Hugh Grant:
“Well, um, it’s fascinating. The whole of humanity is here. It’s vanity fair.”
Graham: “Oh, it’s all
about Vanity Fair. It’s let loose and have a little fun. What are you
most excited to see tonight?”
Grant: “To see?”
Graham: “Yeah. I know
that you watch a few of the movies. Are you exited to see anyone win? Do you
have your hopes up for anyone?”
Grant: “No one in
particular.”
Graham: “Okay. What are
you wearing tonight, then?”
Grant: “Just my suit.”
Graham: “Your
suit? You didn’t make your suit! Who designed it?”
Grant: “I can’t
remember…My tailor.”
Graham: “That’s okay.
Shout-out to your tailor! So tell me, what does it feel like to be in Glass
Onion? It was such an amazing film, I really loved it. I love a thriller! How
fun is it to shoot something like that?”
Grant: “Well, I’m
barely in it. I’m in for about three seconds.”
Graham: “But still, you
showed up and you had fun, right?”
Grant: “Uh, almost.”—Hugh
Grant and Ashley Graham quoted by Michael Ausiello, “Oscars: Hugh Grant Shuts Down Ashley Graham in Mesmerizingly Awkward Red Carpet Interview,” www.tvline.com,
Mar. 12 2023
Movie fans who only know Hugh Grant as the
bumbling but winning lead in rom-coms like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting
Hill and Love, Actually had a chance to see him without a script at
the Oscars on Sunday night. This recent spectacle will not exactly burnish his
reputation as a charmer.
Former flame Elizabeth Hurley, who still remains on
good terms with the English actor, revealed to talk-show host Andy Cohen eight
years ago that Grant’s peevishness had earned him the nickname
"Grumplestiltskin" among her friends. His dialogue above with
supermodel Ashley Graham should tip you off how he acquired that surly sobriquet.
You will get no argument from me about the general
inanity of the so-called "red carpet" (or, this year, "champagne-colored carpet") chatter before
the industry’s main event of the year. Nor will you hear me disagree that
what transpired between Grant and Graham was still better than Will Smith’s
slap of Chris Rock in last year’s controversial telecast.
But, from the moment that Ms. Graham mistook Grant’s
reference to William Makepeace Thackeray’s Victorian satire of human vainglory
for an allusion to the glitzy magazine famous for its Oscar parties, it was all
downhill. The actor’s lifted eyebrows at the end of their exchange said far
more than his clipped answers about his contempt for the whole circus.
Reaction to this tense interview on social media was
swift, and mostly against Grant.
Much the same division of sentiment followed after he
acted as presenter with Four Weddings and a Funeral co-star Andie
McDowell. Some called his description of how he looked without moisturizer
funny; others thought it tasteless.
I voted for “tasteless.” In fact, when I first heard
Grant’s description of his face, I thought I must have been
mistaken, that he was resorting to the stuttery style of speaking that had endeared
him to so many.
Clearly, he had ad-libbed while on stage, as you might
have guessed from Andie McDowell’s surprised reaction to what was meant to be a compliment to her appearance.
Richard Gere was banned as a presenter for 20 years
after ad-libbing at the 1993 ceremony, but at least he did it for a good cause:
a protest against the Chinese government for its mistreatment of Tibet. What
should the Academy do about Grant’s tacky, raunchy joke?
“The only thing an actor owes his public is not to
bore them,” Humphrey Bogart reportedly said. Maybe.
But entertainers owe each other what all human beings
owe the rest of humanity: courtesy. That attitude exudes grace and is more
essential to what we call “class” than something ephemeral and maybe ill-gotten
like money.
Over the weekend, it was missing from Grant’s
repertoire. I guess we will find out soon, once he’s had some time to consider
what he did and to craft an apology, if it was ever really part of his carefully crafted persona.
(The image accompanying this post, of Hugh Grant at a
charity fundraiser held in South Bank, London, was taken Mar.15, 2011, by
Julien Rath.)
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