The Oscar-winning movie Cary Grant never wanted to make: “This film is ruining me”
Pour one out for Cary Grant, who suffered in silence for decades as the world’s most handsome, charming, and desirable leading man. It must have been a real affliction to be typecast as the face of Hollywood glamour and the man that legions of moviegoers would rather be married to than their actual spouses. In all seriousness, though, he did struggle with it to some extent, famously saying that everyone in the world wanted to be Cary Grant, including him.
However, playing against type is a tricky business, even for someone who could pick and choose his movies. You can go all-in, like Julie Andrews, who went topless for a role in the film S.O.B. to put Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp behind her. Gregory Peck was so firmly associated with virtue after To Kill a Mockingbird that he had to play a Nazi in The Boys from Brazil to keep audiences on their toes. Most of the time, moviegoers either ignore these bold strides upstream or condemn them, such as when Meg Ryan played a dark role in In the Cut and suffered a major career downturn as a result.
Grant had his work cut out for him when he tried to turn things around in the 1960s. He’d already retired several times by then and had only doubled down on his dapper image with movies like To Catch a Thief and Charade. When a role came around in the early ‘60s in which he would play, in the words of the screenwriter, “a drunk, disgusting, irascible, misanthropic character,” he couldn’t have found a much better opportunity. However, he wasn’t thrilled with it.
The movie was Father Goose, a wholesome tale of an alcoholic beachcomber (Grant) in the South Pacific during World War II who is forced to rescue a French teacher (Leslie Caron) and the seven schoolgirls she is stranded with. Despite his supposed grotesquery and indifference to the plight of his companions, the beachcomber does, in fact, look and eventually act like Cary Grant, so romance is inevitable.
The actor didn’t love the story on which it was based, nor did he like the script very much. But he struggled to find another project that he’d prefer to make, and Universal prevailed upon him to accept. Eventually, he claimed to embrace the opportunity that the role provided. “I was all broken down, in jeans and a beard,” he enthused. “It was me. After dressing so carefully for my films for so many years, I wanted to do the opposite.”
That said, his fellow actors remembered that it wasn’t smooth sailing with him. Apparently, he was known to shout, “This film is ruining me!” on various occasions and was preoccupied with the exorbitant budget. In short, Caron said, “He kept us on our toes.” Ultimately, it was a good gamble for all involved. Grant didn’t exactly excel at playing an unhoused man afflicted with addiction, but the movie was well-received. When the Oscars rolled around, it won the ‘Best Screenplay’ award for the script that Grant had detested.
