By Like many actors, Hugh Grant has had ups and downs throughout his career. Like only a few however, he managed to successfully reinvent himself when the work was drying up.
Grant got his start with roles in varying interesting works like “Maurice,” “White Mischief” and “The Lair of the White Worm”. Then, in the early 1990s, he became a charming rom-com poster boy.
The sometimes floppy-haired, slightly bumbling routine worked for him for over a decade across films like “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “About a Boy” and “Love Actually”.
By the late 2000s though, a series of flops like “American Dreamz,” “Music and Lyrics” and “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” saw the now late fortysomething actor essentially written off.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Grant spoke about that low point in his career and how it was the Wachowski’s underappreciated history-spanning ensemble “Cloud Atlas” which changed his whole career:
“I was completely marooned. The Wachowskis offered me just a few small little parts in ‘Cloud Atlas,’ and to be honest, I was probably only offered that because some of their international distributors had said, ‘We need some more recognizable names. Cram someone recognizable in here.’
They would’ve thought, ‘Oh, we don’t really want Hugh Grant, but we’ll give him some tiny parts.’ They will deny that but I think it’s partly what happened.”
The experience saw him playing six different roles in the film ranging from a 19th century missionary & human trafficker, to a corrupt modern day CEO, a near-future Korean diner owner and a post-apocalyptic cannibal chieftan. It rejuvenated him:
“I thought, Oh yeah, I used to really enjoy doing characters – in fact, I almost used to enjoy acting. I started out doing silly voices, odd people, making people laugh at university, and then doing this comedy show in London. It was doing characters.
Then through sheer chance, maybe because of the way I looked, I got drawn into the leading romantic hero. It went fine, but it’s not what I think I’m best at – partly because it’s less fun.”
The result was Grant switching over to become more of a character actor, often playing a villain, and resulting in some of his best work with memorable turns in films like “Paddington 2,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Gentlemen,” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” along with celebrated TV roles like “A Very English Scandal” and “The Undoing”.
He’ll continue that streak with the upcoming horror film “Heretic” opening in November which sees him as a home owner with sinister plans for two Mormon missionaries who show up on his doorstep.
The post “Cloud Atlas” Saved Hugh Grant’s Career appeared first on Dark Horizons.
