In A24's Heretic, two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
The movie also stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East and was written & directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Today, we have a new trailer and poster for the movie. While the former is only a minute long, it's packed full of sinister imagery and praise from critics (on Rotten Tomatoes, Heretic currently has an impressive 91% score).
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Grant recently explained what drew him to the role of the villainous Mr. Reed.
"Let's face it, no one wants me to play the romantic lead anymore," he started, "and thank God they don't. I think [Heretic] is brave because religion is a slightly no-go area, perhaps especially in the United States. In that way, I think it's edgy. I'm proud of that."
"Villains have usually got a facade, and this is a very good example of that facade being important to how the story is told," Grant continued. "It would've been obviously all wrong if, from the moment I'd answered the door to Sophie and Chloe, I'd been demonstrably psychotic and evil. A slow reveal is the key. And in this case, really as slow as possible."
Asked by the site what's drawn him to an increased number of villainous roles in recent years, he said, "Every actor really prefers it. I think you'd be hard pushed to find an actor or actress who says, 'I just like playing nice people.' They're tough and they're always borderline boring. They're very difficult, nice people or heroes. And there always seems to be more juice in an evil character."
"It's a fascinating discussion about why that is and why audiences, from the beginning of time, have always latched onto the villains sometimes when they don't really latch onto the good guy. So it's always tempting for an actor," Grant concluded.
Check out the new trailer and poster for Heretic below and stay tuned for more on this one as we near that November 8 release date.