Richard E. Grant has shared what it was like working with the Spice Girls during the height of their fame as they produced Spice World.
The musical comedy film was released in 1997 and followed the five members – Sporty, Posh, Baby, Scary and Ginger – as they navigated fame.
Richard E. Grant played the girls’ manager and was an integral part of the movie.
READ MORE: Spice Girls left worried after ‘much bigger’ Victoria Beckham ruled out tour
He recently spoke to The One Show about how he managed to land his iconic role and also what it was like working with the internationally famous girl band.
Richard sat down on the green sofa with hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas to talk about the character.
He said: “At the time, answering machines were shoebox sized and we had [one] inside the house. I came back from picking my daughter up at school and she saw the thing, put it on – I was in the kitchen – and she heard: ‘Would you like to play the Spice Girls’ manager in Spice World?’
“She came through and said: ‘You’ve got to be in it! I don’t care what else you’re in, this is what you’ve got to be in!’ Because she wanted to meet them. So, that’s what happened. They put her hair into pigtails, like Emma Bunton, and they were incredibly kind.”
The esteemed actor went on to joke that he had “high playground status for about two terms” as all the parents and children “wanted to be his friend because of Spice World”.
Alex then went on to question Richard about “some of the roles he landed” throughout his career and how his wife felt about them.
He explained that his wife was “always critical” but the “last thing she coached him on” was how to do a Sheffield accent so he could “play an old drag queen” in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
Alex noted that his wife wasn’t impressed with Star Wars, in which he played Allegiant General Pryde in Episode 9.
Richard recalled that she said she “couldn’t understand a single thing of it” when she watched it and gave a sweet chuckle as he remembered.
READ MORE:
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk