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There’s no denying that Hugh Grant is in the upper echelon of actors in the Rom-Com game, as his track record pretty much speaks for itself with staples of the genre like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually. But upon finally checking out Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (which was a lot of fun), I quickly remembered that in addition to being in some of the best romantic comedies of all time, Grant can also play one hell of a villain.
Looking back on his career, I quickly remembered that some of my favorite Hugh Grant movies were the ones where he was playing the villain like Phoenix Buchanan in the outstanding Paddington 2, detestable foils in the likes of Bridget Jones’s Diary, or multiple bad guys in sci-fi epics like Cloud Atlas. What is it about these characters that are so much fun to watch? Do other people feel this way? Let’s have this conversation…
Since the reason behind this article is my decision to finally watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, I’ll start with Forge Fitzwilliam, the former partner of Edgin (Chris Pine), Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), and Simon (Justice Smith) who sold out his old friends in the movie and is later found out to be the the Lord of Neverwinter. Though he’s reprehensible, self-serving, and downright awful, I just couldn’t stop focusing on Forge whenever he was doing some snakey stuff.
This isn’t me knocking the rest of the Dungeons & Dragons cast, because they’re great. But Hugh Grant absolutely steals the show and gives one of those performances where I was like “I’m supposed to hate this guy, but can we get more of him?” throughout the whole movie. And then the stuff he pulls in the movie’s ending had me laughing so hard I no longer cared one of my kids gave me strep throat.
Antagonists Like Forge Fitzwilliam And Phoenix Buchanant Cartoonishly Evil But Incredibly Charismatic
I’m going to stick with Forge Fitzwilliam a little bit longer; but don’t fear, because I’m also going to spend some time singing the praises of Phoenix Buchanan, Hugh Grant’s cartoonishly evil villain from Paddington 2. Throwing nuance out the window where it lands on and crushes a box of subtleties, these performances are all killer and no filler. And after watching his performance in the latter multiple times, it’s easy to see Grant was having the time of his life on the Paddington 2 set with his portrayal of a down-on-his-luck actor who uses his old tricks of the trade to lead a life of crime.
Framing bears with a fondness for marmalade, charming your way into a position of power, and living life like a vaudeville villain is what makes these characters so much fun to watch. They’re so charismatic it’s kind of hard not to root for them in the end, which is odd to think about.
His Multiple Villains In Cloud Atlas Were Often Terrifying And Showed Great Versatility
Hugh Grant told Yahoo! Entertainment in a 2014 interview that he was frustrated that Cloud Atlas “never really found the audience it deserved,” and he couldn’t be more right. The 2012 sci-fi epic directed by the Wachowskis only made $130 million worldwide, per BoxOfficeMojo, meaning a great number of people missed out on performances by Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and several other notable stars, including Grant and his six villains that showed up in its multiple storylines.
With everything from a vindictive CEO who orders the deaths of multiple people to the leader of a cannibalistic tribe, and other notable baddies in between, Hugh’s performance in Cloud Atlas goes from menacing to absolutely terrifying. And though you can sense the actor’s charm in these characters, for others it’s an entirely different experience.
Several Of Hugh Grant’s Villains Have Made Me Reflect On The Actor’s More Noble Characters
One of the unforeseen consequences of this journey through the jungle of Hugh Grant’s villainous roles is my reevaluation of the not-so-evil characters he’s played over the years. Basically, the Forge Fitzwilliams, Phoenix Buchanans, and Lloyd Hooks (Grant’s Cloud Atlas character mentioned earlier) of his filmography have a lot in common with his gents from beloved classics like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, and Notting Hill.
Sure, Charles isn’t backstabbing his friends, David only uses his power of being Prime Minister to steal some hearts, and William Thacker isn’t ordering hits on journalists. But each of these characters are just as charismatic and fun to watch as those antagonists mentioned above. Am I a sucker for a bad guy with a British accent or is there just no way for Hugh Grant to not be the most charming person in any given movie?
Could Anyone Else Play Daniel Cleaver In Bridget Jones’s Diary? No!
In the spot where the “Romantic Comedies” and “Villains” circles intersect on the Hugh Grant Venn diagram you will find Daniel Cleaver, the actor’s obnoxious and despicable character from Bridget Jones’s Diary. This character, who also appears in the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (but not the third movie), makes up for his lack of manners and self-awareness with pure ego and questionable viewpoints of modern society and the women he treats with little to no respect, even Renée Zellweger’s beloved character.
Despite his faults, of which there are many, Daniel is one of those characters that turns a good movie into a great movie and gives audiences someone to hate about 1.5 times more than they like him. And it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Grant pulling off such a believable character. Could Colin Firth pull that off if he was cast as Daneil instead of Mark Darcy? Maybe, but it just wouldn’t have been the same.
Let’s Not Forget His Great Villainous Roles On The Small Screen
I know I said we were going to focus on Hugh Grant’s movie roles, but I can’t wrap things up without at least mentioning the actor’s small-screen work, specifically on HBO’s The Undoing and the first season of the Prime Video’s A Very English Scandal. In the former, Grant plays a gaslighting and womanizing husband (Nicole Kidman plays his wife) who is connected to the mysterious death of the mother of one of his son’s classmates, the latter he portrays a British politician whose charged with murdering his ex-boyfriend (played by Cloud Atlas co-star Ben Whishaw).
Both of these performances earned Grant Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and they should be sought out by those who want to see the charismatic actor playing characters with extremely sinister sides.
It’s safe to say that Hugh Grant’s villainous roles are often just as charming as his more lovable characters and always just as much fun to watch. Now, let’s just see what his take on the Oompa Loompa is all about when Paul King’s Wonka is finally unveiled to the world.
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