Hugh Grant surprises AFI Film Festival by joking about 1995 obscenity arrest at Heretic premiere

Hugh Grant spent less than a minute on stage Thursday night introducing his new film paganbut he made the most of his 57 seconds in the spotlight.

The veteran movie star was welcomed by directors Scott Baker and Brian Woods, who explained the inspiration for the religious horror thriller about two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe ·East) is forced to prove his faith when he knocks on the door. them. The filmmaking team first took turns commemorating the occasion (AFI Film Festival) and location (Hollywood’s iconic TCL Chinese Theater).

“This theater is absolutely magical for us. I’m sure it is for many people in the audience,” Baker said. “It’s a beautiful thing, there are hundreds of us here, many of us are strangers, but in an age where we can sit at home and use our own personal devices, gathering together is a rare thing. .First of all, thank you so much for showing up to preserve the movie experience.

After a while, Woods made a request. “Sir. Hugh Grant, could you please say a few words?”

Grant obliged, offering just a few, but enough to make the crowd nervous. “I have nothing interesting to add, just happy to be here,” the 64-year-old star said. “Hollywood Boulevard has always been a lucky place for me.”

The surprising quip had Woods doubled over with laughter and the rest of the group burst into laughter. pagan The team applauded along with nearly the entire Chinese audience seated inside. Grant’s statement apparently refers to his 1995 arrest for lewd conduct with sex worker Estella Marie Thompson, aka Divine Brown. It’s been nearly 30 years, so it’s easy to forgive Grant’s hazy memory because he was actually arrested two blocks south on Sunset Boulevard at 1:30 a.m. on June 27, 1995, when police He was caught allegedly receiving oral sex.

“AFI is so happy to have us. It’s great that you showed up. It’s great that these girls are so good in the movie. It’s great that these two weirdos had me in it and the producers paid me so little It’s so good,” he said of the A24 version, drawing laughter again. “I hope you like it.”

Judging from the audience’s reaction, it seems they did. But back to the arrest. This isn’t the first time Grant has spoken out about the career change that shocked Hollywood and attracted tabloid attention at the time. He posed the question last spring on “The View” after host Sonny Hostin asked him why he had become an outspoken critic of British tabloids and their invasion of people’s privacy.

“Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, well, he’s just bitter about being arrested with a prostitute in 1995.'” But that actually had nothing to do with it, because it was never revealed by the tabloids. It was the damn police who gave everyone the information. It has nothing to do with this,” he explained, later citing the saying “with great power comes great responsibility” when combating the tabloid’s dubious methods.

Coincidentally, the latter sentence is a piece of dialogue pagan One of the young women has a connection to Spider-Man, and Grant’s Mr. Reed corrects her that it actually belonged to the French writer Voltaire.

Speaking about the film, the filmmakers, who were born and raised in Iowa, spoke about how their home state inspired the script. “Brian and I, we’ve known each other since we were 11 years old. We grew up in Iowa and then started making movies in the Midwest. “We’ve had countless conversations about religion and cults over the past few decades. , and this fear that we have, I think a lot of people feel the same way about what happens after death.”

Baker continued: After we wrote it a few years ago quiet placea film that generates tension through cinematic techniques, we wondered if we could do the opposite, where the horror wouldn’t necessarily be generated through monster jump scares, but through ideas and discussion of? That’s really where the idea was born. pagan”.

Woods said that while growing up in Iowa, one topic that was off limits at the dinner table was religion. “This is something we have been hearing since childhood. Whatever you do, don’t talk about religion because religion is divisive and very personal. Discussions about religion really only lead to arguments or bloodshed. So, we wanted to make a film about that, and this would be a great place to show a cinematic conversation about religion. As every movie lover here tonight knows, going to the Chinese Theater is like going to church. It might be exciting to be in a congregation with strangers, and you might get a little bored, but regardless, it will be a religious experience.

The experience will be open to the public at pagan Opens November 8th.