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Hugh Grant Says British Actors Look ‘Slightly Dead’ On Screen, Remembers Being Crippled With Anxiety Attacks

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 00:09 PST, Sep 16, 2016

Hugh Grant thinks British actors look “dead” in films, according to the Express. The 56-year-old Notting Hill actor, who was born in London, believes American actors are far better at acting.

Hugh Grant, who turned 56 last week, is originally from Britain, but it doesn’t mean he won’t tell the ugly truth about British actors. In his recent interview with the Express, the actor also talked about his fears starring alongside Meryl Streep in his latest film Florence Foster Jenkins.

Hugh Grant said that while the camera “loves spontaneity,” this is exactly what British actors lack onscreen, and they always look “slightly dead” on film. But at the same time, the actor praised American actors for being cut out for acting.

In fact, Hugh Grant explained that he has been looking closely at the film industry over the past 30 years, and he has come to the conclusion that the Americans are “right for film acting.” Grant’s concern regarding British actors is that he thinks they are unable to deliver spontaneous performances and look “slightly dead” onscreen.

Hugh Grant also said from his experience, British actors have a tendency to over-rehearse their lines and trying to do “what [they] did successfully in rehearsal.” But the Notting Hill star was quick to add that such an approach is no good for film acting, as the camera loves spontaneity.

“And it doesn’t really love something that’s pre-rehearsed; however marvelous that recreation might be, it always looks slightly dead on camera.”

Americans, meanwhile, do a far better job at film acting as they get themselves in the right mood and in the right frame of mind to be in the exact emotional state their role demands them, Hugh Grant added.

In his recent film Florence Foster Jenkins starring opposite Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant plays the illegitimate son of an English aristocrat who fails at acting and is the manager of a deluded singer played by Streep.

Hugh Grant also revealed that he tried the “American method” of acting in the film, which was released last month, and added that it was the first time he gave the American way of acting a go.

To get in the mood for the more emotional scenes, Hugh Grant played sad music through his headphones and stripped himself of preconceived notions of what he was going to do in that scene.

Hugh Grant also revealed how tense and pressurized it was to act opposite the legendary actress Meryl Streep, who has been nominated for a whopping 19 Academy Awards over her acting career.

“Thinking about how we had to actually act in front of Meryl Streep, for God’s sake, so it was a highly wrought occasion.”

Hugh Grant also revealed that at one point in his acting career, he was forced to quit acting, according to News Australia. In his interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor said it was anxiety attacks and stage fright that played a bad joke on his career.

It started after his most famous film Notting Hill in 1999 when Hugh Grant started getting “absurd stage fright attacks” more and more frequently. The actor admitted that he had no idea where it came from all of a sudden.

“They would just hit me in the middle of a film and they would only last a morning or something, but it was devastating.”

Hugh Grant explained that his anxiety attacks included sweat dripping from his armpits out of nowhere and all of a sudden forgetting his lines while shooting scenes. And after all these years of taking up only small roles in films, Grant finally returns with a lead role in Florence Foster Jenkins.

[Featured Image by Evan Agostini/AP Images]

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