Fan Forum - View Single Post - Rupert's 'Hot Off The Press' News Thread #2 *First Post Updated ~ December 4*

darcybennett · 06-05-2007, 01:27 PM

Low-Maintenance Redhead
The West Magazine (Australia)

He may stand out in a crowd but one of the most charming things about Rupert Grint is that he prefers not to. Helen Barlow speaks to Grint about his latest film, and of course, Harry Potter.

If anyone can stand out in a crowd Rupert Grint can. With his mop of red hair the 18-year-old actor is instantly recognisable as Ron Weasley, one of the trio of cool young heroes in the phenomenally successful Harry Potter films.

And Grint's coolness was never more apparent than at the premiere of the last Harry Potter film, The Goblet of Fire. While co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson dressed up for the occasion, Radcliffe in a shirt and tie and Watson in chiffon glad rags, Grint wore a T-shirt and a recycled deep blue military jacket. He also looked more like an adult even though he's only Radcliffe's senior by a year.

It's no surprise then that Grint, after only one other role (in the dire kids' movie Thunderpants) is ready to move into the adult arena, and he surprises with an impressively understated turn in the coming-of-age drama, Driving Lessons.

He co-stars with on-screen Harry Potter mother, Julie Walters, the British actress who, before Mrs. Weasley, was famous for playing full-blown eccentrics. That suited Grint right down to the ground.

"It was really nice when I heard Julie was going to do it, just to have a friendly face," says the retiring teenager. "I was on-screen the whole time and it was a bit scary. So it definitely made it much easier and she's great anyway. She's really funny."

In fact, it was hard for Grint, who was 16 at the time of filming, to keep a straight face.

"All the argument scenes were really hard when I had to be serious and stare her right in the face," he pauses and gives an example by contorting his large round face into seriousness but then breaking into a huge grin.

"It's quite hard, I've got a bit of a problem with that anyway. I've got a bit of a reputation with the Harry Potter films for being a bit of a laugher. I don't know why it is. I just laugh (until I'm) in stitches sometimes. It's a weird feeling."

Grint talks about working on the Harry Potter films as a way of life. Like the rest of his cast mates he has done little else for six years. It was during the filming of The Goblet of Fire that he received the Driving Lessons screenplay and, since he had dropped out of school (unlike Radcliffe and Watson who had to cram for exams in their holidays), he was available during the summer hiatus.

"I was offered a few things actually but when I got this script, I just loved it, because it was so different to Harry Potter," he says. "It was a small-budget film and the character was so different. I met Jeremy (Brock, the British writer-director) and I really got on well with him so I decided to do it. It was filmed so much faster. Because of all the special effects, the Harry Potter films take 11 months but Driving Lessons only took six weeks to shoot."

Set in London's Hampstead, Driving Lessons is based on Brock's relationship with Dame Peggy Ashcroft, the legendary stage actress, who won an Oscar for A Passage to India and died in 1991. Ashcroft had taken Brock under her wing and introduced him to a more cultured life, providing a respite from the oppressive religious upbringing he had to endure with his devoutly religious mother.

Brock, who had previously written the screenplay for the multi-award-winning Mrs. Brown, understands how relationships with older women work, and the chemistry between Grint and Walters is palpable. However he notes Ashcroft was far more reserved than Walters' wildly adventurous character Evie.

He is not saying whether he lost his virginity in the way Grint's Ben does in the film. For Grint it was naturally quite an occasion.

"I normally don't get nervous at all in scenes but the kissing scene in this film was a bit nerve-racking," he admits.

Disrobing for the cameras was a bit difficult too, he chuckles, but is complimentary about Michelle Duncan, the Scottish actress in question. "She was really helpful actually because she was a lot older, in her 20s or something, so that made it much easier."

So, does he fancy Scottish girls? "Oh, I don't know," he says, his face reddening. "I'm not really fussy there."

Grint began acting as a child at school. "I was a fish in Noah's Ark and I was Rumplestiltskin. I went to an all-boys school so I usually got the girl parts as well."

He came to Harry Potter as a fan of the books. "I applied out of interest really. It was a bit of a lucky break."

Grint works alongside the cream of British actors on the Harry Potter films and although he has been particularly impressed with Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman, he has not had a mentor like Dame Peggy. Those shoes are probably filled by his father, Nigel, who takes care of his famous son full-time. Brock, a father himself, has surely exerted an influence too. He commends the young star.

"Rupert's very, very well adjusted," Brock says. "He's very shy in some ways and that's part of his charm. But under that is a naturalness that means he handles the (Harry Potter) exposure with a sort of sweetness and ease. If you're walking down the street with him and people recognise him - for his wonderful hair apart from anything else - he doesn't have any of that adolescent, cocky, look-at-me sort of attitude."

As for Grint's cross-over into adult roles, Brock is confident.

"I think he will for two reasons - because he's gifted and because he's well looked after by his dad and his family is very stable," Brock said. "He took a risk exposing his talent to 90 minutes screen time in Driving Lessons. I'd always felt his gift for naturalism stood out in the Harry Potter films but was under-used. He has this ability just to be still and to communicate very simply and without fuss and without technical baggage; to communicate what it feels like to be a 17-year-old boy who's shy. The story may be partly true, but that doesn't mean it will work on camera. The key is that he just has it."

Grint is happy to stick with the world of Harry Potter for as long as it lasts. "Those movies are really good fun to make, it's such a good atmosphere up there," he says. It's also convenient that he can live with his parents and four siblings (three sisters and a brother) in nearby Hertfordshire and travel to the set each day.

Grint left school to concentrate on acting. "It was getting hard to juggle the two," he says. "I was never really good at school anyway, except for art. I can always go back and do an art course if I want."

When he isn't working, the typical teenager watches horror and comedy films (Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber is his favorite performance) and he listens to music. "I'm into rock," he says. "I'm into bands like the Arctic Monkeys and I saw the Foo Fighters... They were really cool, yeah."

He is learning to play the guitar and has taken up the didgeridoo. And, for those who want to know, what products does he use for his wonderful lustrous hair?

"I don't really do much to it actually," he responds, giving his golden locks a tug. "I just leave it, yeah. Pretty low maintenance." Something that can be said about Grint himself.