Hugh Grant Admits He 'Hated' Filming as Oompa-Loompa in 'Wonka'

Acclaimed actor Hugh Grant steps into quite a different role alongside Timothée Chalamet in Wonka. In the film, Grant plays an Oompa-Loompa, one of the iconic orange-skinned, green-haired little men from the Willy Wonka universe.

Grant's role was especially challenging to film. Rather than digitally make him smaller in the movie, he filmed his scenes using motion capture. While one would think it would make for an exciting, Avatar-like experience, Grant didn't care for it one bit, calling it "drivel" in a recent interview. 

"It was like a crown of thorns, very uncomfortable," he told reporters about the motion capture technology, per Metro. "I made a big fuss about it. I couldn't have hated the whole thing more."

The whole time he was in character, he wasn't sure just how he was supposed to move. "[I didn't know whether to] act with my body or not, and I never received a satisfactory answer," he said. "And frankly, what I did with my body was terrible, and it’s all been replaced with an animator."

In the end, Grant wasn't exactly satisfied with how it looked. When asked if it was all worth it after he saw how it turned out, he simply said, "Not really." Not even the dancing parts of the movie were entertaining for him. "It should be fun, but that was done by the animator," he said. "It’s very confusing, with CGI now, you can’t tell what’s going on."

Grant may have despised working on Wonka, but he went on to joke that his profession as a whole has gotten on his nerves. "I slightly hate [making movies] but I have lots of children and need money," he quipped. 

Wonka hits theaters Dec. 15.