Hugh Grant is enjoying the darkness
When Hugh Grant accepted his Golden Globe in 1995 for “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” you could say he slayed the room with the kind of boyishly befuddled, sweetly stammering speech he might have made to Andie MacDowell in that film.
Fast forward a few decades, and Grant, now 60, is doing a different kind of slaying. He’s up for another Globe for HBO’s “The Undoing,” in which he actually kills as an affluent Manhattan pediatric oncologist who sidelines as a psychopath.
It’s not his first cinematic exploration of evil: In “A Very English Scandal,” Grant got some career-best reviews as Jeremy Thorpe, the reallife British political leader who was tried on charges of conspiring to murder his former lover. He also played a very theatrical villain in “Paddington 2.”
As he’s grown older, Grant has grown darker, at least in terms of his roles. But what unites those roles, he says, is not so much evil as narcissism. “It’s almost,” he quips, “like the film and television world has worked out who I really am.”
This interview with Grant has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How are you feeling about this nomination?
A: Oh, it’s really nice. … I spent many years making romantic comedies that people quite liked but never got nominated. So it’s really lovely. It’s put a spring in my step, which is a rare thing for me — I’m a gloomy (person).
Q: It’s been said you are now specializing in characters that are charming like your old ones, but have a seriously dark underbelly.
A: I don’t really think of it that way. I just think, “What’s the most interesting
stuff that’s coming across the desk?” Because I’m old and ugly, I don’t get offered the charming romantic leading men, and I’m rather glad I don’t. But I do get offered some very interesting stuff.
Q: You seem to relish playing dark.
A: You know, actors love playing dark. Audiences love dark. People love dark. I’ve got a book on my desk called “Why We Love Serial Killers,” and it’s very fascinating. So yes, it’s a huge relief in fact to be expressing evil, whether it’s in a very comedic way like in “Paddington 2” or a very disguised way like in “The Undoing,” or in a very smarmy way like in “A Very English Scandal.” What’s weird is that the common denominator of them all is not so much evil, it’s narcissism.
Q: Do you ever worry
that playing such unsavory characters will make you unlikeable?
A: No. I really don’t have that worry! The trick anyway is that if you’re playing someone evil, they have got to be fun evil. They don’t have to be good, but they have to be enjoyable. Which really is part of the trick of acting. It’s important to be real, but I think it’s also very important to be in some way entertaining. In the end, that’s what we’re making, entertainment. And that sometimes gets forgotten.
Feb. 16 birthdays: Singer Peggy King is 91. Actor William Katt is 70. Actor LeVar Burton is 64. Rapper Ice-T is 63. Actor Lisa Loring is 63. Guitarist Andy Taylor is 60. Drummer Dave Lombardo is 56. Actor Sarah Clarke is 49. Actor Mahershala Ali is 47. Musician Danielle Haim is 32. Actor Elizabeth Olsen is 32.