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GRANT & I Following the launch of his second fragrance, Covent Garden, we speak to Richmond local Richard E. Grant about scent and the Spice Girls. I n t e r v i e w r o m y va n d e n b r o e k e
I
met Richard E. Grant on a sunny day in April at The Corner Restaurant and Champagne bar in Selfridges. One of Britain's most eminent acting talents, loved as much for his slurring turn in Withnail & I as for his humourless first footman in Gosford Park, I found myself a little intimidated. But when I arrived at the event, Grant got up and meandered over to introduce himself. “Hello, I’m Richard. You must be Romy,” he took my hand and shook it firmly, before making a joke - one I can’t remember because of a mild case of being struck by stardom - and warning me, with a wry smile, to eat all of my breakfast because he had forked out for it himself. Immaculately dressed in a slim cut navy blazer and with a leonine head of perfectly coiffed hair, Grant is every bit the veteran British thespian - but his self-effacing demeanor, raucous sense of humour and effortless British charm put me instantly at ease. Grant’s formidable acting career hasn’t slowed with age (he recently turned 58).
ABSOLUTELY MAGAZINES
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[WITHNAIL & I]
deals with failure and that is SOMETHING MORE PEOPLE might be Able to EMPATHISE with than success. His recent cameo in acclaimed American television series Girls is evidence of Grant’s ability to remain relevant. Lena Dunham, the writer, director and star of the series, wrote Grant into the role of Jasper - an onand-off-the-wagon cocaine addict indulging in an affair with a girl half his age. As a confessed fan of Withnail & I, it’s easy to see where Dunham’s inspiration for the character came from. There’s a mutual admiration between the two, palpable in the way Grant speaks about her. “[She] write[s] with such extraordinary insight and honesty,” he continues, describing her as an “uber multi-hyphenate phenomenon”.
Any good actor has a couple of stinkers on their resumé, and Grant is not exempt. 2014's Dom Hemmingway is definitely up there, and let's not forget Spice Girls: The Movie. But in general, Grant’s managed to avoid any major flops. From his recent role as Lord Michael Heseltine in 2011 The Iron Lady, to the voice of Percy in Disney’s Pocahontas, Grant’s repertoire is extensive to say the least - he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s acclaimed Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992, The Age of Innocence in 1993, the aforementioned Gosford Park in 2001 and Bright Young Things in 2003. More recently, Grant played Simon Bricker, an art historian, in Downton Abbey and is currently filming forthcoming ITV drama Jekyll and Hyde. Even with a plethora of box office hits in the bag, the one film most people associate with Grant is Bruce Robinson’s 1987 cult classic, Withnail & I, in which Grant plays an alcoholic Nihlist with a penchant for drinking lighter fluid. Grant attributes the film’s flyaway success to the fact that it “deals with failure and that is something more people might be able to empathise with than success.”
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