Hugh Grant is one of the biggest actors to come out of the UK, starring in the likes of Love Actually and the recently released Wonka.
While the actor's casting as an Oompla Loompa was originally criticised, I think, for the most part, film fanatics loved his performance.
Fans have never known Grant doing anything other than acting, but imagine if he did do something completely different?
Well, Grant has hinted at exactly that in a recent interview.
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Well, Hugh Grant is ready to play another politician - but not as you may expect in a Love Actually sequel.
In rather surprising news, the actor has revealed he's considering leaving acting for a political career.
Speaking in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 63-year-old said: "[Switching into politics] has crossed my mind. But what I really see close up is that it’s almost impossible to actually get anything done. It’s just impossible. You’ve got to bring so many people with you."
Grant actually has some close ties within politics with his mother-in-law, Susanne Eberstein, a former member of the Riksdag party within the Swedish Parliament.
However, she has repeatedly tried to warn him against embarking on a political career.
“Whenever the subject comes up, she just says, ‘Don’t you have to water down everything? It’s all horse-trading. And nowadays the incoming abuse is unthinkable,’” Grant joked.
The Love Actually star spoke on how he only garnered an interest in politics during later life.
"I was really not interested in politics at all until I was about 50," he said.
"I sneered at politics, and then, I found myself campaigning about the abuse of power in the British tabloid press here in the U.K. I spent an awful lot of time in the House of Parliament lobbying politicians and got to know them up close and see what weird specimens they were or became in the course of their careers."
Grant added: "Very often starting with conviction and passion and ending up a couple of decades later, these slightly monstrous professionals of the political game of snakes and ladders."
The Wonka star was actually involved in a small campaign in 2019 during the UK General Election - an election that saw Boris Johnson get into power.
"I did mount a tiny campaign to try and persuade people to vote tactically because in our electoral system, this was the way to prevent Boris [Johnson] and company getting back into power,” he said.
"I campaigned in a few marginal constituencies for whoever was the closest rival to the conservative candidate.”
Topics: Film and TV, Hugh Grant, Politics, Celebrity
Callum Jones