Hugh Grant has been delighting fans with recent moves in his film career – but now his scene-stealing scene as an Oompa Loompa in Wonka is about to be topped.
For the British actor, 63, is donning a grrreat costume to play one of the most iconic breakfast cereal mascots of all time in Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming film about the invention of the Pop-Tart.
Yes, he’s going to be Tony the Tiger in Unfrosted for Netflix. Naturally.
It’s also, Seinfeld revealed, the first time in 30 years that Grant has filmed an audition tape, which he did to land the role.
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star charted a new course in his career when he donned a pink striped jumpsuit and tap shoes for the prison-based dance number finale in Paddington 2 in 2017.
The actor dazzled audiences as the camp villain of the movie, Phoenix Buchanan – even nabbing a Bafta nomination alongside a new generation of fans – and has since then pursued parts as diverse as Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal, rogue Forge in Dungeons & Dragons and Daniel Craig’s boyfriend in Glass Onion.
In 2023, fans assumed he had reached peak whimsy when he was unveiled as the bright orange, green-haired, 20-inch tall Oompa Loompa companion for Timothée Chalamet in the musical prequel to 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
However, that is clearly not the case.
In an exclusive image shared with Empire magazine, Seinfeld unveiled Grant’s casting as Tony, with the star shown on set wearing a giant tiger suit with the head off and complete with Tony’s jaunty red scarf around his neck.
Honestly – the visual is something else, and writer-director Seinfeld shared that Grant’s character is in fact, according to the publication, ‘the disgruntled Shakespearean actor’ who finds himself having to don the Tony the Tiger outfit.
‘That was the greatest part of the whole thing, honestly. Because I am a crazy fan of his,’ the TV icon said of his actor.
Revealing a little more about this iteration of Tony the Tiger too, Seinfeld has also shared that he won’t be sporting that booming voice from most of the Kellogg’s Frosties adverts.
‘Hugh] asked me if it matters that Tony the Tiger has a British accent. I told him, “No, who cares?”’ added the comic and Bee Movie star.
Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story boasts an excellent cast, including Seinfeld himself as the Kellogg’s boss alongside Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, James Marsden, Christian Slater and Dan Levy.
According to the film’s strapline, it follows the competition between Kellogg’s and Post Cereal in 1963 Michigan as they compete to see if they can produce a revolutionary breakfast pastry.
Unfrosted is set for release on Netflix on May 3.
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