Hugh Grant has said that he didn’t enjoy making latest movie Wonka, due to the filmmaking process.
The Bridget Jones actor, 63, plays a little orange-faced Oompa-Loompa called Lofty in the long-awaited musical prequel to Roald Dahl’s classic children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Speaking at a recent press conference, Grant told reporters he had multiple cameras directed at his face so that the movie’s animators could render his character’s appearance.
“It was like a crown of thorns,” Grant said, according to Metro, “very uncomfortable”.
“I made a big fuss about it,” he added. “I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.”
Grant went on to explain that throughout filming he was never sure whether he was supposed to act with his whole body, or just his face.
“I never received a satisfactory answer,” he said. “And frankly, what I did with my body was terrible, and it’s all been replaced with an animator.”
When asked whether seeing the finished film made it all worthwhile, the famously sarcastic actor shrugged and said “not really”, to the amusement of his fellow cast members, including Timothée Chalamet, who plays the flick’s titular character.
About the dancing scenes, Grant declared: “It should be fun, but that was done by the animator.”
“It’s very confusing, with CGI now, you can’t tell what’s going on,” he added, recalling his father turning to him during Paddington 2 and asking: “Is that a real bear?”
Later on he said jokingly that he didn’t enjoy the filmmaking process at all and suggested he was in the wrong business, adding: “I slightly hate [making films] but I have lots of children and need money.”
He did concede, however, that it was “quite fun, messing around and trying new lines”.
