Hugh Grant Did Very Little As An Oompa Loompa: “It’s All Been Replaced With An Animator”

The highly-anticipated Willy Wonka prequel, simply called Wonka, starring Timothee Chalamet tells the story of a young Wonka trying to establish himself as the sorcerer of sugar we know he eventually becomes. Along the way, there are bits of Wonka’s lore we know such as his meeting a trapped oompa loompa played by Hugh Grant.

Well, “played by” might be a bit of a stretch if you ask Grant. Promoting the film at a press conference alongside his cast members, Grant confessed he didn’t exactly have a sweet time playing the elven creature. The actor even called the performance “drivel.”

“It was like a crown of thorns, very uncomfortable,” Grant said about the experience of being motion-captured (via Metro.Co.UK). “I made a big fuss about it. I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more.” The actor added that he wasn’t sure about how the process worked and didn’t know whether he was supposed to perform with his body or not, and even stated he never received a satisfactory answer.

“What I did with my body was terrible, and it’s all been replaced with an animator,” the actor continued, going on to say that even the dancing the character did was done by a CGI team member. “It should be fun, but that was done by the animator.”

Director Paul King said it was because of Grant’s dry sarcasm that made him a perfect fit for the role as he explained oompa loompas in the books were “incredibly sarcastic and judgemental and cruel.”

“I was really just thinking about that character,” King said. “Somebody who could be a real s**t, and then–ah! Hugh!”

Wonka opens nationwide December 15.