Hugh Grant says his 'Paddington 2' character is 'possibly gay,' and talks about his sex scenes with Ben Whishaw, the voice of Paddington bear

a very english scandal

Hugh Grant thinks that Phoenix Buchanan, his character from "Paddington 2," is "possibly gay."
In Amazon's "A Very English Scandal," Grant has sex scenes with costar Ben Whishaw, who provides the voice for Paddington bear.
Grant talked about filming those scenes with Whishaw.

Hugh Grant stars as a corrupt British politician in "A Very English Scandal," which dropped on Amazon Prime Friday. The series follows Jeremy Thorpe's 1979 trial on charges that he conspired to murder his former lover, Norman Scott, played by Ben Whishaw.

In "A Very English Scandal," Grant has intimate sex scenes with his costar Whishaw. This is a strange detail because earlier in 2018, Grant played villain Phoenix Buchanan in "Paddington 2," and Whishaw provided the voice for Paddington bear.

At a New York City tea hosted by Amazon in June, Grant sat down with Business Insider and other journalists to discuss the series. In our interview, Grant speculated that his "Paddington 2" character Buchanan is gay, and reflected on filming very different scenes in "A Very English Scandal" with his "Paddington 2" costar.

I asked Grant if he knew that he would have sex scenes with Whishaw, the voice of Paddington bear, when he signed onto "A Very English Scandal."

"That's why I took the role," Grant responded.

Paddington 2

Grant also said there wasn't much talk about his sex scenes with Whishaw.

"We just got on with it, really," he said. "The scenes where we're in love, and I'm passionately kissing him and rolling around in the bed with him, very little talk. Just, 'I think I'm going to stand here, kiss him, and then put him on the bed.' I remember one time, I pushed him on the bed and I thought, 'Well I got one with kissing him, but I better try something else: I'll lick his nipples!'"

Thorpe is one of the main characters in "A Very English Scandal," but — like Buchanan in "Paddington 2" — he's also the primary villain. Grant's career took off due to his roles in romantic movies like "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill," so his recent roles are a bit of a welcome departure from what we're used to seeing from him.

"In those Richard Curtis romantic comedies I suppose you could say I'm a 'goodie,'" Grant said. "But then, in 'Bridget Jones' he's not very nice. 'About a Boy' I'm not very nice. Recently, 'Paddington 2' — I'm not nice at all. And possibly gay, though we never really get into it. He lives on his own, he spends a lot on face cream, into bears. So there's been lots of baddies."

"A Very English Scandal," one of our favorite shows of 2018 so far, is available on Amazon Prime now. You can watch "Paddington 2," the best reviewed movie of 2018, on iTunes.

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