You could never accuse Hugh Grant of playing it safe. In recent years, he’s taken all kinds of unexpected roles – most recently appearing as an Oompa Loompa in Paul King’s Wonka. Prior to that, their team-up on Paddington 2 resulted in the instantly iconic ham-tastic villain Phoenix Buchanan. He’s gone toe-to-toe with bards and bird-people in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, geezered it up with Guy Ritchie on The Gentlemen – and never forget his time as a future-world cannibal in Cloud Atlas. Now, Grant is taking on a role that few will have seen coming: in Unfrosted – Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming comedy about the invention of beloved toaster-pastry the Pop-Tart – he’ll be none other than… Tony The Tiger.
Or, at least, the disgruntled Shakespearean actor who, much to his chagrin, finds himself having to don the Tony The Tiger outfit. “That was the greatest part of the whole thing, honestly,” Seinfeld tells Empire of Grant’s casting. “Because I am a crazy fan of his.” For the first time in 30 years, Grant filmed an audition tape for Seinfeld, the comedy legend who stars, writes, and is director on Unfrosted. “[Hugh] asked me if it matters that Tony the Tiger has a British accent. I told him, ‘No, who cares?’” Take an exclusive look at Hugh Grant as the beloved mascot – complete with that jaunty red neckerchief – above, as seen in the upcoming Furiosa issue of Empire.
Beyond Grant, Seinfeld has assembled a mind-boggling ensemble of stars to tell the story of a breakfast revolution. Seinfeld himself plays a Kellogg’s boss, and he’ll be joined on screen by the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Dan Levy, James Marsden and Christian Slater. “Everybody I asked said ‘yes’, so we ended up with this crazy cast,” he tells Empire. There’s no other word for it: Unfrosted is shaping up to be… grrrrrreat.
Read Empire’s full story on Unfrosted – speaking to Jerry Seinfeld about his feature directorial debut and his love of Pop-Tarts – in the Furiosa issue, on sale Thursday 14 March. Pre-order a copy online here. Unfrosted is streaming on Netflix from 3 May.