‘I did a Christian Bale’
He wasn’t one of “The Gentlemen” on the set of his new movie.
Hugh Grant confessed to “having a couple of tantrums” while filming “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” in Northern Ireland in 2021.
“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,” Grant, 62, told the Daily Mail in an interview published Saturday.
“Then it turns out that she’s an extremely nice local woman who was the chaperone of the young girl. Terrible. A lot of grovelling…”
He added that he “did a ‘Christian Bale,’” referring to Bale’s expletive-laden rant at cinematographer Shane Hurlbut for walking into the middle of a scene to check a light during shooting for 2009’s “Terminator Salvation.” Bale publicly apologized when audio of the outburst leaked.
Grant’s new movie — set to premiere March 10 at South by Southwest ahead of a March 31 wide release — follows a charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers as they try to retrieve a lost relic. The project is an adaptation of the popular game “Dungeons & Dragons.”
This isn’t the first time Grant has exhibited wretched set etiquette, including on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
In 2012, Stewart revealed he had banned Grant after interviewing him in 2009 to promote the Sarah Jessica Parker romcom “Did You Hear About The Morgans?”
“He’s giving everyone sh– the whole time, and he’s a big pain in the ass,” Stewart recalled, as he claimed that Grant even complained about the movie clip that was featured on the show.
Grant admitted the poor behavior, tweeting in 2012: “Turns out my inner crab got the better of me with TV producer in 09. Unforgivable. J Stewart correct to give me kicking.”
He later told Vanity Fair, in 2015: “I did have a tantrum backstage. About once a year, I have a really mega-tantrum, and sadly he witnessed one.”
In a 2020 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Grant revealed how career troubles affected his demeanor.
“I developed a bad attitude from about 2005 onwards, shortly after ‘Music and Lyrics.’ I just had enough. Then I went back in 2009 and made another film,” he explained.
“At that point, it wasn’t me giving up Hollywood. Hollywood gave me up because I made such a massive turkey with that film with Sarah Jessica Parker.”
He concluded: “Whether I wanted to or not after that, the days of being a very well-paid leading man were suddenly gone overnight. It was slightly embarrassing but it left life free for other things.”
Since “Did You Hear About the Morgans?,” Grant has starred in “Cloud Atlas” (2012); “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2016); “The Gentlemen” (2019); “The Undoing” (2020); and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (2022), among other projects.