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Hugh Grant Talks the Return of New Film ‘Heretic’ and ‘Bridget Jones’

Vaseline November 7, 2024

Hugh Grant may be in his villainous era, but to hear him tell it, the British actor has always had a bad streak.

The 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral” put him on the map as a leading man, unlike the creepily educated guy who terrorizes a pair of Mormon youths in the new horror movie “Heretic” (in theaters Friday). Before “Weddings” was released, Grant had a role in Mike Newell’s next film, the coming-of-age drama ‘An Awfully Big Adventure’, as a predatory director in a shabby English provincial theater.

‘Have you ever seen that movie? Nobody has that, so I don’t blame you,” jokes Grant, 64. “I’m horrible, I have yellow fingernails from chain smoking, I’m a stalking, cruel monster. And I remember thinking at the time, “I’m way better at this than I was in that movie ‘Four Weddings.'”

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His sinister, vest-clad Mr. Reed in “Heretic” follows in the footsteps of his other recent adversaries, including narcissistic thespian Phoenix Buchanan in “Paddington 2” and even the troublemaking Oompa-Loompa in “Wonka.” Reed invites Sisters Paxton (Chloe East) and Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) to his home with the promise of blueberry pie and religious conversations, but ultimately puts them through the philosophical and physical wringer.

“We posted pictures of me as a young man with a dog and ‘Bless This Mess’ (hanging) to try to calm the girls down. I played it as much as possible, really enjoyed it,” says Grant. Then it becomes much more ‘strange’.

But that’s what you get with Grant: “Hugh’s superpower is that he’s so detailed,” says Scott Beck, who co-directed “Heretic” with Bryan Woods. He “constantly challenges himself to evolve, especially over the last twelve years of being on screen and taking on more character actor roles.”

Grant talks about his ‘Heretic’ inspiration, his foray into horror and a rom-com return with ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ (streaming on Peacock Feb. 14).

Q: What was it about Mr. Reed that you thought you could get away with?

Answer: What I sniffed was an opportunity to make him the hip professor who was quite different and a bit crazy, iconoclastic and daring. I saw him teaching at a not-so-great university somewhere in the United States, with his English accent, his glasses, and his double denim, and he developed a kind of following of mostly young women. I saw him maybe giving some seminars in his own rooms and some girls came there and really thought he was some kind of messiah. And then I always thought that one of them died and it was unclear exactly what happened. The university authorities were concerned. They didn’t fire Mr. Reed. They just asked him to move on. I knew these types of teachers.

Would the leading man Hugh from years ago be happy with your current character-actor stint?

I think he would. “Four Weddings” was a big hit (and) although I’m very happy that I did all those romantic comedies after that – well, not all of them, but most of them, they’re good movies and people like them – I wish I had also kept the other strand going. There was one brief excursion for that part in “Restoration,” a movie that not enough people have seen, with Robert Downey Jr.. I played this horrible, vain, foolish character with huge beauty marks on my face. And that was actually the last appearance of ‘monster Hugh’ until six years ago.

What changed at that moment?

Well, it built up slowly. My entire romantic comedy career collapsed spectacularly in 2010, and then there was basically nothing. Then people started saying in little drops, “Oh, come and put a little bit in this, and a little bit in that.” Very often those were the places where I could bring my enthusiasm for freaks, weirdos (and) damaged, bad people to the screen. “Cloud Atlas” was a bit of that. And certainly in ‘A Very English Scandal’, that TV program where I am the politician Jeremy Thorpe. And even in ‘Paddington 2’, even though it’s comical, he’s a monster.

Speaking of films people should see, what do you remember about your first horror film, 1988’s ‘The Lair of the White Worm’?

The cast didn’t really know what to think. One or two nights before we started filming, I can honestly say that when we read through it we found it so funny that we couldn’t stop laughing. Then we noticed (director Ken Russell) was laughing too. So I think he shot that movie not quite sure if his tongue was in his cheek or not. But either way, the result is wonderfully weird. It’s crazy stuff when (Amanda Donohoe) spits venom at the crucifix. Beautiful.

Playing Daniel Cleaver again in a new “Bridget Jones” was a nice palate cleanser after Mr. Reed?

I think so. I’m also starting to think, “Wait a minute, Hugh, you’ve been making romantic comedies for too many years in a row.” Don’t just start picking on one evil freak after another.” (Laughs) So you’re right, at least it’s a change. The challenge of bringing Daniel back… well, he’s dead, so that’s always a challenge.

There is.

And the other was the nature of the Daniel Cleaver of the first two films, this boulevardier womanizer. I was very afraid that, as people in our sixties, we wouldn’t like that. We might just think that’s sick. Uhm. So I spent a lot of time working with different people, including (‘Bridget Jones’ novelist) Helen Fielding, on a new backstory for him and what happened in the intervening years to give him some extra dimensions.