Richard E. Grant stayed in his character’s study between takes while shooting his new movie The Lesson.

In the thriller, a young writer named Liam, played by Daryl McCormack, takes a tutoring position at the estate of esteemed author J.M. Sinclair. The legendary writer, portrayed by Grant, spends most of his time in his study trying to complete his next novel.

During an interview with Cover Media, director Alice Troughton revealed that Grant kept to himself in Sinclair’s study between takes instead of hanging out with the cast and crew.

“In between takes, Richard would go to the study. So that’s one of the ways that he stayed in character,” Troughton recalled. “We would go to the coffee table or whatever and Richard would go to the study and be in Sinclair’s study and that’s how we saw him. So when we came to film the scenes in the study, he already inhabited that place, which Sinclair needed to do to be honest.”

The filmmaker also divulged that Grant was drawn to the project because the script’s depiction of grief resonated with him following the death of Joan Washington, his wife of 35 years, in September 2021.

“Richard, he said this in interviews before the strike, was coming from a place of deep grief, he’d lost his wife of many, many years six months before, so (it was) very raw,” Troughton shared. “He read the script and just the resonances of being in grief and in a family torn apart in grief, I think, really spoke to him. So when he was on the floor (shooting the film), I would say that he kept very much in that character, in that place, sort of a slightly isolated figure.”

The Lesson, also starring Julie Delpy, is in U.K. cinemas from Friday 22 September.

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