Rupert Grint Says He Considered Leaving the 'Harry Potter' Franchise

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published 2 December 2018

On thinking about quitting the Harry Potter franchise: On why being in the Harry Potter movies was so stressful:On feeling the line between himself and his character blur over time:

Did you think being in the Harry Potter movies looked like a magical dream come true? Well, according to Rupert Grint, that wasn't always the case. In a new interview with The Guardian, Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the phenomenally successful series, has opened up about the difficulties he struggled with behind-the-scenes. Here are the biggest HP-related revelations from the interview.

"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."

"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."

Hair, People, Social group, Event, Youth, Blond, Fun, Smile, Layered hair, Family, — Grint, at the premiere of the first Harry Potter movie in 2001.

"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."

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.