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

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.

**On thinking about quitting the Harry Potter franchise:**

"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."

On why being in the Harry Potter movies was so stressful:

"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."

Grint, at the premiere of the first Harry Potter movie in 2001.

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On feeling the line between himself and his character blur over time:

"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."