Hugh Grant introduces us to Mr. Reed, his “complex character” from Heretic

“I absolutely had to make him seductive, transform this man into a groovy professor.”

Hugh Grant recently explained that he “rediscovered the taste for the game” thanks to Cloud Atlasby the Wachowski sisters, a film with an original concept for which he agreed to play six very different characters. On the occasion of the theatrical release of Heretica horror production from A24 directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, which has just arrived in cinemas, the British actor delivers in First. On the cover of our December issue, he looks back on his entire career, detailing “the misunderstanding” who stuck to him for a long time, he who did not perceive himself at all as a romantic hero and who became THE most charming star of this type of film, of Four weddings, one funeral has Love Actually.

To read the full interview, meet at newsstandsbut here is an extract during which he introduces his new character, the very disturbing Professor Reed.

Heretic: a great number by Hugh Grant [critique]

FIRST: Hugh, we wanted to meet you because Heretic ntakes you to lands you have never explored before. Horror, independent cinema with A24 and an ultimate villain character… What came over you?

HUGH GRANT: That's a good question. First of all, I think it's always a lot of fun to try new things. You were talking about A24 and I think what they are doing for cinema is… beneficial. Just when I thought this industry was dying, here comes a studio sponsoring and promoting very original films. I won't hide from you that these are the reasons why I was attracted to this project. It's an original film which frees itself from many of the rules of cinema and which, from an acting point of view, was going to pose a lot of challenges for me. And above all, there was Mr. Reed. A complex, strange character. Worrying. I absolutely had to make him attractive, transform this man into a groovy professor.

This Mr. Reed is a bit of the peak of what you call your freak period (“freak show era”). Could you define it? For example, when does it start?

I would say after my career in romantic comedies abruptly ended in the 2010s. At that point, I was like: “Okay, that was fun, now let’s move on.” » I started getting involved in political campaigns in London. I had vaguely given up on acting. Despite everything, people started to offer me cameos, sometimes a little strange, in films quite far from what I had done up to that point. And I agreed – for fun. It started with Cloud Atlasand gradually things gained momentum. There was the character of St Clair in Florence Foster Jenkinswith Meryl Streep. And then, obviously, Buchanan in Paddington 2 arrived and I followed up with A Very British Scandal where I played the very troubled politician, Jeremy Thorpe. I then understood that there was a whole aspect of my acting that I had neglected, or even worse, that I had stopped working on from the moment I started doing romantic comedies. But that was probably how things were supposed to be.

(…)

Hugh Grant and his multiple roles in Cloud Atlas, 2013.

So, precisely, how do we go from the nice Hugh to the scary hero of Heretic ?

This is what I call the marinade. Do you know what it is? You take a piece of meat that you leave to macerate for a day or two. The meat thus soaks up the condiments, nourishes itself with different flavors… This is what I do with the individuals I play. Long, very long marinades of characters, months before making the film. I read the script and I asked myself lots of questions. Essential or completely incidental. Why did Reed say this at this point? Why does he do this particular gesture? And the answer sometimes raises another question. Over time, I build a gigantic biography of the character I'm writing (sometimes hundreds of pages long). Then, I infuse the scenario with this research. I write in the margin, in pencil, what I have learned, I note my ideas about what might be happening in the guy's head and heart.

It's a very intellectual process. Now, what characterizes the heroes of your “freak period”is that they also exist through a physical element. Reed's glasses in Heretic or those of Fletcher in The Gentlementhe Buchanan tartan in Paddington 2…

It's true. This is the burlesque side we were talking about. There is usually an objective element that corroborates my intuitions. Almost epiphanies that suddenly make me say: “It’s him!” » And it is indeed very often a costume or an accessory. For example, in Mr. Reed's case it was double denim. Ultimately, in the film, I don't wear one, but at one point, while trying on a costume in this style, I told myself that I had found the character. The denim ensemble reflected this trendy professor straight out of the 80s and 90s. For me Reed is one of those guys who wore jeans and a denim shirt, with plastic glasses, a bit iconoclastic and pretentious. This is the other advantage of these accessories, they add pleasure to the game. However, since Cloud AtlasI have a lot of fun creating these characters. For Reed, I even added a few jokes, and above all supported his selfish side a little… I really had fun with him: apart from the actor's pleasure, I knew that it would reinforce the horrific side of the film.

The real Hugh Grant: “I'm not a gentleman, I'm a creep”

Since you mention it: there is something very narcissistic in all your recent roles. Reed, Phoenix Buchanan, St Clair…

You are absolutely right to identify this common thread. And that’s actually a little worrying. (Laughs.) Am I attracted to these Narcissus? Or maybe I'm turning all these characters into narcissists and in that case that says something terrible about me, right? Or maybe that's just the way I interpret most human beings now. Perhaps because of the world in which I evolved, show business and a bit of the political world. There, narcissists are everywhere, even if some didn't seem like it and seemed at first glance quite charming and friendly, little by little, we realized that everything revolved around them. Their selfishness is undoubtedly a way for them to compensate for an injury.

Another thing that brings together all your recent freaks, although in Reed's case it's very pronounced.

When you're playing a villain, it's important to find the original trauma. How can anyone get to this point? It's usually a coping mechanism for an initial injury, a terrible thing that happened in the past that he's still suffering from. In the biography I did of him, I have all kinds of theories about Reed, but one of them is that he was… basically lonely. He probably had trouble connecting with people, even though he was very intelligent and tried to socialize constantly. He was the guy who wasn't invited to parties. And the more he tried to be funny or noticed, the more people ignored him. I have the feeling that he was trying to cope with his deep loneliness.

Heretic 2: is a sequel planned?