The Harry Potter franchise without Rupert Grint (AKA Ron Weasley) would be like Neapolitan ice-cream without chocolate flavour, but apparently that was the horrific reality we very well could’ve lived.
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In a new interview with The Guardian, Grint, who played Harry’s bestie in all eight films, opened up about wanting to quit the franchise on several occasions and how DARE he steal that car.
“There were definitely times when I thought about leaving,” he admits. “Filming Harry Potter was a massive sacrifice; working from such a young age for such long periods and I definitely remember thinking during one extended break, ‘This whole thing is so all consuming, do I really want to go back? Maybe it’s just not for me.’ I guess I was probably just being a teenager.”
He goes on to discuss why he reckons the franchise has been able to cast its spell on the world.
“For the first few Harry Potter films I was living the dream,” he says. “The reason I auditioned was because I loved the books. When I got to film three or four, I started to feel an overwhelming weight of responsibility because they were so phenomenally popular. The whole press and red carpet thing was an attack on the senses. I don’t excel in that kind of environment.”
The actor admits that by the final film, he felt like he and Ron were one in the same.
“The line between Ron and me became thinner with each film and I think we became virtually the same person,” he reveals. “There’s a lot of me in Ron and moving on was a massive adjustment because it was such a constant part of my life. I don’t want to liken it to coming out of prison because it wasn’t a prison, but it did feel like stepping out of an institution. It was nice to breathe the fresh air and now I’m really enjoying stepping further away from that blue-screen world.”
On behalf of HP stans everywhere, cheers for sticking it out mate.
