Viewers around the globe tuned in on Sunday to watch as the “whodunnit” TV show, which also stars Nicole Kidman, finally reached a conclusion.
Audiences were left stunned after Grant’s character, Jonathan Fraser, was revealed to be Elena’s killer.
Dissecting the inner-workings of Fraser in a new interview with Variety, Grant said, “From a practical point of view, to make the series work, he has to be as convincing as I can possibly make him when he’s protesting innocence and his love for his wife, his love for his kid. And then you ask yourself in the margin, ‘But what does he really feel?’ The real Jonathan, in my opinion, is incapable of admitting he killed this woman — to himself, even.”
The 60-year-old continued, “I did warn my wife. I said, ‘Look, there was a kind of highly characterized way I was thinking of playing it, but in the end, Susanne Bier wanted me to bring it back to one version: adult Hugh Grant for the last 10 years. You know, I have children, they go to a school rather like the school [in ‘The Undoing’], we go to fundraisers; there are parallels and I didn’t want my wife to suddenly think, ‘Christ, who have I married?’”
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Speaking about Fraser’s sociopathic tendencies, Grant mused, “He’s just so narcissistic that he believes the real him is the marvellous Jonathan, the star of medicine and great dad and great husband. I think he absolutely lives off adoration, undiluted, unequivocal love. I don’t think the violence he shows when he kills Elena is the first time it’s happened. I think there have been instances in his life before where it’s been hushed up.”
The British star also looked back at his character’s nail biting final scenes.
He said, “He knows he’s screwed by now and what I recall is he might be planning to jump off that bridge, he might not, but I think he wants to be the centre of attention still. I don’t think it’s terrible news for him when all those helicopters appear overhead and the TV cameras and all that [show up]. He’s a narcissist and that never goes away: If he’s going to go out, he’s going to go out in a blaze of glory.”
