Brit-flicks king Hugh Grant has been reincarnated as a terrifying villain in 'Heretic'. He tells us about the hit '90s track he had to master for it – and run-ins with Taylor Swift's American footballer boyfriend.
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00:00Hi, I'm Alex from NME, and today I'm joined by a true film legend, it's only Hugh Grant.
00:22How you doing Hugh?
00:23Hello.
00:24Let's talk about Heretic, the new film, a psychological thriller, which might be a bit
00:28different to what some of our readers are used to from you, but what they will definitely
00:32be interested in, as are NME, is that you sing Radiohead's Creep in the film.
00:37I don't do it very well.
00:38Well, it's quite good.
00:39As you've probably noticed.
00:40I think it's a very difficult song to sing.
00:42I researched it a bit.
00:44They kind of hate it, Radiohead.
00:46As all bands hate their biggest hit.
00:48Yeah, I imagine.
00:49Yeah.
00:50What was your research then, you said?
00:52Just that.
00:53It was written, one of them just sketched it off and recorded it, and they never really
00:57bothered to put on proper lyrics that they liked, and everyone went mad for it, and called
01:01for it at every Radiohead concert.
01:04So you didn't end up going down a proper Radiohead rabbit hole, listening to all their albums,
01:08it was just focusing on that song?
01:10Correct.
01:11I didn't think Radiohead itself was my character, Mr. Reid, I don't think that was his cup of
01:16tea.
01:17I had him more down as a Bach man.
01:20But he talks about some other big artists.
01:22Yeah, I know.
01:23I think he prides himself on being down with the kids.
01:27I think he was a quite successful, sort of trendy professor at some Midwestern university,
01:33maybe in the late 80s, early 90s, was good at making kid-friendly or young people-friendly
01:40references like that.
01:41The other two songs we should mention, one is by the Hollies, which famously they sued
01:46Radiohead because it sounded very similar to Creep.
01:49Which I can't hear.
01:50Neither can I, really.
01:51And then Lana Del Rey comes up with her.
01:53Yes, she does, yeah.
01:54She got sued.
01:55Yeah.
01:56But I can't hear any similarity between the three songs.
01:58No.
01:59It's really interesting, this sort of history of songs sounding alike.
02:02Did you dive into that a bit?
02:04No, but it is interesting, because you see it in films as well, and in everything.
02:08I mean, when my wife was studying English at university, there was a whole thing of
02:13what's plagiarism and what's homage, and what is completely accidental.
02:19I tried to write a book once, and I thought, this is pretty good.
02:22I wrote half a novel, and I looked at it a year later and realised, oh, that's such a
02:26rip-off.
02:27I shan't tell you which book, but I didn't even realise I was doing it.
02:32Do not be afraid.
02:40You will witness a miracle.
02:46I've got some other Hugh Grant-related music questions I wanted to ask you.
02:50Because I know that you've said previously in interviews that you're not into music like
02:53other people are.
02:54I've been a freak all my life.
02:57When I was sort of 14, 15, 16 at my school, every Thursday morning, New Musical Express
03:03came out.
03:04Yeah.
03:05And every boy in the class had a copy.
03:07You were no one if you didn't.
03:09Either that or Melody Maker.
03:10Anyway, you had to have it, and I never had it.
03:13I tried.
03:14I tried to get interested.
03:15I went to a few concerts.
03:16I remember going to Soft Machine.
03:20I went to that.
03:21I went to Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
03:22I went to an Elton John concert at Watford Football Ground.
03:26His supporting act was Rod Stewart, and the third on the bill was Nazareth.
03:31So it must have been quite early.
03:34Anyway, I couldn't concentrate because I smoked 20 number six, players number six.
03:38Do you remember them?
03:39No.
03:40They were the cheapest vags you could get.
03:41And I just felt so sick.
03:43I was about 14.
03:44Anyway, I never, for some reason, there's something wrong with me.
03:49I don't enjoy that experience.
03:51Quite a big story on NME.com was when you tweeted about attending a Taylor Swift concert.
03:55Well, now that is my cup of tea.
03:57Yeah.
03:58How was that?
04:00It's my daughter who's mad about Taylor Swift.
04:02So you were a very popular dad that day.
04:04I'm an amazing dad.
04:05I'm an amazing person.
04:07I managed, yeah, I put out some feelers, and to my astonishment, they said, yeah, come
04:11along.
04:12And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
04:13She went mad.
04:14My daughter.
04:15She brought a friend.
04:16They were bopping away.
04:17And I hung out with Taylor Swift's boyfriend, who's an American football player.
04:21Travis Kelsey, yeah.
04:22Yeah.
04:23We did tequila shots in the back of this sort of, I don't know, they put up a kind of hut
04:26for us in the middle of Wembley.
04:28And there were a bunch of, I don't know, I think they were rappers.
04:31I don't know what they were.
04:33Anyway, we all got absolutely smashed.
04:35Tequila.
04:36Taylor Swift.
04:37Have you kept in touch with Travis since?
04:39No, I never heard his contact details.
04:42But my new thing anyway is I'm not in contact with anyone.
04:45I have no phone now.
04:46Just tequila shots and then radio silence.
04:50But Taylor Swift actually replied after your tweet.
04:53You must have seen that.
04:54Yeah.
04:55She said, as a longtime Hugh Grant stan, this tweet is very important to my culture.
05:00I mean, that's quite nice, isn't it?
05:03It's extremely nice.
05:04Very hospitable.
05:05And it's a brilliant show.
05:07Another really big story over the summer for NME, probably the second biggest or maybe
05:12the biggest.
05:13I'll let the fans decide compared to the year's tour, was the Oasis of Reuniting.
05:19And as a king of sort of 90s films, Hugh Grant, you must have come across the Gallagher brothers
05:25at some point.
05:26Yes.
05:27My 90s girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, was best friends with Patsy Kenseth, who was going
05:33out with Liam Gallagher.
05:35We did end up having some strange evenings out.
05:39What an odd foursome.
05:40And actually, I've sort of done you over a bit there, because I did know about that one,
05:44because I've got the picture.
05:45Oh, well, there you go.
05:46I thought I might jog your memory a bit on that night.
05:50Well, we all look lovely.
05:52You do, yeah.
05:53Thanks so much for speaking to me, Hugh.
05:54It's been a pleasure.
05:55All right.