When Hugh Grant accepted his Golden Globe in 1995 for āFour Weddings and a Funeral,ā you could say he slayed the room ā with the kind of boyishly befuddled, sweetly stammering speech he might have made to Andie MacDowell in that film or to Julia Roberts in āNotting Hill.ā
Fast forward a few decades and Grant, now 60, is doing a different kind of slaying. Heās up for another Globe for HBO's āThe Undoing,ā in which he actually kills ā like, with a mallet ā as an affluent Manhattan pediatric oncologist who sidelines as a psychopath.
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Itās not his first cinematic exploration of evil: In āA Very English Scandal,ā for which he also earned a Globe nod, Grant got some career-best reviews as Jeremy Thorpe, the real-life British political leader who was tried on charges of conspiring to murder his former lover. And on a lighter (but still not very nice) note, he played a very theatrical villain in āPaddington 2.ā
The metamorphosis has been unmistakable: As he's grown older, Grant has grown darker, at least in terms of his roles. As he tells it, he's āold and uglyā anyway ā rom-com leads aren't an option. But what unites those three recent roles, he says, is not so much evil as narcissism. āItās almost," he quips, "like the film and television world has worked out who I really am.ā
Grant spoke to The Associated Press last week upon news of his sixth Globe nomination, this time for best actor in a limited series or TV movie. He spoke from his London home where he's busy perfecting the art of making paper snowflakes, via his kids and their remote learning.
Remarks have been edited for length and clarity.
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AP: How are you feeling about this latest nomination?
GRANT: Oh, itās really nice. I was never really one of the people who gets nominations and things. I spent many years making romantic comedies that people quite liked but never got nominated. So itās really lovely. Itās put a spring in my step, which is a rare thing for me ā Iām a gloomy bastard.
AP: It's been said you are now specializing in characters that are charming like your old ones, but have a seriously dark underbelly.
GRANT: I donāt really think of it that way. I just think, āWhatās the most interesting stuff thatās coming across the desk?ā Because Iām old and ugly, I donāt get offered the charming romantic leading men, and I'm rather glad I donāt. But I do get offered some very interesting stuff.
AP: You seem to relish playing dark.
GRANT: 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 its very fascinating. So yes, itās a huge relief in fact to be expressing evil, whether itās in a very comedic way like in āPaddington 2ā or a very disguised way like in āThe Undoing,ā or in a very smarmy way like in āA Very English Scandal.ā Whatās weird is that that the common denominator of them all is not so much evil, itās narcissism.
AP: Do you ever worry that playing such unsavory characters will make you unlikeable?
GRANT: No. I really donāt have that worry! The trick anyway is that if you're playing someone evil, they have got to be FUN evil. They donāt have to be good, but they have to be enjoyable. Which really is part of the trick of acting. Itās important to be real but I think itās also very important to be in some way entertaining. In the end, thatās what we're making, entertainment. And that sometimes gets forgotten.
AP: Does being recognized this year feel different, given what's going on in the world?
GRANT: Well, I certainly wouldnāt complain about my lot. Iām very lucky. But anyone who has been doing home-schooling for the better part of a year deserves some little boost in morale. If you want me to make you a paper snowflake, I can make you a really beautiful one now. In fact I quite like making them. I have also been trying to work out what the equatorial zones of the world are with my 8-year-old. Meanwhile, they're screaming at me.