Rupert Grint remains thankful for “Harry Potter”, discusses post-“Potter” roles

Rupert Grint recently chatted with The Independent about his experience working on Harry Potter and what it’s like interacting with fans in public. He also discussed his assortment of roles since leaving Ron Weasley behind, including the biopic of Eddie the Eagle, which he has long been slated to star in.

As always, Rupert remains humble and extremely thankful for his time on Harry Potter.

It’s been very positive. I’m very grateful for everything that has happened. It’s been such an amazing experience. I feel so lucky. Obviously there were sacrifices, and you could say I missed out a bit. I left school at 11 and was institutionalised in the Potter bubble for 10 years.

Part of me is sad that I never went to university – that would have been fun. But I wouldn’t have swapped it for my time on Harry Potter. I’ve never regretted it. I owe everything to Ron. I’d never have been in this position if it [weren’t] for those films.

He says his experiences being out in public are generally positive, and he doesn’t mind the attention he gets from fans on a daily basis.

The attention has never bothered me too much. It’s part of it, and I’m used to it. It’s quite manageable. It’s just friendly people coming up to you. It’s not anything crazy.  And those people are the ones buying cinema tickets. If it [weren’t] for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Rupert goes on to discuss his various post-Potter roles, including last year’s CBGB and Charlie Countryman, this year’s Postman Pat, and his next film, The Unbeatables. He says of Postman Pat,

He’s one of my favourite heroes. Other superheroes had special powers, but Pat appealed [to me] because what he did was achievable. You could potentially become a postman. It seemed like a great life; you drove a postal van around the countryside, and nothing ever went wrong. I think Postman Pat has endured because of his innocence.

He even touches on his part in the long-planned biopic of Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, the only British competitor ever in the Olympic ski jumping competition.

He was partially blind and hardly had any training at all. But he just had this amazing determination to achieve something. I have so much respect for him. We still love him because he is a classic British underdog. Like the Jamaican bobsleigh team in Cool Runnings, it’s incredible that he was there at all. For him, it wasn’t about winning; it was about representing his country. It’s a very heart-warming story.

When asked whether he intentionally wants to get away from the image of Harry Potter, Rupert admits that he’s more attracted to roles people don’t expect. But despite the wide variety of characters he’s taken on in recent years, Rupert accepts that he’s always going to be associated with Ron Weasley.

Ron Weasley will always be the name next to mine. Do I mind […] that? Not really. I’ve thought about it a lot, and it doesn’t bother me. I’m proud to have been part of it. It was a great period of my life that I’ll always miss deep down. It was a unique thing, and I know I’ll never really find that again. But it’s not the end of the world.

You can read the full interview here. What do you think of Rupert’s comments? What is your favorite role of his, other than Ron? Let us know in the comments!