NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
鈥淪orry about that,鈥 he apologizes. 鈥淭ech hell.鈥 Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the 鈥渄evil鈥檚 tinderbox.鈥
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e killing us. I hate them,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous.鈥
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant鈥檚 new film, In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they鈥檒l soon regret visiting. They鈥檙e welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in 鈥淗eretic,鈥 a horror thriller from A24, Grant鈥檚 turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in 鈥淔our Weddings and a Funeral鈥 and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in 鈥淟ove Actually鈥 is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
鈥淚t was a challenge,鈥 Grant says. 鈥淚 think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you鈥檝e climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up.鈥
鈥淗eretic,鈥 which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of In Grant鈥檚 hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie 鈥 a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's 鈥淐reep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey from rom-com idol to horror villain and his abiding affection for 鈥淭he Sound of Music.鈥
AP: In this descent in darker territory, nothing may be more daring than your Jar Jar Binks impression in 鈥淗别谤别迟颈肠.鈥
GRANT: Yes, thank you. It鈥檚 not easy for any actor.
AP: Was that scripted or did it come from you?
GRANT: It鈥檚 hard to remember which was the writers, which was me. But I鈥檓 pretty sure doing the Jar Jar Binks impersonation was my idea.
AP: So you knew you had a Jar Jar Binks impression in you?
GRANT: No, I didn鈥檛. I just thought it would be fun if the character did that because it鈥檇 be just weird. And, in fact, what鈥檚 odd about me is that I鈥檝e never seen a "Star Wars鈥 film.
AP: Have you seen many horror films?
GRANT: I can鈥檛. They鈥檙e too frightening for me. I watched 鈥淭he Exorcist鈥 when I was too young and I鈥檝e been in counseling ever since. I watched one by mistake recently, which was I thought it looked like a jolly, Swedish comedy. I put it on one evening for my Swedish wife who needed cheering up and she鈥檚 still very, very traumatized.
AP: Do you have any theories on why horror has been so popular in recent years?
GRANT: It鈥檚 fascinating, isn鈥檛 it? I don鈥檛 know. Maybe these are the end of times, the end days, the apocalypse. We know it deep down but for some reason we won鈥檛 confront it. I don鈥檛 know, but it鈥檚 wonderful that it sends people into the cinemas.
AP: You鈥檝e spoken before about your affinity for the big screen. Is the seeming decline of theatrical moviegoing a concern for you?
GRANT: It is. Talk about the end of days. To me, one of the gloomiest signs or omens is the gradual closing of cinemas 鈥 and not just that, where I live in London, but the closing of bars. The bar where I met my wife, which was party night every night of the week, is now largely closed. I think the fact that we鈥檙e all staying in, staring at our devil鈥檚 tinderboxes is deeply tragic, or watching things on streaming by ourselves with maybe one or two other family members. These things should be collective experiences.
AP: One element that you鈥檝e said factors into your choice of roles is whether you believe the film will be entertaining. Do you find your gauge for that is still accurate?
GRANT: My ability to gauge what鈥檚 entertaining, I used to be very proud of it. In the old days, my old career, I used to say, 鈥淚鈥檓 not so proud of my acting but I鈥檓 proud of the fact that the films I鈥檝e done, on the whole, have been entertaining and I鈥檝e been good at choosing them.鈥 And then, suddenly overnight, I became very bad at choosing them. I don鈥檛 know, I lost the zeitgeist, I suppose. That can happen. Now, I feel like I鈥檝e found something again. If the character amuses me and I think I鈥檓 going to enjoy being that person, then I tend to do the job. Sometimes, when actors are enjoying it, it works.
AP: So you go more now on what you personally respond to?
GRANT: Yes, I鈥檝e got nothing else to go on. And I鈥檓 not the lead character, the film doesn鈥檛 rest on me. I don鈥檛 have to worry that much if it does well, medium or badly. I just go by: Do I think I鈥檓 going to have some fun in this?
AP: When would you mark this shift for you?
GRANT: The big shift was after 鈥淒id You Hear About the Morgans?鈥 That was sort of officially the end of romantic comedy for me. Nothing much happened after that in showbiz terms. I went off and did political campaigning and I was quite happy, in fact. But in drips and drabs, strange little projects, like the Wachowskis' 鈥淐loud Atlas,鈥 then Stephen Fears came along with 鈥淔lorence Foster Jenkins鈥 and 鈥淎 Very English Scandal.鈥 鈥淧addington 2.鈥 These interesting, complex, often not very nice, narcissistic weirdos started to emerge from the woods.
AP: I always thought, while you made some excellent comedies, you had the misfortune of becoming a star when Hollywood wasn鈥檛 so great at making comedies.
GRANT: Looking back, I was very lucky. I had Richard Curtis on the one hand, who is not only a gifted comic writer 鈥 he can just do flat-out comedy like 鈥淏lack Adder鈥 鈥 but he鈥檚 an unrecognized dramatist. Those comedies are based on pain. The comedy is there to deal with pain. It鈥檚 people with unrequited love, lost love, bereavement, brothers with mental illness 鈥 proper pain. So I was lucky with him.
And I think I was very lucky with Marc Lawrence who just had a wonderful gift for the celebration of life. He actually likes people, which is so weird. So films like 鈥淢usic and Lyrics鈥 have a very sustaining and uplifting buoyancy to them. He鈥檚 an unrecognized talent.
AP: I do like his movies.
GRANT: You know who really loves them? The most surprising person in the world. Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino pushed his way through a crowd at a party in London once to say, (does Tarantino impression) 鈥淢an, I loved 鈥楳usic and Lyrics鈥 and 鈥楾wo Weeks Notice.鈥欌 He told me the whole plot of both films and how he was watching one of them on a plane and the plane landed and he had to rush off to a DVD shop to buy the disc so he could watch the end of it. I thought maybe he was joking but I don鈥檛 think he was. Someone told me at his cinema here in Hollywood, a rather cool, 35mm-showing theater, he鈥檚 been showing 鈥淢usic and Lyrics,鈥 no less.
AP: Perhaps that鈥檚 a bit like how you feel about 鈥淭he Sound of Music."
GRANT: Yes, my enthusiasm for that film has spread. I鈥檝e just been invited to a 60th anniversary next year in Salzburg. I might go. I might wear lederhosen. Or I might wear a white dress with a blue satin sash, as I did in school when I played Brigitta Von Trapp.
AP: Is that true?
GRANT: Yeah, I was at all-boys English school and I played, I think, the third youngest daughter.
AP: Is anything else on the level of 鈥淭he Sound of Music鈥 to you?
GRANT: The older I get the more I love song and dance. I find myself watching a lot more Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, things like that. Because life is so stressful and the news is so ghastly that it鈥檚 hard to watch very serious stuff and pick yourself up afterwards. I did watch 鈥淭he Zone of Interest鈥 coming over from London the other day. And I have to say that鈥檚 just about as good as filmmaking gets. Short of 鈥淭he Sound of Music,鈥 obviously.
AP: Looking back on your turn into more dramatic, complicated roles, has it been rewarding?
GRANT: Yes, weirdly it has, and it鈥檚 hard to say why. Is it a sort of exorcism or something? I don鈥檛 know. Way back in my 20s, when I started out acting, the only thing I thought I could ever bring to entertainment was doing silly characters, doing voices. I did them as a kid to the point where I drove people mad. I was never myself. My parents and my school teachers used to say, 鈥淐ome on, just drop it. Who鈥檚 the real Hugh Grant?鈥 So it was a bit weird to have a career as a leading-man romantic comedies where I didn鈥檛 get to be anyone unusual or weird. So I feel like this is something I can do, and quite like doing. At the same time, I learned some tricks of film acting and got a little bit better.
AP: What kind of tricks?
GRANT: The big thing for me was I learned to trust myself a bit more when you鈥檙e actually in front of the camera. There鈥檚 a terrible danger when people do film acting. They鈥檙e so frightened of this big, pressure moment that鈥檚 coming up that they sort of pre-rehearse and think, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to say the line this way, and it鈥檚 excellent that way, and I shall just try to reproduce that on the day.鈥 But that鈥檚 no good. You鈥檝e got to reinvent it on the day.
The prep work should not be how you鈥檙e going to say the lines, the prep work should be 鈥 well, for me, anyway 鈥 a kind of absurdly prolonged in-depth marinade like a piece of old meat that you leave soaking for weeks and months in sauce until it鈥檚 full of flavor. So my marinade takes the form of very, very painstaking, minute examination of the script: Why do I say this? Why do I do this? What happened in childhood for this person to behave like this? What was his mother like? What was his father like?
In the case of Mr. Reed in 鈥淗eretic,鈥 it鈥檇 be: Let鈥檚 look at some serial killers. Let鈥檚 look at some cult leaders. Let鈥檚 look at some atheists. It鈥檚 funny how important costume is. Suddenly some thing, one thing, one visual, physical thing makes you go: That鈥檚 him. With Mr. Reed it was the idea of double denim. I don鈥檛 actually wear double denim in the film but I realized, yes, he鈥檚 Mr. Double Denim. He thinks he鈥檚 a groovy teacher at university, the one who鈥檚 down with the kids, making jokes.
AP: I was surprised to learn you鈥檝e done that kind of research for roles since the 1990s.
GRANT: Yeah, that鈥檚 true. But doing it on those romantic comedies, I鈥檓 not sure I really got anywhere particularly. I wasn鈥檛 really creating monsters. It鈥檚 easier when you鈥檙e creating monsters. I鈥檓 fascinated by the bizarre, weird distortions that human beings twist themselves into emotionally, intellectually, physically from the trials and tribulations of life. I鈥檓 not sure that any of my characters in the romantic comedies were sufficiently twisted to fully get my juices flowing.
AP: Do you share Mr. Reed鈥檚 skepticism when it comes to faith?
GRANT: Not necessarily from the point of view of religion. But there is a part of me 鈥 probably a not very attractive part of me 鈥 that likes to smash people鈥檚 idols. Anyone I feel is being a bit too smug or too pretentious, I don鈥檛 like to see that. I like to just take them apart a little bit. My mother did it. She didn鈥檛 like me or my brother being too up and she鈥檇 find some way to bring us back to ground level.
AP: After this role, it might be hard for you to find something darker鈥
GRANT: I agree.
AP: Does that make you want to push darker still or rebound back in the other direction?
GRANT: It鈥檚 a very good question that I do not have the answer to. As a matter of fact, there is one thing sitting on my desk in the other room here which is pretty weird and relatively fresh. I agree, I鈥檓 not quite sure where to go from here. Maybe it鈥檚 song and dance.
