Richard E Grant: the truth about Victoria Beckham

English actor Richard E Grant chats about his unexpected experience working with the Spice Girls and what he thinks of Australia’s Kath & Kim.

You have hardly come up for air since your debut in 1987’s cult comedy Withnail & I, when you were 30 – every year has a film, TV or stage credit to your name. But you will still go to your grave defined by that first role. Are you OK with that?

It’s something that doesn’t seem to go away or want to die – certainly in England, a whole country of people know the dialogue – I suppose because Withnail was such an extreme character and the script was so brilliantly written. I’m grateful for it, I have lifelong friendships with the people I made it with. It’s been a real win-win.

More recently, you’ve been part of the Star Wars franchise and garnered new fans thanks to the Marvel series Loki. Which fan base is more obsessive?

I’ve been absolutely astonished by the reaction to Loki. Tom Hiddleston did say to me on our first day working together last October, “This will have an impact.” And I didn’t really take him seriously. I thought he was just trying to flatter me and ease my nerves. But he obviously saw into the crystal ball.

Richard E Grant in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. (Picture: Supplied)

You also have an affinity for working with Australians – you’ve done a stage performance of My Fair Lady and filmed Palm Beach in Sydney…

and I did Kath & Kimderella in Melbourne. We got barbecued for that one. But working with Magda [Szubanski] and Gina [Riley] and Jane [Turner]? Buddies for life. I loved it. I’ll always fly the flag for Australia: the generosity, the hospitality, the landscape, the food, the self-deprecating humour… what more can I say?

Speaking of your films that got “barbecued”, the Bruce Willis action movie Hudson Hawk turned 30 this year, and there was a push by some to reappraise it as misunderstood, or perhaps unfairly maligned. What do you think?

It remains as terrible as it always was! Terrible in its beginning and disastrous in its outcome. It should be in the movie bin, where it belongs.

You are also one of the choice few who have gotten to act opposite the Spice Girls, thanks to your role as the band’s manager in Spice World. Was one of them easier to work with than the others?

What struck me was that Sporty Spice – Mel C – was very withdrawn and quiet compared to her sisters, if you like. And Victoria [Beckham] was genuinely funny. So this reputation she has accrued for being po-faced and not giving away much is so at odds with the person I worked with. I absolutely adored her.

Richard E Grant with the Spice Girls in 1997’s Spice World. (Picture: Alamy)

They used to constantly send her up because she’d say the only thing she read was Vogue and she was so into fashion… they all just ripped her: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” They asked me to host their reunion press day at O2 Arena in London when they did the revival tour, and when Victoria came out, the volume of cheering was double what any of the others got. And I thought, well, she’s been proved right. Vogue reading has stood her in good stead.

Tell me about getting into drag for your new role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. You look great.

Well, that is entirely due to an incredible team of people. I felt a bit like an old Formula One race car that comes to the pit stop and has to be put back together. I’d only ever seen Dame Edna on television; I had to binge-watch 11 seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race in three weeks for an education.

Getting into drag for the first time – finding the right wig, heels, bust and hip size, getting tucked – I don’t think I’ve ever felt so fearful of taking on a job. Because I was playing somebody who was incredibly successful in the ’80s as a drag queen in London; that’s an enormous amount of pressure, to try pulling that off.

You published a volume of your diaries in 1996. Are you still keeping them?

I’ve long since given up writing them, because my handwriting is terrible. Now I do everything on my phone, the iPad or a laptop.

Richard E Grant features in this Sunday’s Stellar.

And will you publish another round?

I’ve been asked about a second volume, but I’ve resisted because I think the rags-to-riches story I told in that first one – from doing Withnail and then ending up working in Los Angeles – can’t really be repeated. I also think that everything is so politically correct, at least at this moment in time, that I might get in trouble for being as unvarnished or uncensored.

Fair enough. You and Steve Martin kept up a notorious letter-writing campaign back in the ’90s – via fax, of course. Are you two still in touch?

Oh, yeah. We’ve been friends for over three decades now. That is unchanged. In fact, I just got an email from him last night.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 17.

Originally published as Richard E Grant: the truth about Victoria Beckham