Hugh Grant is a great actor. He easily elevates a dry comedic role, and he plays one hell of a creep. He is flexing his creepy skills in the new horror thriller Heretic, in which he plays a man who encounters two Mormon sister missionaries who knock at his door, and “attempt to convert a man that turns out to be far more dangerous than they could have anticipated.”
The character looks pretty darn sinister in the trailer for the film, and in preparation for the role, Grant says he drew inspiration from real-life acquaintances. He told Entertainment Weekly:
“There have been people in my life who were useful to me, people who were very, very clever – brilliant, really, and in some ways very plausible and quite charming and quite bewitching, but who you gradually realize that there’s something deeply wrong with them.
“And these people very often really struggle to have any relationships in life, any meaningful friendships, and resort to things like pranks and slightly unfunny jokes and model-making and stuff like that.”
Grant wouldn’t say who he was referring to, but that’s probably wise considering these people are who he based the character of Mr. Reed on. Grant revealed what process he took to understand his character better, and he explained that would ask himself why Mr. Reed says and does certain things.
“Very often, the answers to those questions lead off into areas of his past. I jot those down and I create a vast kind of backstory and biography for the character.”
Grant stars in the film alongside Chloe East (The Fabelmans) and Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets), and the official logline reads: “Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.”
Heretic comes from A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who wrote and directed the film together. A24 will release Heretic in theaters on November 15, 2024.
Check out a new poster below.
