It's a side of Hugh Grant that not many have seen, but for nearly two months he paraded around a Pitt Meadows sound stage while two helpless missionaries attempted to survive his labyrinth of horrors.
This is all part of the upcoming horror film Heretic, which is set to premiere on Nov. 8.
Helmed by directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, this religious thriller features the acting talent of Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East as the leads.
Grant plays the diabolical and inquisitive Mr. Reed, who invites two Morman missionaries – Thatcher and East – into his home before putting their beliefs to the test in order to escape his maze of rooms, each scarier than the last.
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Producer Julia Glausi explained that this film was shot almost entirely in Pitt Meadows at Golden Ears Studios during the fall of 2023.
"We had about five or six days of exteriors, which was all over the Vancouver area, but the stages were in Pitt Meadows," said Glausi.
The sound stage was used as the inside of Mr. Reed's home, where the vast majority of the film takes place. Glausi said that turning an empty stage into a horror-filled web of rooms was not an easy task, but was masterfully handled by production designer Philip Messina.
"We were so lucky to be able to work with the legendary Phil Messina. We had been fans of him for a long time," said Glausi.
"The production design could not have been more important in this movie. We started building the set weeks and weeks before we started shooting. When we touched ground – myself and the directors – he already had the bones of the set ready to go."
"The stages we used in Pitt Meadows had an incredible amount of office space that we were able to use, and Phil and his team had a whole wing to themselves. All of these empty offices became rooms that were dedicated to very specific pieces of the set. There was one office that was just dedicated to doorknob research. There's one shot of this doorknob that is really important and that whole office became ideas and different directions on little tiny pieces of texture like doorknobs on the set."
Despite being steeped in nerve-wracking horror, Glausi explained that there's actually a lot of humour throughout the film, which she credits to both the directors as well as Grant.
"He [Hugh] is so funny," said Glausi. "There were moments throughout filming where there would be a line from Hugh Grant's mouth that became so much more hilarious than we ever could have anticipated."
This is not the first time that Grant has ventured into the realm of horror, having previously starred in The Lair of the White Worm and Night Train to Venice. However, this marks his first return to the genre in more than 30 years.
Glausi said that she is excited for Heretic to hit theatres, and she hopes that the audiences have as much fun watching the film as the cast and crew had making it.
But regardless of how the film does, she'll always have fond memories of visiting local establishments like the Jolly Coachman and Me-n-Ed's Pizza during the 7-week shoot.
"We loved both of those restaurants when we were filming in Pitt Meadows," she said.
Heretic releases nationwide on Friday, Nov. 8.
