Hugh Grant's reinvention from Hollywood heartthrob to 'slimy villains': How actor best known for his charming romcom roles has swapped to 'revolting' characters in horror films

He's known for romcoms such as Love Actually, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary - so it's no wonder fans of Hugh Grant's have been left shocked at his latest part in a 'spine-chilling psychological horror'.

Dubbed his creepiest role to date, the British actor, 63, plays a man who kidnaps a pair of young, female Mormon missionaries, before subjecting them to a terrifying series of tests and games, reported the Independent.

Titled Heretic, the film - set to be released on November 15 - is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers behind John Krasinski’s 2018 post-apocalyptic horror A Quiet Place.

But while fans were left surprised by Hugh's latest project, it's not the first time the once Hollywood heartthrob has played a 'slimy villain'.

In fact, the more 'revolting' roles, as the actor calls them, have now become something of a theme in Hugh's career as he reinvents himself from charming romcom lead to creepy bad guy characters.

He's known for romcoms such as Love Actually , Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary - so it's no wonder fans of Hugh Grant 's have been left shocked at his latest part in a 'spine-chilling psychological horror' (pictured)

Hugh's roles have become noticeably darker as he's grown older; in 2018 he gave viewers a thoroughly seedy toff in TV's take on Jeremy Thorpe, A Very English Scandal.

It came after his highly popular appearance in 2017's acclaimed Paddington 2, when he played the bad guy in his role as tap-dancing ex-actor Phoenix Buchanan.

In 2019, he appeared on the big screen playing a far-from-gentlemanly private investigator in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen. 

He then appeared on TV alongside Nicole Kidman in the role of Jonathan Fraser, a children's oncologist with a dark secret in The Undoing.

It's fair to say that both Thorpe and Dr Fraser are a far cry from the foppish characters he played in Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill. 

'I do find that as I grow older I'm increasingly drawn to, and more comfortable in, revolting roles,' he told The Daily Mail's Weekend Magazine in 2020. 

'The more revolting the better. The camera is a very odd thing in that it's a little bit like a lie detector. It can sort of smell out truths you didn't even know existed. 

'One of the things it loves is evil in human beings, because under the very thin veneer of civilisation we all have some evil in there.

Hugh appeared in 2017's acclaimed Paddington 2, when he played the bad guy in his role as tap-dancing ex-actor Phoenix Buchanan (pictured)

In 2019, he appeared on the big screen playing a far-from-gentlemanly private investigator in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (pictured)

Hugh and Martine McCutcheon in Love Actually

'You look at some of the great films by people like Tarantino or Scorsese and you wonder, "Why are we enjoying them so much?" 

'The answer is because they touch on something very real about all of us. So when you play someone who's pretty unpleasant you're already working with a reality that the camera likes. And that's what makes playing nice guys much harder than playing bad guys.'

Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2023, Hugh said: 'I got too old and fat and ugly to do romantic comedies obviously, so I got off with more interesting things.' 

It's not the first time Hugh has thought as much. In 2019, the actor admitted that he thinks he is now too old to star in anymore romantic comedies.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hugh said: 'I've gotten too old and ugly and fat to do them anymore, so now I've done other things and I've got marginally less self-hatred.'

Although, despite confessing that he felt like he was 'in a box' playing the male lead in several rom-coms, the actor joked that he couldn't complain about the money it brought him.

He explained: 'I was being paid tons of money. I was very lucky. And most of those romantic comedies I can look squarely in the face — one or two are shockers, but on the whole I can look them in the face and people like them. And I am a big believer that our job is to entertain. '

When questioned about what he wished he knew about navigating fame and success at the start of his career, Hugh revealed that he wishes he'd have explored different genres.

He's appeared on TV alongside Nicole Kidman in the role of Jonathan Fraser, a children's oncologist with a dark secret in The Undoing (pictured)

In 2018, Hugh gave us a thoroughly seedy toff in TV's take on Jeremy Thorpe, A Very English Scandal (pictured)

Over the years, Hugh has starred in a total of fifteen romantic comedies, including Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994 alongside Angie MacDowell

He said: 'I should've made interesting decisions and done different stuff. Instead, I repeated myself almost identically about 17 times in a row.' 

Over the years, Hugh has starred in a total of fifteen romantic comedies, including Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999) and Love Actually (2003), with his last leading rom-com performance being in The Rewrite (2014). 

The last time Hugh appeared in a horror film was reportedly in Ken Russell’s 1988 pagan horror comedy The Lair of the White Worm.

A trailer for his latest offering, Heretic, was released recently - leading fans to comment their surprise over his choice of character.

One person wrote on X: 'Absolutely here for Hugh Grant’s latest career phase, parlaying his foppish romcommy charm and channelling it into devious maniacs. HERETIC is speaking my language.'

Another wrote: 'Love me a creepy Hugh Grant character,' while a third added: 'This is… not the role I was expecting for Hugh Grant. But I’m here for this trailer!'

In the clip, Hugh is shown capturing the two young women (played by Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher) before insisting: 'I won’t keep you if you wish to leave, but I want you to choose which door to go through based on your faith.'

The actor's creepy character then writes the words 'BELIEF' and 'DISBELIEF' in chalk on two doors.

Heretic is set to be released on November 15