MovieChat Forums > How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1990) Discussion > Does anyone else see the hypocisy?!

Does anyone else see the hypocisy?!

posted 18 years ago by ozkit2003
14 replies | jump to latest

My boyfriend and me loved this film BUT when did Richard E. Grant's values distort? What's he doing whoring for Argos now?! Puzzled by this change in opinions (also refer to Withnail and I - fab film!) we e-mailed the official Richard E. Grant website. It appeared the guy who replied didn't get what we were saying, explaining that a lot of film stars do ads. We replied, explaining more clearly - we got no answer. It's a shame really. We used to have a lot of respect for Dick. I'm just interested to know if anyone else had similar thoughts! :)

[–] benstevens958 18 years ago

The film contains Bruce Robinson's values, not Richard E. Grant's. He's the one who's anti-consumerism. Grant is just an actor doing a job.

Ben
"He's thrown a kettle over a pub. What have you done?"

[–] iwilldiescreaming 18 years ago

Quite right, Grant is an ACTOR. He is also a teetotaler; would that have made him a hypocrite for portraying the alcoholic Withnail(I don't believe he was dry at the time)?...methinks not.

[–] ladytron72 18 years ago

and please don't call him "Dick" , no one calls him Dick...

[–] Daniel-La-Poubelle 18 years ago

I saw this on British television yearsand years ago. Just after Richard Wilson's tirade about the Ad industry, there was a commercial break - and up pops Wilson trying to sell us some low-fat margerine.

As has been already stated - it's Robinson's views, not those of his cast.

[–] justsomerandomirrelevantweirdo 17 years ago

'Dick' is short for Richard?

"Psst...it's me, Death...I'll see you soon...ok?"-Manny Calavera

[–] ladytron72 17 years ago

yes Dick is short for Richard but Richard E. is far more than short Dick.
********
"I have of late, but wherefor I know not, lost all my mirth..."

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] achilleez13 17 years ago

Hmmm...Dick Grant, where does one apply? :)

[–] TheRetrobates 16 years ago

Before filming 'Withnail and I' the director made Richard E Grant (who as you say is teetotal) go out on a massive bender so he could understand how it felt to be ridiculously drunk and hungover. He thought it would help him play Withnail more realisitcally by understanding those feeling first hand.

[–] trinity-destler 12 years ago

He was dry at the time, he's never not been dry. He's not a teetotaler out of any kind of moral stance, he's physically allergic to alcohol. Robinson made him get very drunk once for the film so he would know what it was like, but that's it for him.

"It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with." ~David Bowie

[–] Gwasgray 14 years ago

I think Richard E. Grant did the Argos adverts not because he's a shameless sellout like David Beckham or some other already-very-rich celebrity but because he actually needed the money when he first started doing them.

I saw this on British television years and years ago. Just after Richard Wilson's tirade about the Ad industry, there was a commercial break - and up pops Wilson trying to sell us some low-fat margerine.

That's brilliant, I hope that was done on purpose by someone with an ironic sense of humour. I remember those adverts!

[–] backofthevan 14 years ago

After a fantastic flurry of amazing parts in top films, (Withnail, Advertising, Age of Innocence, The Player, Dracula) REG's career hit the downslide and never recovered. I wouldn't be surprised if his all-too-candid revelations in his book With Nails about co-stars and others he met making films damned him and made people leery of hiring him, or they didn't hire him again after he told tales out of school. I think he shot himself in the foot with that book.

He has never had parts that match those of his early days, and he may well need the Argos paycheque. Sad to see; I thought he would be a major star and likely he did, too, but he should never have written that book!

[–] LightningLad 13 years ago

What do you do for a living?

-----
Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.

[–] Gular-Scute 11 years ago

Richard E. and Tom Waits are the only reasons to watch Dracula. Unless you want to laugh at the terrible hamming of Oldman and Hopkins and Keanu's plywood impersonation.

Richard should have played Harker or the Count.