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, 鈥淗eretic.鈥� 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.鈥�
鈥淗eretic,鈥� which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of 鈥淎 Quiet Place.鈥� 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鈥檚 鈥淐reep.鈥�
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, and his journey from rom-com idol to horror-film villain.
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: 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 鈥淢idsommar.鈥� 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: 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: 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 Wachowski鈥檚 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: 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.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
