The invitation came as a surprise on the first day of the month when I was asked to host this year’s Baftas. Not something I ever thought would be offered to this star-struck old Swazi boy.
It will give me the chance to welcome guest presenters I have long admired and get a unique view from the stage of the extraordinary array of talent gathered at the Royal Festival Hall: Cate Blanchett, Austin Butler, Eddie Redmayne, Paul Mescal, Viola Davis. , and so on.
Trying to understand why I was chosen, I came to the conclusion that my sheer enthusiasm and acceptance of the awards circuit four years ago was the likely clue.
That awards season was quite the ride. Melissa McCarthy and I were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor for the low-budget film Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
Remembering Elizabeth Taylor’s joke that ‘there’s no deodorant like success,’ I shamelessly took selfies with everyone. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. There were blurry photos of me with Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Olivia Colman, Laura Dern, Regina King, all of which I happily posted on social media.
Did that make me a natural candidate to host the EE Baftas? I hope so.
Richard E. Grant taking a selfie with Bradley Cooper during the 2019 Oscars
Richard enjoys his night out at the US awards night in 2019 with ‘poker face’ star Lady Gaga
Here’s how that adventure began in 2019, from awards season naive to overzealous veteran in 2023.
Like almost any other film you choose to scratch the history of, the film was decades in the making with various other names mooted for the lead roles, before finally being made by director Marielle Heller, with Melissa McCarthy and Lucky Me, due to the actor who plays my role leaving in the 11th hour.
Who knows? This is the behind-the-scenes setting for countless movies. What if Paramount Studios had prevailed in their choice of Robert Redford, Warren Beatty or Ryan O’Neal to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather, rather than the director’s choice of Al Pacino?
Luck, talent, opportunity, ambition, perseverance, blind faith. . . call it what you want, it’s a gamble.
A year after we ended, in September 2018, Melissa and I flew to a one-horse mountaintop town in Colorado for the world premiere. I asked Melissa if she ever feels this disconnect between ‘real’ movie stars and herself. Her response surprised me: ‘I’ve never felt like a member of that club,’ she said. Idem.
At 4 in the afternoon the projection of our film arrived, when we saw it with the public for the first time. The laughs came in expected and unexpected places. When my character says goodbye, clearly dying of AIDS, there were audible colds.
There was sustained applause and enthusiastic endorsement during the question and answer session. Then the first commercial reviews came and they were unequivocal praise, predicting that the film would be an awards contender.
This had never happened to me, and I cut all compliments in half, like portions of American food.
At the Toronto Film Festival the reaction was the same.
Even though I know everything is fleeting and tailwinds can be redirected in a heartbeat, if I weren’t retired and on the career block for over three decades, I can see how easy it would be. to believe all this pony trap and ride.
My friend Gabriel Byrne emailed me from New York: “You’re on the pig’s back these days.” He was right: it’s a short bumpy ride and you can fall off at any time.
The predictions came true and the film was nominated for awards season.
The nomination sequence feels like this: Imagine walking out your door and a bunch of stray dogs come up and lick your legs.
Get to the door and bigger dogs show up, get up on their hind legs to cuddle and pet them, and now you’re feeling the ‘love’ big time.
And then, you get an Oscar nomination and the whole street is barking at the moon, and like the Pied Piper, the friendliest puppies on the planet harass you, follow you, wag their tails, and pounce on you.
The season began when I was invited to the Governor’s Honorary Oscar Ball, which was held two months before the Oscars, in a grand ballroom in Hollywood. Both are perfect. Perfect. In the perfect movie. Perfection. CONGRATULATIONS!!’ Tom Hanks declared loudly. Steven Spielberg was right behind him. The room tilted on its axis as expected.
Clint Eastwood, beaming with smiling compliments, Hilary Swank greeted me like we were old friends. Nicole Kidman called me ‘heartbreaking and brilliant’. She felt like being a temporary member of the Fame Club.
Richard dancing the night away at the Academy Awards with Samuel E, Jackson
Richard poses for a photo with American singer Barbra Sreisand at the 2019 Oscars
In January 2019, I got a Golden Globe nomination. No matter how many times people make predictions, I’m still in awe.
The Golden Globes translate to hitting the red carpet with stands packed with fans and lots of screaming and selfies.
Penelope Cruz and Lady Gaga appeared, decked out in extravagant voluminous skirts that required their own handlers to get through the crowd.
The table jam inside was insane. No food, just drinks and sweets. Melissa McCarthy had brought a bag of ham rolls and I discarded six.
After two hours, Dick Van Dyke, now 97, loudly declared, ‘OH MY GOD! My ass is dead. The only person I know here is Carol Burnett.
It was a fabulous evening and I was not surprised not to win. But this was not the end of my awards season journey as I was then nominated for a Bafta and on January 22, 2019, the nominees for the Academy Awards, the Oscars, would be announced.
My email inbox started getting good luck messages overnight and morning for the 5:20am (1:20pm London) announcement.
I picked up my daughter and drove to an Italian restaurant in Notting Hill. She placed her iPhone against a salt shaker and gave me one of her headphones to listen to the live broadcast from Los Angeles.
When I heard my name, I looked at my daughter and we started crying. Nothing prepared us for what it would feel like, for this unreality to become real. It felt like the room had rotated 360 degrees at the speed of Mach II.
Being nominated by your peers is the greatest accolade of all, which is why the Baftas and Oscars are the Himalayas of showbiz awards.
When my lifelong idol, Barbra Streisand, came on as a host for the night, I stood up. Meeting her afterwards was more rewarding than I imagined possible.
As for tomorrow night, my excitement is getting the better of my nerves, although I’m a little worried that Bafta will ban me from taking selfies with people I’ve admired for a long time!
My presentation style? Comedians are licensed to skewer their audience, but I don’t have that option, as character assassination of my peers would be professional suicide.
Hosting is a bit like making a peanut pick: do you go for Ricky Gervais Armageddon dry-roasted, roasted, honeyed, caramelized, salted, or plain? There is no prize for guessing my choice.
- Richard donated his fee for this article to Longfield Hospice (longfield.org.uk).