Hugh Grant reveals that he hated playing an Oompa Loompa in the latest film ‘Wonka‘ during a press conference.
Grant, who has had plenty of outbursts over time, said he loathed the experience of shooting CGI scenes for the Warner Bros. release of Ronald Dahl’s character.
The star stated that playing a crotchety Oopma Loompa was like wearing a “crown of thorns” because of the camera rig around his head, according to a Metro.co.uk report.
“I made a big fuss about it,” Grant said. “I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.” Asked if the ends justified the means, he replied: “Not really.”
Grant later joked about the situation saying it was nothing personal against the director Paul King.
“I slightly hate [making films] but I have lots of children and need money,” he said.
King noted that Grant’s qualities were exactly why he was cast as the role alongside Timothée Chalamet‘s Willy Wonka.
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King told Radio Times: “The Oompa Loompas don’t have any dialogue in the book, really, and the films, they’ve sort of got very little. But in the book they do have these very, very long songs – or they’re presented as songs, they’re poems.”
“But they’re so funny, and I was reading them sort of trying to get a voice in my head, and they’re so sort of biting and sarcastic and scornful and incredibly funny, and Hugh’s voice just kept coming towards me.”
As of late, Grant also admitted that he lost his temper on another set.
The actor, 62, told Total Film magazine, per Yahoo! Entertainment, that the incident happened on the first day he was filming his latest movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
“I lost my temper with a woman in my eye line on day one. I assumed she was some executive from the studio who should have known better,” said Grant. “Then it turns out that she’s an extremely nice local woman who was the chaperone of the young girl. Terrible. A lot of groveling….”
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He added, “I did a Christian Bale,” comparing himself to the 2009 caught-on-audio moment when Bale, now 49, shouted at the Terminator Salvation director of photography after he accidentally entered the actor’s sight lines while filming. At the time, Bale apologized and called the outburst “inexcusable.”
Grant has also spoken out about throwing tantrums in the past. After being called one of the worst guests by former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, Grant said on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen back in 2015, according to Vanity Fair, “He wasn’t entirely wrong. I did have a tantrum backstage. About once a year, I have a really mega-tantrum, and sadly he witnessed one. So he’s absolutely right.”
