Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506130001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1- EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANK RIZZO THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
There he is on the cover, shirtless, in pinup pose, with a coy smile, a suggestive tilt of the hips and his pale skin glistening like backlit ectoplasm.
``Oh, my God,'' says Grant, ``that's not my body! It's a composite photograph. Look at the body. It's all wrong anyway. Hmmmmm. Are there full-frontal shots inside as well?''
There weren't, just an assortment of paparazzi shots and movie stills. But it demonstrates how life has changed for the 34-year-old-actor who suddenly emerged as a romantic leading man, thanks to last year's surprise smash ``Four Weddings and a Funeral.''
Now, Grant has the lead in a little, quirky Welsh film, ``The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, but Came Down a Mountain'' (playing in Roanoke at the Grandin Theatre), a kind of ``Local Hero'' meets ``The Secret of Santa Vittoria,''
So what does this strange magazine cover tell Grant about his life now?
``It's out of control,'' he says smiling, ``and I need to fire him,'' pointing to his well-suited business associate in the corner of the hotel room.
Grant, whose dry, wry wit has taken self-deprecating humor to a new level, was in high form when he met with the press recently in New York to promote his first film since ``Four Weddings'' became a phenomenon.
``All the attention is still a novelty,'' he says between pseudo-skittish ``ums,'' ``ahs'' and ``ers,'' brushing his long brown hair from his face. ``I'm still at sea with it, really.
``Gone are the days when I thought I could just get up and decide to watch cricket today. I very much like eating by myself in restaurants. That's probably rather tragic. But breakfast by yourself with the papers in a cafe or a pub lunch is just heaven to me. But that's all very hard now.''
Now the tabloids, especially the more vicious English newspapers, have swooped down on Grant and girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, the new Estee Lauder model, as their latest superstars du jour.
``The tabloids have certainly turned their spotlight on me,'' he says. ``And I do moan about it. But it's difficult for me to moan, really, because I'm the sort of person who reads tabloids and thoroughly enjoys them when they smear people I know or people who are doing well. I am of that nasty mentality. But having said that, when they do turn on you, it's pretty frightening.''
Like when photographers permanently camp outside your London flat.
``I'm learning about baseball caps and stuff ...,'' he says. ``I do resent [the paparazzi] being there. I find myself spending an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about things to do to journalists, and I think that's unhealthy.''
But there is an upside, and Grant is the first to acknowledge it.
``For one, I'm not unemployed anymore, and it's quite easy to get a job,'' he says. ``And then there are the things that go along with a bit of success, which you're not supposed to care about as an actor but which I quite like, like money. I'm pathetic. I like nice hotels and airplanes and a bit of getting about. So, on the whole, I'm overexcited by a lot of it.''
But despite the calls from Hollywood, he stayed loyal to ``Englishman,'' to which he was committed before ``Four Weddings'' was released.
The entire film cost about $5 million. Grant's price for his upcoming Hollywood film, ``Nine Months,'' to be released this summer, exceeds that.
``Englishman'' director Christopher Monger has a theory about Grant's appeal.
``What's interesting about Hugh is that there's actually two opposite things going on,'' he says. ``One is he's this archetypical, fine-dictioned, good-mannered Englishman. And there's another side, which is anarchic. It's a very alluring combination.''
Despite cosmopolitan comparisons to Cary Grant and David Niven, the actor that Grant most evokes now in films like ``Four Weddings'' and ``Englishman,'' where his characters are ``a bit drifty,'' is Jimmy Stewart.
``Hugh can play bumbling, stumbling, stammering in the most delightful way,'' Monger says, ``but actually he's very much in control.''
Even as he disarms with his humor.
Ask him how tall he is, and Grant says, ``I'm 5-feet-11. I'd like to think six with my bouffant right up.''
Ask him about his image as being attractive to women without being threatening to men, he responds: ``I don't know how I would be dangerous to men. I would think they would just pity me.''
The romantic comedy ``Nine Months,'' directed by Chris Columbus (``Home Alone,'' ``Mrs. Doubtfire''), is a bit of a change in character for Grant.
``I'm driven and manic in it. [Based on a French comedy], it was originally written for a Frenchman, and so it has a lot of Gallic kind of paranoia. Then it was translated into American, and [the leading man] became a sort of neurotic Jew. Now it's a neurotic Englishman.''
Grant balances the big Hollywood film with another small movie due out this year, ``An Awfully Big Adventure,'' with ``Four Weddings'' director Mike Newell. In that film, which also stars Alan Rickman and Peter Firth, Grant's character takes a sharp turn, playing a heartless gay stage director.
``That's why I did it,'' says Grant. ``It's the exact reverse of everything I've done before. [Newell] says it's the real me.'' Grant pauses for comic effect. ``I won't be working with him again.''
Also on tap later this year is ``Restoration,'' with Robert Downey Jr. and Meg Ryan, the reigning princess of American sweetheart films.
And Grant is now filming ``Sense and Sensibility'' in England with Emma Thompson, who adapted the script from the Jane Austen novel, and directed by Ang Lee.
Grant's own new production company, Simian Films, is also on the prowl for projects.
Is he filled with advisers whispering in his ear why he shouldn't do the little films?
Sure, says Grant, but he's more in control, more driven and less ``drifty.'' ``The joke is they also have to go along with what I say, or otherwise I fire them.''
He ``ums,'' and ``ers,'' and smiles.
by CNB