Hugh Grant has been an Oompa Loompa, Tony the Tiger, Benoit Blanc’s husband, and now, apparently, a reclusive mad man with a penchant for tormenting young religious girls.
Grant leads A24 horror feature “Heretic,” the latest film from writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods of “A Quiet Place” fame.
“Yellowjackets” breakout Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East star as two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
A24 additionally has fellow horror film “The Front Room” on the horizon, hailing from Robert Eggers’ brothers Max and Sam Eggers. The highly-anticipated “MaXXXine,” closing out Ti West’s “X” trilogy, also hits theaters in July 2024.
“Heretic” star Grant previously told IndieWire that his career has come full circle with TV series “The Regime,” reuniting him with “Sense and Sensibility” co-star Kate Winslet.
“I’ve barely seen her for 30 years since ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ and I was a bit frightened of her now,” Grant said. “I mean, God almighty, she’s got about 400 Oscars and is revered.”
Grant compared working with Winslet to collaborating with other Oscar winners like Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins” and Nicole Kidman in “The Undoing.”
“I’m quite frightened of these women, so it was just a question of trying to keep my end up,” Grant said, adding of his approach to acting after decades in Hollywood, “What I’ve tried to do in my older age as an actor is not plan anything much. I do massive backstories on my character. I could tell you almost anything about his childhood or even his parents and everything. But I try not to plan the scene too much and to see what happens. Just see what happens, try and keep my ears open to what the other actor’s doing — assuming they’re any good — because that seems to be what the camera likes. I think I spent years slightly pre-planned in how I was going to deliver a line, particularly comedy lines, and I watch those things now and I think, ‘Yeah, that’s why that joke doesn’t work because it pre-planned, you idiot.’ Whereas anything that is fresh in the moment, delivery or sometimes just an improvisation, it tends to end up in a film and it tends to work.”
“Heretic” premieres November 15 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
