Hugh Grant On Playing The Delightfully Disgruntled Thurl In Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted

Summary Unfrosted examines the creation of Pop-Tarts and Thurl Ravenscroft's struggle for dignity in a comedic light.

Hugh Grant portrays Ravenscroft as a disgruntled character, a departure from his rom-com roots.

Grant used a unique approach to audition for his role, showcasing his versatility as an actor.

In the early 1960s, the world of breakfast changed forever with the invention of the Pop-Tart. The story of the tasty breakfast treat gets delightfully skewered in Unfrosted, the directorial debut of legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who co-wrote the story and stars as a Kellogg's executive whose dream of a new lawn depends on his ability to revolutionize the American breakfast.

The supporting cast features a plethora of recognizable faces, from Christian Slater and Amy Schumer to James Marsden and Bill Burr. Hugh Grant appears in a key role as Thurl Ravenscroft, the real-life actor who portrayed Tony the Tiger. Needless to say, Unfrosted takes that basic premise and turns it into a key part of the movie's plot, with an increasingly disgruntled Ravenscroft turning to desperate measures in order to secure the dignity and respect he feels he's owed.

Related 10 Best Hugh Grant Movies, According To Ranker Hugh Grant is known for being the leading man in rom-coms like Notting Hill but the actor also has many other credits. Fans have voted on his best.

While promoting the release of Unfrosted on Netflix, Hugh Grant sat down with Screen Rant for an interview about his role in the film. He talks about his approach to playing roles as a character actor, and how he sees Thurl Ravenscroft as something of a "dark cousin" to the character he played in 2017's Paddington 2, another bitter actor who goes to extreme lengths to achieve his goals.

Hugh Grant On Playing "Furious Little Men" In Unfrosted & Other Recent Roles

Close

Screen Rant: Hello there, Hugh Grant! I'm so excited to talk to you about this, the role that you were born to play!

Hugh Grant: I think so.

correct me if I'm wrong, but the premise is that this man had this name and this job, and they just said, "Roll with it, Thurl."

Hugh Grant: Thurl Ravenscroft was a real man, he really lived. He was a distinguished theater actor. Then he found that he was reduced to playing Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's in their ads. And he was slightly uncomfortable about it.

Do you get immense ironic joy in getting to play that kind of disgruntled, ready-to-just-pop at-any-moment kind of guy? "I need to be appreciated!"

Hugh Grant: I specialize, now, in furious little men. [Laughs] He's a disappointed man. The Oompa Loompa in Wonka is a furious little man. This, Thurl Ravenscroft, is pretty angry. There's a common thread, now. I'm [not] livid in real life, but I fake it for the cinema.

What was the pitch like? Did Jerry come up to you and say, "This guy, you've gotta be this guy, you'd be so great at being angry. Disgruntled."

Hugh Grant: The offer came through via my agent, and I thought, sounds fun. Sounds like a dark cousin of Phoenix Buchanan, the actor I played in Paddington 2, which I really enjoyed. I thought, 'does Jerry really know how I might play this?' So I called him on Zoom, and tried to talk him out of his offer. I said, "Do you realize I'll be doing it like this?" And then I videoed myself and I sent him a video, and he still seemed to want me, so... We went ahead. But that's my new thing. Whenever I'm offered a part, I do a little video of myself and say, "this is the sort of thing you're going to get," which is their cue to say, "Wonderful." I'm full of fear, and my fear is that I'll turn up on Day 1 and do it how I think is marvelous, and they're going to go, "Sorry, could you lose the accent, or lose the hair, or lose whatever it is?" And you don't want that on Day 1, on top of everything else. I think it's good to do these, sort of, fake auditions.

Sure, it's like, "You hired me, you know how I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it the way I'm gonna do it, man!"

Hugh Grant: Well, not really. Now that it's character parts that I do, rather than, sort of, leading man parts, there's many different ways to go. When I did the first Guy Ritchie, I think it was, maybe the second one as well, I did experiments where he was Irish, where he was East London, or where he was Scottish. I sent a variety of options. It's good to get all that out of the way early on.

About Unfrosted

Michigan, 1963. Kellogg's and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast. A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen, UNFROSTED stars Jerry Seinfeld in his directorial debut.

Check out our other Unfrosted interviews here:

Spike Ferensten

Jerry Seinfeld & Jim Gaffigan

Christian Slater, Sarah Cooper & Max Greenfield

Unfrosted releases May 3 on Netflix.

Source: Screen Rant Plus