“Love Actually” director Richard Curtis said his longtime leading man Hugh Grant is probably having an easier time playing recent “psychopath” roles than in the romantic comedies they used to collaborate on.
Curtis referenced Grant’s recent roles, such as his sinister, older gentleman in his latest film “Heretic.” “With regard to Hugh now, no acting required. He was always a scoundrel,” he said in an interview with the AP out Thursday. “He had to work harder in my movies when he was pretending to be nice. Now he’s a self-evident psychopath.”
In his latest horror-thriller, Grant plays Mr. Reed, a reclusive Englishman. When approached by two young female Mormon missionaries at his doorstep, the trio engage in a conversation about faith that spins into something much more violent and perverse.
Curtis said that for over a decade, no one took any risks with Grant, but he finds it “lovely” that the actor has carved out a new niche for himself in the later stages of his career.
The two worked together on romantic comedies like “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually.” However, the Emmy Award-winning director said he would still like to see Grant return to the charming, rom-com roles of his earlier years.
“I hope he does one or two movies more in line with what we used to do,” the filmmaker shared. “He’s a very interesting older man. But I’m loving his current tendency to kill people.”
When asked about the staying power of his own films, Curtis said he was “a bit puzzled by it.” The director presumed that perhaps something about his sharp, candid jokes allows audiences to resonate with the heart of his work.
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