinema (in the film) and I love that."

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Persons: Jessie Buckley, Mario Anzuoni, Christos Nikou's, Jeremy Allen White, Anna, Ryan, Amir, Riz Ahmed, Nikou, Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos, Hugh Grant, Grant, he's, Hanna Rantala, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Apple, Thomson Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles , California, U.S, British