Hugh Grant apparently wasn’t destined to stay in one box. When he seemed to grow old as an icon of British romantic comedies, packing his counterparts with shy smiles and vulnerabilities, he made a step aside and began to enjoy the roles of eccentric villains. On Tuesday, September 9, he celebrates his 65th birthday.
In the case of an actor who has generations and spectators fixed as a clumsy but charming young man (eg Charles of four weddings and one funeral or Will from Notting Hill), such a number has a certain weight. But the grant takes the growing gray and wrinkles with ease. As he recently joked, “I never thought I’d play at this age.”
The roles in these films made him a hero of romantic comedies that embodied a certain type of Britishness: a charming, modest, with a sense of dry humor and a little helpless in love. Even in this respect, however, the grant is not subject to nostalgia. When he recapitulated his own filmography last year for Vanity Fair, he described his character from Notting Hill as “contemptable”. He continues to undermine his own myth.
He studied literature and managed the playground of the football club
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Hugh Grant was born on September 9, 1960 in the London district of Hammersmith. His father, a former military officer, ran a carpet shop and devoted himself to watercolor painting in his free time. The source of the heritage of their acting genes, however, denotes a grant who has taught Latin, French and music education at state schools in West London for over 30 years.
Even at the time of studying English literature at New College in Oxford, he took a grant only as a hobby. He was a member of the university dramatic association and sometimes got Štěk in the film. When he had the opportunity to try a number of different occupations after graduation – for example, he managed the Fulham football club – he realized that he enjoys acting the most. Despite comedy performances in London’s pubs, theater and television he worked his way up to the film.
The promise of future contradictions can be traced in the first grant film roles. In the 1987 love drama, he played a reserved aristocrat in love with another man. In the surrealist horror movie Ken Russell’s lair of white worm fought with a bloodthirsty snake monster. At one pole, a cultivated restraint, on the other wild extravagance.
Archetype of a young self -ironic British
The international star made him a romantic comedy Four Weddings and one funeral. Funny screenplay Richard Curtis, dynamic director Mike Newell and Grant’s shyness created an archetype of a self -ironic, sympathetic Englishman with disheveled hair and a charming smile. The spectators were thrilled. The film earned over $ 250 million, brought the Grant to an Oscar and changed the idea of what British cinematography could offer the world.
This was followed by a series of hits that gave the grant a permanent place in the pantheon of romantic heroes: two in that, notting Hill, Bridget Jones, as a matter of heaven. In these films he used his talent for combining vulnerability with irony. Although he expressed sincere feelings, it had a touch of careful distance. As if he reminded us not to take him too seriously.
Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger in the romantic comedy Bridget Jones. | Photo: Universal Pictures (ext.)
But the media really took Grant. He reached the front in 1995, when he was arrested in Los Angeles because of public sex with a prostitute. He was fined, a two -year condition and an obligation to complete the AIDS educational program. A few days later he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Len to promote two comedy in it. “What the hell did you think?” Leno asked him without a cover. “I think you know what is good and bad in life,” Grant replied. “And I did something wrong.”
Grant’s reaction was a masterpiece. Sincerity instead of excuses. Self -ironic humor instead of regret. A scandal that could endanger his starting career was transformed into a grant to confirm his image of the imperfect, erroneous, and thus the charming young British.
In the first years of the new millennium, however, the popularity of romantic comedies began to decline. The films folded the music, wrote the words or Morgan seemed tired, as well as a grant that felt trapped in one type of role. “I had enough,” he admitted later. “I didn’t enjoy it anymore.” He therefore took a minor break from acting.
Britain lived a scandal with journalists from the empire of Rupert Murdoch, who secretly recorded phone calls of top politicians. The grant took advantage of this and targeted his energy to fight similar practices. The man who had previously personified carefree was suddenly in parliament against corruption in the media.
The grant himself had always had a slightly complicated relationship with the boulevard. He hates red carpets and social networks, the hypocrisy of Hollywood for glory factory annoys him, which is not hesitant to show. His viral conversation with model Ashley Graham at the Oscars in 2023 – austere, embarrassing and some considered to be impolite – he was taken by British commentators as a classic grant: he is not hostile, just refusing to deal with superficial things.
Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in the dramatic series should know it (2020). | Photo: Niko Tavernise/HBO
When Grant returned to acting in 2012, many almost did not recognize him. In an epic sci-fi atlas of clouds, he portrayed three figures under the layers of makeup-a slimy doctor, a futuristic bureaucrat and a cannibal warrior. It was a conscious definition against the image of a leading British romance. With the same intention, he accepted a role in the family film Paddington 2. Grant plays Phoenix Buchanan, a vain, extinct actor with talent for disguises.
Critics and spectators were excited about the vigor of the actor’s star. In the film, he dresses eccentric costumes, sings and dances in prison and makes every replica with joyful pomposity. The role brought him a nomination for the BAFTA Award, and the grant half seriously declared that it was the best work of his career and the opportunity to finally play himself.
Who will they turn next time?
From this point, the grant variability has taken turns. In the mini -series Scandal of England, Jeremy Thorpe played the ruthless politician, who stood in court for a murderous plot. Similarly, in the serial thriller you had to know it played a charismatic doctor accused of murder.
In a play with a confidence of the audience, whose affection he gained with popular romantic comedies, he went even further in last year’s horror heretik. As Mr. Reed, a manipulative religious fanatic, the grant was able to turn his warmth into a threat.
What makes Hugh Grant so attractive even in his bad position is not only a captivating charm, but also self -control. Although he rather downplayed the craft and mocks overly methodical acting, he is very careful. His famous stutter, rapid changes in the tone of the voice, the ability to move in a single sentence from warmth to the cold – all of this is carefully thought out. He has a sense of rhythm, for when to take a break when to use the exclamation mark and when a question mark.
Grant claims to be frightened before each new project and convinced he fails. But at the same time, fear keeps him attention and forces him to precision. At the same time, its performances act natural and accurately fresh. Few actors made such a turn as a grant in the late career phase. Whether he plays a calculated private detective story (gentlemen) or a dance orange man (Wonka), he enjoys his acting freedom.
In the world of film stars that appreciate consistency, the grant builds his career on surprises. This is one of the reasons why it is three decades after four weddings and one funeral is happy to watch it – we do not know who will turn next time.
