It is so absolutely hilarious to me that Hugh Grant became the actor who turns in some of his best-reviewed work in studio family-films. People always said he was absolutely brilliant in Paddington 2, to the point where there was even a lowkey Oscar campaign around his performance. And now he’s an Oompa Loompa in Wonka and he’s once again getting singled out for praise by critics. So of course this old miseryguts has to let it be known that he found the whole Wonka experience quite dreadful.

In a recent press conference, Hugh Grant did not mince words when describing his feelings about playing an Oompa Loompa: “I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.”

Part of Grant’s gripe came down to the shooting process. Wonka director Paul King used motion capture technology in order to shrink Grant down to Oompa Loompa size, which required the Undoing actor to wear a special suit to capture his body movements. “It was like a crown of thorns, very uncomfortable,” said Grant, according to Metro. “I made a big fuss about it. I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.”

Not only was it physically uncomfortable, but Grant says that he was also somewhat at sea emotionally, as he was never entirely sure how much the camera was capturing. He wasn’t sure, he said, whether to “act with my body or not, and I never received a satisfactory answer.” In his classic self-deprecating fashion, Grant said that “what I did with my body was terrible,” and quipped he’s convinced it’s all “been replaced with an animator.”

You might be wondering why Grant agreed to be a part of Wonka in the first place, given his aversion to basic aspects of the gig. “I slightly hate [making films], but I have lots of children and need money,” he said at the press conference. While his evident distaste for Hollywood is quite clear from his recent spate of public appearances, Grant had some specific complaints about the use of CGI in the film, and the use of CGI in the entertainment industry more broadly.

“It’s very confusing. With CGI now, you can’t tell what’s going on,” he said. Grant went on to share an anecdote in which his father turned to him during his previous film collaboration with King, Paddington 2, and asked, “Is that a real bear?”

Does Grant feel that the pain was worth the final, critically well-received product? “Not really,” he said at the press conference. But he was able to admit that he had at least a little fun improvising on set, saying it was “quite fun, messing around and trying new lines.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Again, Hugh Grant is a well-known curmudgeon and yes, we should acknowledge that no woman could ever get away with acting this way or promoting a movie by complaining about everything. But this is basically Hugh’s brand at this point, and the thing is, it’s not like he simply hates everything all the time. Sometimes, I even think that in Hugh’s mind, people expect him to bitch and moan and so this is his version of fan-service. It’s also true that the man simply needs money. Jude Law is the same way – all of those kids, all of those child support payments, and some actors just take whatever they’re offered.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.