Why Hugh Grant would “happily shred” his CV
While the past few years might have been terrible for obvious reasons, one thing that has provided us with some light amid the darkness is the resurgence of Hugh Grant. The man famed for his roles in iconic rom-coms such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually, has spurned being typecast and has started to really let loose. Lately, we’ve seen him star in various flicks that have put to bed the pigeonholing that once had him characterised as exclusively a bumbling British stereotype in saccharine titles.
His most recent turn comes in the fantasy comedy Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, alongside the likes of Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Regé-Jean Page. In it, he plays Forge Fitzwilliam, an ambitious rogue and con artist, in a complete aversion to the characters he first made his name playing.
Elsewhere, in recent times, he’s starred as the duplicitous private investigator Fletcher in Guy Ritchie’s 2019 caper The Gentlemen, which could not be further away from the insecure travel book shop owner William Thacker from Notting Hill. When speaking about his resurgence, one of the highlights has been his comedic cameo in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery as protagonist Benoit Blanc’s husband. There was no better way than to resoundingly sound Grant’s new chapter.
Given that Hugh Grant has entered a new career epoch, this has come with a great deal of revisionism from the actor towards his previous pages. From labelling the ending of Notting Hill as “nauseating” to ripping into Music and Lyrics co-star Drew Barrymore’s singing ability, Hugh has pulled no punches when reappraising some of his past work.
Importantly though, Grant has saved the most scathing criticism for himself. When appearing on The Late Late Show with his Dungeons and Dragons co-stars at the end of March, Grant revealed that he would “happily shred” his CV because he “specialised in being bad for decades”. A severe account of his work, there’s no wonder that the actor has changed tact as of late.
Grant said: “I would happily shred my IMDB page, my CV, because I specialised in being bad for decades really. I got better. As you know, as someone in the industry, it’s one thing to say I was bad, but I can’t bring down the rest of my wonderful colleagues who worked with me on any film by saying it was bad … that’s my dilemma.”
