For “Heretic”, Hugh Grant had a lot of fun playing this psychopath

CINEMA – Forget Love Actually et Love at first sight in Notting Hill. In Heretica horror feature film directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, in theaters since Wednesday November 27, Hugh Grant plays a psychopathic killer. A role very different from those of eternal bachelors and great romantics for which the British actor has become famous.

On a rainy fall afternoon, Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes (Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher), two young missionaries from the Mormon church, go door to door. When they enter Mr. Reed's house, they don't know that he doesn't plan to let them out. The sixty-year-old with the affable smile and colorful cardigan is in reality a dangerous psychopath.

A role for which Scott Beck and Bryan Woods specifically sought out Hugh Grant, as he told the HuffPost. « The older I get, the more I say to myself “If you're not going to have fun, don't go.” It's getting harder and harder for me to get up at 5 a.m. to have someone put a microphone in my pants. Mays I received this script and found this whole project twisted, crazy, innovative, and very courageous “, he said in the video at the top of the article.

If Hugh Grant agreed to play in this film which mixes psychological thriller and pure horror, it is because he immediately imagined what he would be able to do with this different character. “ For all roles, but especially those of “bad guy” you have to understand what made them bad, where things went wrong. Most of the time people who look mean, who are scary, it's in reaction to an injury. When I read the script, I immediately saw who Mr. Reed was and I understood him,” remembers the actor.

Hugh Grant as a perfect psychopath

The result is chilling and surprising at the same time. In HereticHugh Grant never loses his warm smile. The threats he makes against the two sisters are disguised, almost gentle, never physical. Faced with young women who are completely at his mercy, he almost seems to apologize for placing them in this situation. All generously sprinkled with awkward jokes and puns that deliberately fall flat.

And it was not only in news items and newspaper cuttings that he sought his inspiration, nor even in figures of atheism like Christopher Hitchens. “ In reality, I took inspiration from people I know, university professors for example. And more generally of all those people who have a certain talent for making people believe that they are charming, but who are in reality frightening and repulsive. People who are deep down very lonely and who overcompensate by making too many jokes », Says the actor.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods also offered Hugh Grant a very talkative role. The (classic) monologue of the psychopathic killer is not reserved for the last minutes of the film, but occurs from the beginning of the feature film. Mr. Reed wants to convince young women that their faith is misdirected and to do so uses a whole arsenal of historical and religious arguments.

Hugh Grant wants a break from bad guys

Dialogues that the actor loved to play “ It’s exactly this kind of challenge that I like. I'm much more comfortable when I have tons of things to say, to do, to move around. For me it's relaxing. But what terrifies me, however, is when I have to remain frozen in silence and the camera moves towards me. That's scary. But I'm getting better over the years » jokes the actor.

I wonder if I've played too many bad guys

Without revealing anything about the feature film and its ending, one thing we can say is that the tension rises to a crescendo, and the darkness of Mr. Reed's character intensifies. Something that did not put off Hugh Grant, quite the contrary. “ The darker it gets, the more fun I actually have “, he even confides.

But despite all the “fun” that the 65-year-old actor says he felt playing this character, it is a type of role that he, temporarily at least, wants to put aside. “ I've been playing bad guys for 7 or 8 years, maybe not as bad as this one, but sometimes I wonder if I've played too many bad guys. And maybe it's time to take a break.” reveals Hugh Grant to HuffPost.

To return to the side of the good guys?, we inevitably ask him. “ Well, I don't think I want to do that either.”concludes the actor, enigmatic. His character of Daniel Cleaver which we will find on February 12 in Bridget Jones 4 In any case, it does not fall into either of these two categories.

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