Hugh Grant talks about the new film ‘The Heretic’, ‘Bridget Jones’ returns
Hugh Grant may be in his villainous days, but to hear him tell it, the British actor always had a wicked streak.
The 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral” put him on the map as the leading man, far from the educated man who terrorizes two young Mormons in the new horror film “The Heretic” (Friday theaters). Before “Weddings” was released, Grant took part in Mike Newell’s Next film, the upcoming drama “An Awfully Big Adventure,” as a director who hunts in a ruined English provincial theater.
“Have you seen that movie? Nobody has, so I don’t blame you,” joked Grant, 64. “I’m horrible, I’ve got yellow nails from chain smoking, I’m a wild, evil beast. And I remember thinking at the time, ‘I’m much better in this than I was in ‘Four Marriages.’
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His creator, the cardigan-wearing Mr. Reed in “The Heretic” follows in the footsteps of his latest antagonists, including the narcissistic thespian Phoenix Buchanan in “Paddington 2” and even the annoying Oompa-Loompa in “Wonka.” Reed invites Sisters Paxton (Chloe East) and Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) into his home with the promise of blueberry pie and religious conversation but ends up putting them in a philosophical and physical mess.
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“We took pictures of me as a young man with a dog and ‘Bless This Mess’ (hanging) to try to appease the girls. I played it, as much as I could, it’s really good,” Grant says. Then it gets really “weird”.
But that’s what you get with Grant: “Hugh’s greatest strength is that he’s an eccentric,” says Scott Beck, who directed “The Heretic” with Bryan Woods. “He’s always challenging himself to evolve, especially in the last 12 years when he’s been on screen and doing a lot of character roles.”
Grant talks about his inspiration for “The Heretic,” his obsession with horror and the return of the rom-com with “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (streaming on Peacock Feb. 14).
Question: What was it about Mr. Reed that you thought you could run with?
Answer: What I smelled was an opportunity to make him a groovy professor who was kind of different, almost crazy, iconoclastic and bold. I saw him teaching at a not-so-good university somewhere in the United States with his English accent and his glasses and his pair of denims, and he got a following from especially young women. I saw him probably having workshops in his rooms and some girls came to them and they really thought it was a messiah thing. And I always thought one of them was dead and it wasn’t really clear what happened. University officials were worried. They did not fire Mr Reed. They just asked him to continue. I knew teachers like this.
Would the leading man Hugh of yesteryear like your current time as an actor?
I think he would. “Four Weddings” hit the big time (and) though I’m so glad I did those romantic comedies after that – well, not all, but most of them, they’re good movies and people like them – I wish I could and I kept another thread going. There was one short scene for “Restoration,” a movie that people never saw, with Robert Downey Jr. I played this ugly, vain character with big spots on my face. And that was the last trip, in fact, of “monster Hugh” until six years ago.
What changed then?
Well, it slowly increased. My whole romantic comedy career came crashing down in 2010, and there was nothing. Then, little by little, people began to say, “Oh, come and do a little of this, and a little of that.” Those were often places where I could bring my enthusiasm for freaks, weirdos (and) damaged, evil people to the screen. “Cloud Atlas” was part of that. And of course in “A Very English Scandal,” that TV show where I’m the politician Jeremy Thorpe. Even in “Paddington 2,” even though it’s a comedy, it’s a monster.
Speaking of must-see movies, what do you remember about your first horror movie, 1988’s “The Lair of the White Worm”?
The actors didn’t know what to make of it. A night or two before we started shooting, I’m afraid to say that when we read it we found it so funny that we couldn’t stop laughing. Then we realized (director Ken Russell) was laughing too. So I think he shot the film not sure if his tongue was in his cheek or not. But even then, the result is amazing. It’s crazy stuff when (Amanda Donohoe) spits on the cross. Amazing.
Was he playing Daniel Cleaver again in the new “Bridget Jones” palate cleanser after Mr. Reed?
I think so. I’m also starting to think, “Wait, Hugh, you’ve been doing one romantic comedy after another for years. Don’t start doing bad things one after another.” (Laughter) So you’re right, at least it’s a change in that. The challenge of bringing Daniel back…well, one, he’s dead, so it’s always a challenge.
There is that.
And the other was Daniel Cleaver’s version of the first two films, this boulevardier woman, I was very worried that in her 60s, we will not think that it is fun. We might just think that’s sick. Ugh. So I spent a lot of time working with various people, including (“Bridget Jones” author) Helen Fielding, a new backstory for her and what happened years ago to her. give additional measurements.
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