Richard E Grant clearly has a thing for playing drunks.
Watching him play Jack Hock in “Can You Ever Forgive Me” immediately brings to mind his titular performance in “Withnail & I,” as both characters are unemployed actors that are quite partial to the booze.
During my recent discussion with Grant I decided to quiz the actor about the inevitable comparisons between “Can You Ever Forgive Me’s” Jack Hock and Withnail.
But despite their obvious similarities Grant insisted he didn’t see “an analogy between the two.”
“They’re both alcoholics and they’re both failing. But Withnail was so upper class and entitled and so selfish. He couldn’t give a f*** about anybody else. I suppose the common denominator is that they’re both drunks.”
“Jack Hock was incredibly promiscuous. He f***ed his way through Manhattan and he paid the ultimate price. He died at the age of 47 in 1994 from AIDS. I didn’t make an analogy between the two.”
“But I am the same actor. So I see that I am playing an alcoholic in a long coat so inevitably there will be some kind of link.”
While Paul McGann was his drinking partner in “Withnail & I,” Melissa McCarthy leads the fun in “Can You Ever Forgive Me,” as she plays Lee Israel, the broke author that is reduced to forging letters of famous novellists. During our chat Grant couldn’t help but wax lyrical about working with the actress.
“I absolutely adored and worshipped her.”
“I thought we would have a week of rehearsal when I arrived in mid January. I got here on the Wednesday ahead of shooting on the Monday. I asked, ‘Where is Melissa?’”
“They were like, ‘She’s not here. She’s on another project in LA.’ ‘When will I meet her?’ ‘Not until Monday. She is on another project in LA.’”
“But I am so paranoid I couldn’t get through the production without having spoken to her before shooting.”
“Especially because she has played comedic characters subtly and broadly and you can play Lee Israel any which way. I am so dependent on how she comes at it. She is my compass and guide.”
“Melissa felt the same way. So we were able to meet a few lunches before shooting and I instantly knew that we had a connection. Even though I didn’t shoot every day and she did I still came to meet her every day for lunch.”
Despite forging such a connection with McCarthy, Jeff Whitty and Nicole Holofcener’s script was so impressive and on point that Grant didn’t add many ad-libs.
Although, he did boast to me that he improvised arguably the funniest and definitely most vulgar line of the entire film.
“It was very, very self explanatory and so well written that there was no need for it. I improvised two words, which I didn’t think they would keep in the movie.”
“When I first meet her in the Julius Bar in the movie, it is my first scene in the movie, I say, “Jack Hock. Big c***.” It just came out of my mouth.”
“I thought, ‘This is someone who is nailing their colors to the mast and fancy’s himself.’ I thought, ‘They will never keep that in the movie.’ And they did. That is as much improvising as there was. I don’t know if that counts.”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me” is now in theaters.
