Is Hugh Grant an actor with incredible comic chops, or a complete bellend? That's the question viewers of the 95th Academy Awards are grappling with following an awkward interview during last night's ceremonies.
The day after the Oscars — at which Everything Everywhere All at Once, Exclaim!'s top film of 2022, and Canadian nominees cleaned up — Grant is being grilled for a perceived lack of Sense and Sensibility when it came to a pre-show chat with model and TV presenter Ashley Graham.
At awards shows, interviews like this one often involve innocuous, softball questions the subject could answer in earnest or have some fun with, and Graham led by asking Grant his favourite thing about attending the Academy Awards.
Grant — who easily could have hired a cheeky lookalike (or checked on Hannibal Buress's availability, at the very least) — appeared genuinely stumped by Graham's ask. His response? "It's fascinating. … The whole of humanity is here; it's vanity fair."
Graham replied, "Oh, it's all about Vanity Fair" — presumably referencing the Vanity Fair afterparty rather than William Thackeray's 1848 satirical novel — and things didn't exactly stay on track from there.
Asked if he was excited by the prospect of any actors winning, Grant responded, "No one in particular." What was he wearing? "Just my suit." Who, if not Grant, made the outfit? "I can't remember my tailor."
How about Grant's recent turn in the acclaimed Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery? "Well, I'm barely in it. I'm in it for about three seconds," he answers. Graham counters, "Well, yeah, but still you showed up and had fun, right?" "Almost," Grant quips. Armchair body language experts have fixated on how Grant appears to pull a face in leaving the interview.
Having been in Graham's position before — where an interview subject makes it apparent that they're wholly disinterested in speaking with you, no matter your asks or efforts — it's heartening to hear that she's taking Grant's curtness in stride. At the Vanity Fair afterparty, Graham told CNN, "My mother always told me to kill 'em with kindness," adding that she felt "very supported" upon her interview circulating online.
While Grant was at the Academy Awards to help present the Oscar for production design, he could have easily passed and spent his Sunday kicking it on the couch. To borrow a line from Courtney Barnett, "Nobody Really Cares If Hugh Don't Go to the Party."
The day after the Oscars — at which Everything Everywhere All at Once, Exclaim!'s top film of 2022, and Canadian nominees cleaned up — Grant is being grilled for a perceived lack of Sense and Sensibility when it came to a pre-show chat with model and TV presenter Ashley Graham.
At awards shows, interviews like this one often involve innocuous, softball questions the subject could answer in earnest or have some fun with, and Graham led by asking Grant his favourite thing about attending the Academy Awards.
Grant — who easily could have hired a cheeky lookalike (or checked on Hannibal Buress's availability, at the very least) — appeared genuinely stumped by Graham's ask. His response? "It's fascinating. … The whole of humanity is here; it's vanity fair."
Graham replied, "Oh, it's all about Vanity Fair" — presumably referencing the Vanity Fair afterparty rather than William Thackeray's 1848 satirical novel — and things didn't exactly stay on track from there.
Asked if he was excited by the prospect of any actors winning, Grant responded, "No one in particular." What was he wearing? "Just my suit." Who, if not Grant, made the outfit? "I can't remember my tailor."
How about Grant's recent turn in the acclaimed Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery? "Well, I'm barely in it. I'm in it for about three seconds," he answers. Graham counters, "Well, yeah, but still you showed up and had fun, right?" "Almost," Grant quips. Armchair body language experts have fixated on how Grant appears to pull a face in leaving the interview.
Having been in Graham's position before — where an interview subject makes it apparent that they're wholly disinterested in speaking with you, no matter your asks or efforts — it's heartening to hear that she's taking Grant's curtness in stride. At the Vanity Fair afterparty, Graham told CNN, "My mother always told me to kill 'em with kindness," adding that she felt "very supported" upon her interview circulating online.
While Grant was at the Academy Awards to help present the Oscar for production design, he could have easily passed and spent his Sunday kicking it on the couch. To borrow a line from Courtney Barnett, "Nobody Really Cares If Hugh Don't Go to the Party."
