How does a man who so famously hates everything bring out the opposite emotion in us? Hugh Grant is delightful! Does he know how delightful he is? Does he know that the more he curmudgeons, the more joy he brings? Does he know that his self-loathing makes us love him more?
Here’s Hugh in London yesterday out for a walk. I don’t see anything wrong with his outfit. I know there was a time when pulling your socks up this high wasn’t considered cool but we’ve gotten past that now. Over the last few years, in fact, socks are getting pulled up higher and higher. And soccer players have always worn their socks high. As a lifelong Fulham F.C. fan, wearing his socks like this is not usual for Hugh. In fact, he may have been coming from a game of pickup.
But even though Hugh has nothing to be embarrassed about, he would probably still be embarrassed because, well, he’s Hugh. He has a weak mortification threshold. That’s why he’s so entertaining. Everything makes him cringe.
Except it hasn’t been a cringey few years for Hugh. The man who said last year that…
“Every decision I ever made was probably wrong. After [1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral], and the world was my oyster. I should’ve made interesting decisions and done different stuff. Instead, I repeated myself almost identically about 17 times in a row. I took everything. The worse it was, the quicker I took it.”
…has made some very good decisions (although I do love that quote because it is just SO HUGH to say it that way). And this fall, he starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the HBO series that people couldn’t stop talking about – The Undoing. And he’s not done for 2020 either; he’s closing out the year by giving us even more comedy, this time intentional.
Netflix released the trailer yesterday for Death to 2020, premiering December 27, starring Samuel L Jackson, Tracey Ullman, Lisa Kudrow, Kumail Nanjiani, Leslie Jones, and, yes, Hugh Grant.
Here’s how Hugh described his role:
“[I play] an historian who’s being interviewed about the year. I’m pretty repellent, actually! And you’ll like my wig.”
There it is again. The more repellent he thinks he is, the more we LOVE him.
