When you think of ‘charming British man in a rom com’ only person comes to mind… Hugh Grant, obviously.
From Notting Hill and Love Actually to Bridget Jones’s Diary and Four Weddings and a Funeral, the actor is well-known for being the suave love interest with that classic British accent.
And with his first main horror role coming out soon, Grant’s still using that British twang. Set in a town in North America, Heretic sees the actor use his charm in a whole other way to play the cardigan-clad secluded psychopath, Mr Reed.
The A24 film from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods has him trap of pair of young female Mormon missionaries as he seemingly questions them over religion and faith.
What then ensues is a tense, dramatic and creepy game of ‘cat-and-mouse’ as Grant shakes off any persona of the romantic Mr Nice Guy.
Following roles as an Oompa Loompa in Wonka and the Paddington baddie, the 64-year-old admits he’s been getting ‘weirder and weirder things’ offered to him. But despite all of that, he tells LADbible why he won’t suddenly be giving up that staple British accent.
You’ve not seen Grant like this before. (A24)
Grant explains how it’s now been ‘many decades’ since he started doing films that are set over in the US and this tends to present the choice of ‘either doing an American accent or being a Brit who’s been transplanted there’.
So, ‘very early on, for various reasons’, the star decided to make a decision that he’s stuck with ever since.
“I thought, ‘Look, if he’s [the character] American, just get an American actor.’ Because whatever I bring, I feel like I won’t bring it if it’s American,” Grant says.
“And I don’t know if that was right or wrong- maybe it was wrong, but now after three decades, I think it would have been quite weird if I’d suddenly just been American, people would have gone ‘what?’”
Grant’s creepy Mr Reed. (A24)
And I mean, he’s got a point, imagine how much it would spin your head to not only see the legend play an absolute creep but for him to also have a whole other accent – for some people that might actually be the worst part.
Grant’s character really is quite the creep too as he described the tweedy Mr Reed as ‘really f**ked up and twisted and weird’.
Although, while the faith-challenging recluse terrifies the two Mormons, he does it all with a ‘big smile’.
With the character doing something pretty bloody and gross in one scene (no spoilers just yet, lads), Grant reckons things are ‘more grim and effective’ if they’re carried out with a ‘smile and a sense of humour’.
“Like it’s nothing, like it’s having a bit of fun,” he adds. Well, with 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics ahead of release, you might be in for a shock with the new horror, but at least Grant’s still British.
Heretic is in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 1 November.
