When we think of rom-com heroes from the late 90s to the early 2000s, there is no way we can miss Hugh Grant. Grant has built his career playing notable romantic leads in evergreen films such as Notting Hill, Maurice, Four Weddings And A Funeral and many more. The charismatic actor has charmed people across the world but we think it’s time to redefine the meaning of on-screen crush as Grant will now appear in a never-seen-before avatar. According to HuffPost, Grant will be playing an Oompa Loompa in the upcoming film, Wonka.

For those wondering about the Oompa Loompas, they are a bunch of tiny people who first appeared in Roald Dahl's 1964 children's classic book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the 1971 film adaptation of the story, Oompa Loompas were played by a bunch of different actors and in the 2005 film adaptation, the character was portrayed by Deep Roy. But people are fairly shocked to see a former rom-com heartthrob take up a quirky role like this.

The 62-year-old actor has been grabbing eyeballs lately by starring in a bunch of interesting roles across films made in different genres. He was last seen in the Dungeons and Dragons live-action film released in 2023, and as per the announcement in CinemaCon 2023, Grant will be appearing as an Oompa Loompa in the upcoming Willy Wonka prequel movie Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet as the future chocolatier.

According to Variety, an extended footage of the new film was played at the CinemaCon where Grant’s Oompa Loompa can be seen trapped in a tiny glass jar. Chalamet’s Wonka then appears to recruit Grant’s little candy peddler to keep his chocolate factory running. The film will apparently include song and dance sequences as well. Even though the footage has not been publicly released yet, people couldn’t help cracking jokes about the news.

A number of netizens claimed that "they couldn't believe their eyes and had to double check the news' legitimacy" and others made a raunchy remark that they will be "sexually attracted to Oompa Loompas now." It's safe to say that fans think that "Grant is at that point in his career right now where he has nothing left to prove and just wants to have fun" and it explains his random choice of roles lately.

Looks like Grant's co-star is also thrilled to work alongside him. "I think it's the first time people saw Hugh Grant as the Oompa Loompa," Chalamet told an audience after a trailer for the upcoming movie played at the movie convention, per PEOPLE. "It was a trip. Hugh is one of our greats and it was a dream to work with him." In the CinemaCon footage, Grant can be seen interacting with Chalamet’s character. "You're the funny little man who's been following me," Chalamet as Wonka says and the Oompa Loompa shouts to be let out in the unreleased clip, "How dare you! I will have you know that I am a perfectly respectable size for an Oompa Loompa." The latter then starts to perform the Oompa Loompa dance along with a ludicrously catchy song, as per the outlet. Well, for now, we have to contain our excitement and wait to watch the former rom-com lead play an iconic midget in the movie.