Warning: This article contains spoilers aboutThe Regimeepisode 4,“Midnight Feast.”
Hugh Granthas added another politician to his CV.
Until Zubak grows disillusioned with him and realizes that he’s just as much a user as Elena.
Hugh Grant on ‘The Regime’.Miya Mizuno/HBO
Miya Mizuno/HBO
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You partnered with Stephen Frears on this project.
This is your third time working together.
What makes it such a great working relationship?
Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant on ‘The Regime’.Miya Mizuno/HBO
He cast me inFlorence Foster Jenkinswith Meryl Streep.
I liked his style.
So, we did that and we didA Very English Scandal.
So it was easy.
I don’t think that was it, really.
Although it may have been behind Stephen’s thinking in asking me to play it.
I was really not interested in politics at all until I was about 50.
Their priorities were 1.)
their own career, 2.)
So, I am quite interested in politics from that point of view.
Do you think Keplinger was ever actually very benevolent or progressive?
Or he’s just as bad as Elena in a different way?
He would’ve asked himself this question often in his darker moments.
They liked his “dissident cool.”
She toppled him, she ruined his career.
Did you talk with Stephen or creator Will Tracy at all about how he was toppled?
He seems almost too smart for that.
Will said that there was a bit of skullduggery and that the USA had helped her come to power.
We see him venture to convince Zubak to come over to his side and help him take back power.
If he had been successful, what do you think would’ve happened?
I can’t remember what the people are thinking of Zubak at that stage.
He was still quite popular by the time she decides to imprison him.
He’s quite popular with the people, so maybe there would’ve been a chance.
But I have this feeling that the people would never really have taken Keplinger to their hearts again.
I think Zubak would’ve ended up murdering him; Keplinger would’ve died in a mysterious air accident.
Keplinger’s book is calledRadical Democracy and its Dialectics, which is such an absurd title.
Did you have some loose notion in mind of what the book was about?
It was an academic tome that was quite difficult to plow through.
He was a typical case of someone who was pretty much a Marxist when he was teaching in university.
Gradually, all that has been watered down.
You see in that penultimate scene with Zubak.
And he goes, “Yeah, yeah, we will.”
But he’s watering everything down.
Because the idealists get nothing done.
Although Keplinger may well have his faults, I don’t think he’s a murderer.
I don’t think he’s corruptible that way.
So, she’s infinitely more dangerous.
You’ve played a few politicians in your time.
Would you ever want to go into politics yourself?
It has crossed my mind.
But what I really see close up is that it’s almost impossible to actually get anything done.
It’s just impossible.
You’ve got to bring so many people with you.
My wife’s mother is a politician.
She was quite senior in the Swedish Parliament.
Whenever the subject comes up, she just says, “Don’t.
You have to water down everything.
It’s all horse trading.
And nowadays the incoming abuse is unthinkable.”
I campaigned in a few marginal constituencies for whoever was the closest rival to the conservative candidate.
Actually, I did very badly.
We lost in every single constituency.
What was interesting was the abuse that came in from the right.
I never know if they’re real or if they’re bots.
But they’re good.
They’re brilliant at what they do.
And it was absolutely terrifying.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
