HOLLYWOOD Q&A

Q: Why do I know the guy who played Bill, Eve’s boss/ mentor, in the first few episodes of “Killing Eve”? He looks so familiar.

A: You may be having trouble placing him because he’s a bit out of context on “Killing Eve” — David Haig is not known as a spy-action guy.

He is, however, known as a top-notch straight man, bringing a reminder of what normal people are like into worlds full of whimsical weirdos. In that sense, he’s playing to type in “Killing Eve,” which also stars

Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Jodie Comer (“Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned”).

If context is the issue, try picturing him standing next to Hugh Grant and you’ll probably remember why you know him.

Haig’s best-known roles (to North Americans, anyway) are his films with Hugh Grant, starting with the greatest one, the genre-redefining 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Haig played Bernard, a character introduced as a guest at the first wedding and the groom at the second.

Eight years later, he reunited with Grant for another romcom, “Two Weeks Notice” (2002), playing Grant’s unpleasant older brother. In 2016, he joined Grant yet again for the comedy “Florence Foster Jenkins,” as the titular Florence’s vocal coach (who helps enable her fantasy of becoming an opera singer despite knowing she has no talent).

Q: Can you tell me if the rumors about a “Wicked” movie are actually going to result in a production?

A: Well, all the talk has already resulted in “a production,” but will it be a finished production? (Probably, but I thought I’d add some suspense.)

Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to produce it, which, in the case of a wellknown property such as the Broadway musical smash “Wicked,” is probably the biggest piece.

Granted, there has been some trouble with the release date — it was originally slated for Christmas 2019 but was moved back to Christmas 2021, and now even that’s been scrubbed. But even penciling in a Christmas release date is a major commitment in the film business.

Don’t read too much into it no longer having a release date, though — this is due to the pandemic-related production delays that have injected uncertainty into every aspect of the business. Even semi-completed films have been taken off the schedule until things settle down a little.

“Wicked” remains pretty close to a sure thing. Most Broadway smashes tend to end up as films at some point, and this one has the added advantage of being based on an already-known property (L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz”) — that makes it something like a prequel to a reimagined version of “The Wizard of Oz,” which Hollywood is addicted to these days.