Rupert Grint Reflects on Playing Ron Weasley

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Rupert Grint reflected on turning 30 and spending his young life playing the role of Ron Weasley. Grint described the effect of getting the role as life-changing.

My life has a very distinct before-and-after line. Before June 2000 I went to a normal state school and life was ordinary. My dad sold Formula One memorabilia and my mum made wedding cakes and looked after five kids. I was very grounded. When I got the part of Ron Weasley I left school straight away and things have never been the same.

At first, the role was a dream come true for Grint because he was a fan of the series. After a while, though, the job started to wear on him.

For the first few Harry Potter films I was living the dream. 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.

At times, Grint considered leaving the series.

There were definitely times when I thought about leaving. 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.

As we know, Grint ended up sticking it out through all eight Harry Potter films (lucky for us!). He described the end of the series as a surreal experience.

Finishing Harry Potter was surreal. It was a very strange feeling but it came at the right time as we were all ready to move on but after the final shot it was quite weird to think that was it. It was disarming and at that point I didn’t really know what was happening. I felt a bit lost.

Perhaps he felt lost because he had become so close to Ron as a character.

The line between Ron and me became thinner with each film and I think we became virtually the same person. 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.

Grint has continued to act in a number of films and series since the conclusion of the Harry Potter films, including Snatch, Sick Note, The ABC Murders, and the as-yet-untitled M. Night Shyamalan series. That said, he is still known and beloved by many for his portrayal of Ron. Grint is aware that he “peaked early” but doesn’t mind being known and remembered for one of his earliest roles.

I peaked pretty early, but I’m fine with that. It would be ridiculous to think that you can replicate that level of success. It’s always going to be a challenge, but I’m kind of enjoying that. It’s quite fun to surprise people.

Grint reflected in the interview on turning 30.

Turning 30 felt strange. It just doesn’t feel like I’m there yet and I don’t know what the future holds. I’m just going to go with the flow, keep playing interesting characters and see what happens.

Grint mentioned that he’s interested in having a family in the near future.

I’d like to settle down and have kids soon. If I had a son, would I call him Ron? It’s quite a good name, but probably not. And Grint’s a tough name to pair a one-syllable first name with.

What a sweet homage naming his son Ron would be! What do you think about the name “Ron Grint”? Read the full interview in the Guardian here.