Hugh Grant on Murdoch phone hacking scandal and embracing the bad guy role

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Earlier in his career, Hugh Grant starred as the charming lead in rom-coms. Now he’s relishing playing the bad guy, as he did in HBO’s “The Undoing.” Photo by Niko Tavernise/HBO

Earlier in his career, Hugh Grant played the charming lead in romantic comedies. But lately, Grant has been relishing the role of the bad guy, which is why he was so right for director Susanne Bier's HBO series “The Undoing.” 

Grant explains, "She wanted a kind of Hugh Grant character at the beginning, in the hope that people would think, ‘Well, he really couldn’t have bashed that woman’s skull in. Not after "Notting Hill!’” 

He tells KCRW about embracing his dark side on screen, fighting crippling anxiety, and his decade of work as an activist following the UK phone hacking scandal that engulfed the Murdoch clan a decade ago and continues to reverberate today.

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Kim Masters

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Kaitlin Parker