SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains mild spoilers for “Heretic,” in theaters now.
In their new movie “Heretic,” now in theaters via A24, writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods tell the story of a mysterious man named Mr. Reed, who traps two Mormon missionaries in his house after they try to educate him about their faith.
Before they could begin filming, Beck and Woods had the unique challenge of casting the complicated character of Mr. Reed. They needed a lead actor who could switch between villainous and charming in the blink of an eye, who could also deliver plenty of deep dialogue about religious ideas.
It wasn’t a role for the faint of heart, but Beck and Woods thought of Hugh Grant after seeing one of his shapeshifting performances.
“We’ve been blown away by Hugh — of course, we grew up with all of his incredible romantic comedies,” Woods says. “But ten years ago when we saw ‘Cloud Atlas,’ we saw him in the credits and realized he played all these different parts. It was so exciting to see an artist challenge themselves. Then he spent the next ten years, for our money, becoming one of the greatest character actors in cinema.”
Woods says that Grant’s dynamic performance results from his above-and-beyond work ethic.
“We got a window into his mind — he is somebody who loves taking risks,” Woods says. “He’s meticulous in his research. He combed over every single line in the script. If there was something he didn’t understand or didn’t know a lot about, we would discuss it, we would debate it, and we would get on the same page. We sent at least 200 pages of emails back and forth discussing the topics in the movie. He really wanted to understand where we are coming from, what our history was with religion and philosophy, and where Reed was coming from.”
The preparation allowed Grant to get so deep that he could develop his character even further while acting opposite Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, who play the missionaries.
“We built a narrative together about Reed’s back story and eventually handed it over to Hugh,” Woods says. “He took ownership of the role and it really became his character. His process is extremely extensive and deep, and when he shows up on set he just is Mr. Reed. When he improvises or ad-libs, which was rare because he had reverence for the material, but when he hits those moments it’s in character. Sometimes when actors improvise, you’re kind of like, ‘Where did that line come from? What does it have to do with anything? How does that tell the story?’ With Hugh, it’s always magical.”
The spirit Grant brought to set fueled the filmmakers on a project that was already close to their hearts. Although Beck and Woods came to fame writing large-scale action-fantasy scripts like 2018’s “A Quiet Place” and 2023’s “65,” they wanted to go in a diametrically different direction with “Heretic.”
“Superficially, there was an inspiration of trying to go to a different place than we had been before,” Beck says. “The last couple of films have been free of dialogue, and this is the complete opposite of that. But I think the the genesis of this tracks back to the 30-year relationship that Bryan and I have had as filmmakers, and as best friends — having conversations about existentialism and religion and the unknowns that that we find in life. How religion leads many people to try and find answers to the unknown, and try to find comfort in what happens after you die. That’s the greatest fear we have and the greatest question that we’re we’re pursuing.”
Given their search for answers, the duo would be interested in making more films in the spirit of “Heretic.”
“There are some things on deck that we’ve talked out specifically that feel like spiritual sequels,” Beck says. “They delve into religion, cults or other hot-button items that we want to see on the screen that go to uncomfortable places. What was exciting about ‘Heretic’ was we’ve seen many movies that might be religious in nature, but aren’t necessarily providing a foundation of a conversation that you can walk away with. If you want to keep engaging with it by having conversations about the ideas with your friends, family or loved ones, you can have that there. We find ourselves in such a divisive, polarizing world at times that there’s so much discourse we’re still very captivated by. We want to feed that into a couple of the upcoming projects.”
Director Bryan Woods, left, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East on the set of “Heretic.”
Courtesy Everett Collection