Why Hugh Grant Compared Himself To Christian Bale On The Set Of Dungeons & Dragons
Jonathan Goldstein's and John Francis Daley's new film "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" follows the hilarious adventures of a ragtag group of, well, thieves who were separated years before in a heist gone wrong. Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) spent a few years in prison before escaping to find their old compatriots and return Edgin to his teenage daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman). They find that Kira has been living in luxury with Forge (Hugh Grant) a former conman who has become incredibly wealthy while his friends languished in prison. It's Forge did not come by his fortunes honestly, and indeed has made some shady deals with mysterious — and clearly evil — red wizards.
Because Forge is played by Hugh Grant, however, he comes across less like a calculating villain and more like an affable cad. He is one of the film's antagonists, but he is also a wonderfully funny scoundrel. Grant, like the rest of the cast, knows he is in a comedy film and plays up the humor and the brightness of his role.
That didn't mean, however, that shooting "Honor Among Thieves" was a breeze. Indeed, Grant confessed in a recent interview with the British edition of Total Film Magazine (handily printed in the pages of Yahoo! News), that he lost his temper on set on the very first day of shooting. While it turned out to be something of a misunderstanding, Grant has emerged as embarrassed and apologetic for yelling at someone whom he thought was a film executive. It turns out, she was just a local chaperone.
The tantrum
Grant doesn't reveal a lot of the details of what happened on set on the day in question, other than to say he lost his temper. From the sound of it, the object of his ire was somehow interfering with a shot he was in, causing him to shout. Grant summed up the situation thus:
"I lost my temper with a woman in my eyeline on day one. I assumed she was some executive from the studio who should have known better. [...] 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 ... I did a Christian Bale."
Grant is referring to a well-publicized incident from the set of "Terminator Salvation" in 2009, wherein actor Christian Bale, when finding the film's cinematographer Shane Hurlbut had blocked the camera and messed up a particular shot, blew his stack. Bale ranted at Hurlbut for several minutes, spewing forth many obscenities. Audio of his rant eventually leaked, and Bale was openly apologetic. Bale later admitted he regrets "Terminator Salvation," only signing on out of spite after turning it down three times.
Grant has also had to apologize in the past. In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair, the actor admitted that he behaved very badly on the set of "The Daily Show." Host Jon Stewart even went so far as to call Grant the worst guest his show had ever hosted. Grant said that his tantrums were something he does on the regular, admitting, "I did have a tantrum backstage. About once a year, I have a really mega-tantrum, and sadly he witnessed one."
Grant has apologized for his untoward behavior. One hopes the tantrums can now cease.