Hugh Grant Was Born to Play the Villain

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( TIFF 2024 [Hugh Grant Was Born to Play the Villain]( Grant’s been terrific in recent years as characters of questionable moral standing, but his riveting turn in Heretic is something else entirely. Photo: A24/Everett Collection “This is the freak-show period of my career,” Hugh Grant said to a question about why he’s turned in recent years toward playing villains. “I got old. I got ugly. No one offered me leading men anymore.” The occasion was a Q&A after a Toronto International Film Festival screening of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’s new A24 horror film, Heretic, in which Grant plays Mr. Reed, an eerie man with a lot of thoughts about religion who may or may not be holding two Mormon sister missionaries hostage in his creepy old house. “I’m quite drawn to evil, violence, death,” he added. “I feel very happy in that world.” Not long after that, someone from the audience wished him a happy birthday; Hugh Grant had just turned 64. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( to save over 40% on unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Only Murders in the Building: [Perfect Strangers]( • My Brilliant Friend: [Sacrifices]( • Below Deck Mediterranean: [Goldilocks Joe]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [All the Winners (and EGOTs) of the Creative Arts Emmys If you weren’t on Shōgun or the “Fishes” episode of The Bear, you might as well have stayed home. Oh, except Pasek and Paul; they EGOTed.]( By Jennifer Zhan, Alejandra Gularte and Bethy Squires [Chappell Roan’s Stalker Made Her Hire Security, Which Is ‘So Lame’ But she does have Lady Gaga, Lorde, boygenius, and Elton John in her corner.]( By Justin Curto [Beyoncé’s Idea of Fun? Singing.]( By Jason P. Frank [Kesha Has Earned the Right to Be Crazy After 15 years of singles, “I wanted to remind myself who the fuck I am.”]( By Devon Ivie [Yeah, Nobody Wants Donald J. Trump Using Their Songs in His Campaign Now Trump is facing a second lawsuit, from Jack White.]( By Justin Curto [Why Is Taylor Swift Hugging Brittany Mahomes Such a Big Deal? It’s an earth-shattering political development.]( By Justin Curto [Jen and Zac Affleck Have Been Doing Therapy ‘Nonstop’ Since Filming Mormon Wives “If we continue in our relationship, there are changes that need to be made.”]( By Henry Chandonnet [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Vulture Games [Today’s Crossword]( 29-Down, Three Letters: It’s natural and good, per George Michael Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Kevin Winter, Leon Bennett, Jason Kempin) [Today’s Cinematrix]( Can you name a movie starring Jackie Chan that made $100 million? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (JC Olivera, Monica Schipper, Daniele Venturelli) mfl It’s Time to Draft Your Team for the 2024-25 Movies Fantasy League Illustration: James Clapham You thought the biggest competition of the year [was over](? Correction: It’s only just beginning. We’re once again inviting you to join the [Movies Fantasy League](, our annual contest that challenges players — that’s you — to select eight movies from 2024 that could perform well at the box office and during awards season. Choose well, and you could walk away six months from now (it goes quickly, passage of time being what it is) with any number of great [prizes](, plus bragging rights over thousands of movie-obsessed peers. [read more]( A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved