Mormons furious with Hugh Grant horror ‘Heretic’, claim film promotes “violence against women because of their faith”
The film, stars Grant as Mr. Reed, a mysterious and untrustworthy man who answers the door to two young female missionaries
by Damian Jones · NMEMormons have hit out at the Hugh Grant horror film Heretic.
The movie, stars Grant as Mr. Reed, a mysterious and untrustworthy man who answers the door to two young female Mormon missionaries who want to convert him to the church.
The missionaries are played by Sophie Thatcher (The Boogeyman, Yellowjackets) and Chloe East (The Fabelmans, True Blood), and as they spend longer in Mr. Reed’s house, they begin to realise they are quickly becoming out of their depth and are forced to leave his home by picking one of two doors to go through in order to exit the house.
But the Mormon church has expressed anger issuing an official statement via The Guardian that it “promotes violence against women because of their faith”.
The statement added: “Like many Hollywood productions, this is a work of fiction and is not based on actual events. It portrays the graphically violent treatment of women, including people of faith, and those who provide volunteer service to their communities. Any narrative that promotes violence against women because of their faith or undermines the contributions of volunteers runs counter to the safety and wellbeing of our communities.”
The film, which is being screened in cinemas now, was awarded four stars by NME, which said: “East and Thatcher are convincing as the Mormons who made a wrong turn and Grant is a loquacious delight in a role that could so easily have been a wad of demonic clichés. Lovers of Bridget Jones’s Diary always knew he was a cad but this is something else entirely. He’s never less than devilishly plausible and meticulous with every glance, grin and furrowed brow.”
Recommended
Elsewhere, Grant spoke to NME about his character’s decision to sing Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, saying: “I don’t do it very well. I think it’s a very difficult song to sing. I researched it a bit and they kind of hate it. One of them sketched it off, they recorded it and they never really bothered to put on proper lyrics [that] they liked. Everyone went mad for it and called for it at every Radiohead concert. Very difficult to sing. I didn’t crack that one.”
When asked whether he went down a Radiohead rabbit hole, he replied: “I didn’t. I don’t think Radiohead was my character Mr Reed’s cup of tea. I had him down as more of a Bach man. He prides himself on being down with the kids though.
“I think he was quite a successful, trendy professor at some midwestern university in the late ’80s and early ’90s, so he’s good at making young people-friendly references like that but in the privacy of his own room, it’s Bach and Beethoven.”
Thatcher also covered Bob Dylan classic ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ for the movie.