Interview with Hugh Grant about Extreme Measures
British Actor Talks About 1996 Thriller
Apr 14, 2009
American audience saw this cracking good mystery as a departure from the comedies that Grant has become so well known for, but in fact his reputation on the Continent is built on roles such as Night Train to Venice, Impromptu and Polanski's Bitter Moon in addition to the Merchant and Ivory Remains of the Day and Maurice.
What sold you on doing Extreme Measures? Had you read the book?
Hugh Grant: I hadn't read the book and to be absolutely honest I still haven't read the book because the script once we had found it was already a long way from the book. Elizabeth (Hurley, Grant's ex-girlfriend and producer) found the script and showed it to me. It was the kind of film I really admire, that is - it's thrilling and entertaining and edge of your seat and all that. There is a moral ambiguity to it that I found particularly appealing. As a by-product it was nice to have something that could edge me out of that comedy corner that I've found myself backed into at least in America.
You received the Golden Globe and British Academy Award for Four Weddings and a Funeral but would you prefer to be known for more serious work?
HG: That's a tough question. The thing I'm really queenie about is whether or not the script is any good. To be honest with you I don't really care if it's comedy, serious or a musical. Well, I would care if it was a musical. You'd care. On the whole I like it when there are a few jokes around. Even in a serious thing it helps, that's why I wrote in a few jokes, particularly in the first half of this film.
What did you learn from director Michael Apted?
HG: He's the master of practicality. They say film making is ninety-eight percent organization and two percent inspiration and he got that two percent but he certainly got that ninety-eight percent. If you aren't really organized you don't have a chance to be creative on the day on the set. He's terrifyingly organized particularly about punctuality. He'd go nuts if you were two minutes late on the set. Even to me and I hired him which is ridiculous!
How did it feel to have more control over the process of the movie making with Extreme Measures?
HG: We obsessed on it. We became a pair of nutters. We developed the script for a year and then produced it for a year, so we thought about nothing else. Start to go a bit mad. It is quite intense but we loved it. Especially after years and years of just acting where you've been sitting there thinking, "just put the camera there." To be allowed to say those things was very liberating.
How hard is it to go back into the movies just as an actor?
HG: It will be hard. Just the other day I came close to committing to another Hollywood project which would be just me as an actor and I think that's why one of the reasons I weaseled out of it at the last moment. I think you get a taste for power and there's no turning back, like Mussolini.
What about Gene Hackman? Where you surprised that he accepted a part that was rather small?
HG: We were jubilant when he took the part. We were sitting around saying, "If we could get Gene Hackman for this role, that would be ideal but we won't get him so..." And then he took the bait and that was a champagne day. But from then on I was gibbering at the prospect of having to play against this guy. He is an enormous film star in my book and he always looks like he is furious. I was terrified that his trailer would be unclean or something not to his satisfaction. As it turned out, he couldn't be less like that. He is very much an actor's actor and all he wants is to do the job. Sits around and has lunch with the crew. He's very unstarry. But first scene with him my words came out backward like I was talking in tongues or something.
What was it like working with Roman Polanski on Bitter Moon?
HG: Well, you know he's a nutter. A genius but bonkers. Coming from a cozy English tradition, and going to Paris. He doesn't work in the morning at all. (Impersonates Polanski) "I hate the morning." So you come in at lunch time and go into make up. Instead of someone saying, "Do you want a cup of tea and a donut?", they say, " Would you like a line of cocaine?" And then his wife will be there in make-up, usually topless, (another imitation) "So you like these?" Yeah their great. Very bohemian. "Bitter Moon" had trouble finding a distributor until after "Four Weddings" but I like it. And there are other psychotics who like it.
What about other genres? Hugh Grant as an action star? Like the motorcycle scene in this film?
HG: Very butch. I got very into the action stuff and suggested that I wear an eye patch and a tank top. But they said it didn't go well with the white coat. No, I don't think that will wash.
Extreme Measures (1996) didn’t do much to enhance Grant’s reputation as a serious actor in the US. Audiences have preferred him in Notting Hill, About a Boy, Music and Lyrics – anything light and humorous – rather like Hugh Grant himself.
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