How the 'hot freak' killed off the Hollywood heartthrob: Fans lust over 'authentic' A-listers like Barry Keoghan as the suave sex symbol falls out of fashion

Halloween may already be over - but the era of freaks and scary weirdos in Hollywood films has just begun.

Heartthrobs who found their fame in leading romance roles and heroic protagonists have been showing how a shift to more experimental films that range from quirky to harrowing is keeping them hotter than ever to adoring fans.

It includes Robert Pattinson, who had teenage girls everywhere in a frenzy as Edward Cullen in Twilight tackling roles as an evil preacher, a talking heron and as a human clone experiment.

Elsewhere, romcom aficionado Hugh Grant has begun playing 'weird little guys' with everything from an Oompa Loompa, a Dungeons and Dragons con artist and Shakespearean actor cast as Tony the Tiger under his belt.

More recently, he has also chilled viewers with his performance as the seemingly innocent and increasingly harrowing Mr Reed in Heretic. 

Sebastian Stan, who graced mainstream television (Gossip Girl) and blockbusters (Avengers) alike has also moved into characters with more grit, including his portrayal of Donald Trump in the Apprentice.

While the parts have seen these A-listers transform into morbid and often horrifyingly scary characters, they have not put off adoring fans - and have made them even more appealing to some.

The move into more disturbing roles has also landed many into a flurry of critics' compliments. 

Speaking to FEMAIL, PR expert Riley Gardiner - founder of No Strings Public Relations - says this is rooted in a desire for earnest portrayals in the industry.

'I think there's been a real shift towards artistic authenticity and diverse storytelling in modern film,' they said.

'Hollywood 'heartthrobs' aren't playing one-dimensional characters anymore – and why should they? All actors relish the opportunity to play complex characters, and I'm all for seeing them take on the challenge.

'Robert Pattinson has been a real actors' actor since he first started out. Twilight was what shot him to fame, of course, but it's been pretty well documented how he felt about that role and those films. The Lighthouse was where he really showed his versatility – it was always there, but Hollywood was willing to give him a chance.

'With the new fold of heartthrobs like Barry Keoghan and Timothee Chalamet playing complex, three-dimensional, sometimes disturbed characters, they're paving a new way for actors to show off their versatility, embrace unexpected roles and take a deliberate break from those safer options.

'And we're seeing it all over the place now – Channing Tatum as billionaire Psychopath in Blink Twice and Hugh Grant in Heretic just to name a couple.'

Riley added that these 'unexpected roles help actors build unique personal brands' and 'avoid typecasting'.

'Today's audiences connect with characters who reflect the complexities of the world around them,' they expressed. 'This trend reflects a shift in entertainment priorities, favouring originality and depth over simple spectacle. Engaging audiences in unexpected ways has become just as valuable as traditional measures of success.'

Here, FEMAIL looks at the stars who have been heralding in Hollywood's era of freaks and geeks - while maintaining their heartthrob status...

HUGH GRANT

Hugh Grant has garnered fame for being both the charming romantic lead and irresistible 'bad boy' archetypes with roles spanning from Sense and Sensibility to Bridget Jones's Diary.

But now the actor, 64, has admitted that he's in the 'freak-show period of his career', as reported by GQ. 

Elsewhere in 2021, speaking on The Late Late Show with James Corden, he added: 'It's been such a relief to not have to be the charming leading man. I gave it my best shot.

'And some of those films I did like that are lovely, and I love them for being popular. And I am grateful for them – grateful again.

'But, it has been a lovely relief now that I am allowed to be twisted, ugly, weird, (and) misshapen.' 

It comes as Hugh's new horror film Heretic has been lauded by critics in early reviews. 

Dubbed his creepiest role to date, the British actor plays Mr Reed, a man who kidnaps a pair of young, female Mormon missionaries, before subjecting them to a terrifying series of tests and games. 

Titled Heretic, the film - which was released on November 1 in the UK - is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers behind John Krasinski's 2018 post-apocalyptic horror A Quiet Place.

The film was screened at the AFI Fest in California on Thursday night after its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last month. 

It has already created a buzz from reviewers - and it already has a score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The Guardian's Benjamin Lee awarded the film three out of five stars and wrote Hugh 'gives us flashes of the same disarming charm we associate him with, but here it's used as part of his weaponry in his sadistic game'. 

He wrote: 'What's such a great surprise, and such a great pleasure, is just how talky Heretic is, the first half akin to watching a juicy stage play, reminiscent of Deathtrap or Sleuth, a sneaky game of psychological cat-and-mouse that's far more tense because of how withheld the more in-your-face horror is. 

'Grant's speechifying, crafted by A Quiet Place duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is smug, sure, but also delicious in its provocations, striking at hypocrisies and inconsistencies within religion, like an anti-preacher delivering a hateful sermon. It's then rather thrilling to see the missionaries gain the strength to strike back, a captivating game of high-stakes tennis that's far more satisfying than any action sequence I've seen this year. 

'Grant tears into it with such ebullient vigour that it feels as if he's been waiting for something like this for decades, a performance of total freedom and what seems like genuinely giddy pleasure. He gives us flashes of the same disarming charm we associate him with, but here it's used as part of his weaponry as he tries to cajole his opponents into playing his sadistic game.' 

Film critic Bilge Ebiri for Vulture wrote: 'While Grant has done some terrific work in recent years as either villains or at least characters of questionable moral standing — think Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The Undoing, and Paddington II — his riveting turn in Heretic is something else entirely. 

'In some ways, it's a classic Hugh Grant role: We recognize all those familiar mannerisms and tics and gestures that once helped him charm his way to the A-list in hits like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.

'But now that the floppy hair is gone and the wrinkles have set in and the voice has become gravelly, the persona has been poisoned. By the time it's all over, it's hard to imagine anyone else pulling off this role, which feels like it's in conversation with the actor's earlier years. It's enough to make one ask, Has Hugh Grant always been the villain?'

Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson awarded the film five star's and described Hugh's character as an 'unholy creep'.  

ROBERT PATTINSON

Robert Pattinson's latest roles as anti-heroes, villains and morally scrupulous animals are a far cry from his beginnings as hunky vampire Edward Cullen and the sweet Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter.

Since the end of the Twilight Saga in 2012, Robert, 38, has taken on increasingly challenging projects.

In 2014, he portrayed an American 'youngster' in Western-style flick The Rovers, before experimenting with similarly gritty roles in independent films.

Elsewhere in 2019, he received critical acclaim for his role in the eerie movie The Lighthouse, alongside Willem Dafoe - where both play troubled nineteenth-century lighthouse keepers.

Robert had even defended his portrayal of blockbuster giant Batman by calling the superhero a 'freak'. 

He told Total Film: 'Even my agents were like, 'Oh, interesting. I thought you only wanted to play total freaks?' And I was like, 'He is a freak!''

Elsewhere, in 2020 the English actor transformed his accent to play corrupt preacher Preston Teagardin in the Southern gothic drama, which is based on Donald Ray Pollock's 2011 novel of the same name, which had viewers impressed and convinced of an Oscar nomination.

Last year he wowed audiences once again with his incredible performance as a voice actor in The Boy and the Heron. 

Speaking to IndieWire, voice director Michael Sinterniklaas said that he was initially hesitant when considering Robert for the role.

'I thought he's a fine actor but there was nothing in his body of work to indicate that he could do this crazy thing,' he explained.

'When he came to our studio in LA, he was like 'OK, I've been thinking about this role and I recorded some stuff. Do you want to hear it?'

'And he whips out his iPhone and plays some stuff that he's just been doing in the Memos app and it was already the voice. I was like, 'Oh, bingo, you've already got the character.''

Meanwhile in September, Robert's long-delayed new film Mickey 17 finally released its first trailer.

The science fiction film features the 38-year-old heartthrob-turned-art house cinema icon playing multiple versions of a character named Mickey Barnes, while Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Noami Ackie also star.

Mickey leaves Earth for the brighter pastures of interstellar colonization, agreeing to be an 'expendable,' a person who works dangerous jobs and has their body regrown and their consciousness transferred whenever they day.

But the goofy title character (the seventeenth version of the original Mickey) gets an unexpected surprise when he runs into another version of himself who has been simultaneously created, which threatens the survival of the entire Mickey line.

The film is directed by the acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon-ho.

Bong is known for a string of now-classic Korean films, including the serial killer–thriller Memories Of murder, the monster movie The Host, and the suspense thriller Mother. 

He made his English-language debut with 2013's Snowpiercer, and he followed it up with the multilingual Okja in 2017, before scoring his biggest success to date with 2019's Parasite. 

The darkly comic thriller was a hit with critics and audiences alike, and it earned the Cannes Film Festival's top honor, the Palme d'Or, before becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Parasite also scored Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay, along with Best International Feature.

The filmmaker appears to be leaning in to the dark comedy in Mickey 17, as the trailer focuses on Pattinson's character's numerous grisly deaths, most of which are played for laughs.

Social media fans reacting to the trailer have already remarked their excitement at the upcoming flick, expressing their delight that Robert gets to play so many iterations of a character.

'Bong Joon Ho knew that the only person that could ever match Robert Pattinson's freak is Robert Pattinson,' one wrote on X. 

SEBASTIAN STAN 

Sebastian Stan cemented himself as a household name after playing tortured American war hero turned assassin Bucky Barnes in Marvel's Captain America movies.

But since breaking into the industry, he has continued to impress critics and viewers alike with bizarre roles - including one a cannibal serial killer in Fresh, another as Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly in her biopic and in another project, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in the TV show Pam & Tommy.

Speaking to Vanity Fair's Little Gold Men interview about his recent 'transformative' roles in cinema, Sebastian explained that he'd been trying to land more experimental work for 'a while' but felt hindered by his action star image.

'This might explain it: I had the pleasure of meeting Ben Stiller and having a really long conversation with him recently,' he expressed.

'And I remember I was trying out for a movie I wanted, that he was going to be in or he was directing at one point, and the feedback was, 'Yeah, but when you walk in the room, it's like, you're this cool, confident, good looking guy!' And I'm like, 'Oh, okay.'

'I've been interested by a lot of things, and I have felt for a few years that it was hard for me to get chances toward it—playing characters that maybe you wouldn't, by looking at me right off the bat or if you're only familiar with my Marvel work, think I'm the guy for, so to speak.

'A big turning point was 2018 with I, Tonya, and Craig Gillespie and Margot Robbie really giving me a chance, casting me in a role that was against type.

'That experience fueled my desire to continue that type of work, which is very director-oriented and a collaborative relationship that is also challenging and different and transformative.'

Meanwhile, Sebastian's Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice has received largely positive reviews from critics who have praised it as a 'gleeful' and fast-paced story with strong performances.  

The film, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s.

Sebastian stars as the businessman turned politician while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump's ex-wife Ivana.

In a largely positive review, The New York Times called the film 'gleefully vulgar' and said there was a 'startling' resemblance between leads Sebastian and Jeremy and the real-life men they portray.

Reviewer Manohla Dargis wrote: 'Each actor has clearly made an attentive study of his character's real-life counterpart, his mannerisms, how he moves and especially his voice.'

She added: 'The movie encourages you to laugh at his extremes, his vanity and braggadocio, the one thing that the filmmakers don't prepare you for, even if you should know better, is the magnitude of the American tragedy rapidly unfolding before you. 

In another positive review, the Los Angeles Times said Sebastian Stan delivers 'the performance of his career to date' and also praised the film's cinematography for capturing its 1980s setting well. 

Reviewer Katie Walsh added: 'Some may want 'The Apprentice' to go further. It does humanize Trump. But it also presents a plainly obvious depiction of how a man can turn into a monster with the right personality, background and guidance. What more could it possibly need to say?'

Movie fansite JoBlo also gave The Apprentice a glowing review and said Jeremy Strong's performance as Roy Cohn made him the 'true star' of the film.

Reviewer Chris Bumbray wrote: 'Abbasi gives a tremendous sense of pace, with it a lean and mean two hours, and entertaining from start to finish, regardless of where on the political spectrum you may be.' 

BARRY KEOGHAN

One of the newer Hollywood heartthrobs on the list is also Barry Keoghan - who, following his harrowing yet critically acclaimed performance in Saltburn, has been called everything from 'babygirl' to 'the pride of Ireland' on the internet.

Unlike many other actors on this list, he didn't start out with a clean-cut image but rather launched into people's hearts with his experimental and disturbing performance. 

The actor became social media's favourite after a daring portrayal of obsessive, eerie Oxford student Oliver opposite fellow crowd-pleaser Jacob Elordi.

The star, 31, has been the subject of TikTok edits, YouTube video explainers and countless Instagram posts revelling in his acting skills and good looks.

Elsewhere, Barry's penchant for stripping down to near nothing in photoshoots has itself been a subject of discussion after Saltburn's shocking final scene saw his character Oliver dancing naked around the titular estate to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder On The Dancefloor, having gained ownership of the Catton family fortune.

The film's release last year inspired a slew of memes, video trends and a resurgence of Sophie's pop hit. 

Barry even got naked for Vanity Fair's star-studded Hollywood issue as he paid homage to the performance.

Speaking to the outlet about the public's perception to it, Barry admitted he is not too phased by being nude.

However, he felt it could be 'detrimental to the mind and your mental state if you read into it too much or you look at too much stuff being said'.

'But I wouldn't go there if I wasn't prepared for that, or if I wasn't open to receiving what people want to say. I think it shows an act of maturity in your craft, and if it justifies the story and moves it forward, why not,' he continued.

'You look at European cinema and they tend to have a lot of scenes that involve nudity, and it's not a massive thing, really. But I think it's true art. It really is. And it's true vulnerability as well.' 

Barry's acting career began in 2011 when he applied for a role in Between the Canals - an Irish film following the life of three hardened criminals.  

He then went on to study acting at The Factory in Dublin before appearing in the Irish soap Fair City at the age of 18.

His major breakthrough came when he landed a role in the second world war film Dunkirk in 2017 where he portrayed the character George Mills.

Speaking to GQ about audiences seeing him in a different light in Saltburn, he said: 'It's nice, man. It's nice not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy, the unique f*****g freaky little freak man-child, freak child-man, whatever you want to call it.'

He continued: 'My prettiness didn't get me this far,' but admitted he realises being someone audiences want to look at 'opens up other lanes for me – it's part of the leading man thing'.

He added: 'Little freak child-man era, as we call it. And now I'm just Man. Freak-Man. Man-Freak.'

ETHAN SLATER

One of Hollywood's latest heartthrobs appears to be Ethan Slater, starring as Boq - opposite his girlfriend Ariana Grande - in the highly anticipated Wicked.

And unlike the eerie and uncomfortable roles taken on by the aforementioned, his charm lies in the more whimsical and wholesome portrayals. 

And as the promotion for the flick has kicked off, many have taken to social media to voice their new celebrity crush for the actor, known for quirky roles including his Broadway performance as SpongeBob SquarePants.

'Ariana I'm sorry I didn't get you earlier,' one penned on X. 'He's cute and charming and lowkey hot.'

Others remarked that they 'always knew he was a freak' who possesses a 'fine-ness'.