i'm not even going to pretend to be coherent

[sexyscholar]

'Acting might come to an end for me when Harry Potter finishes': Rupert Grint on the magic stopping

Rupert Grint shouldn't have a care in the world – he's just shot the most eagerly awaited screen kiss of all time for the biggest film of the year and he's got millions in the bank. But as the final Harry Potter film approaches, the actor reveals his fears.



'It's all been like a wild dream,'says 20-year-old Rupert Grint of his almost decade involvement with the Harry Potter films, the top-grossing franchise in history.

To see Rupert Grint overcome with excitement, just ask him about his ice-cream van. Since taking on the role of Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, Grint, 20, has established himself not only as one of this country's brightest young talents but also one of its wealthiest actors, regardless of age.

With the arrival of the sixth instalment, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, the films are already the top-grossing franchise in history, taking more than £3 billion worldwide, eclipsing James Bond and Star Wars.

It's nearly a decade since Grint signed up to play Weasley, and he's already earned an estimated
£7 million from the movies, so he can afford any grown-up plaything you care to mention. But yachts and Ferraris are not his style...



'As a kid my first ambition was to be an ice-cream man,'he says. 'As soon as I had enough money, I bought a 1974 Mr Whippy Bedford CF.

'There was an advert in the local paper – an Italian man was selling an entire fleet of them and I couldn't resist. It looked so beautiful: half pink, half cream with a blue roof, fibreglass body and wings at the back.

'I remember the first time I took it out around my neighbourhood. I pulled in to the pub to do a U-turn and there were eight kids with their pocket money out, hoping to buy a choc-ice or whatever. But I had nothing to give them. I've learnt my lesson since then. These days I keep it well stocked. I probably spend more time driving around in that van than anything else, and if the acting suddenly comes to a halt, I can't imagine a better job than being an ice-cream man. I love going on eBay and buying accessories for the van, things like light-up cones that I've stuck on the front.'

When he's describing his van, or talking about his other boys'toys, Grint's voice raises an octave and he begins to sound like a schoolboy describing a particularly lucrative Christmas.

'I don't really handle the money – I never see any of it in physical form. It's only in the past few years that I've had my own credit cards and can buy pretty much what I want.

'I'm into arcade machines – I've got a Sega Rally 2 Twin machine and one of those coin-operated fortune-telling machines you see at fairgrounds. I'm really into my vehicles too. When Harry Potter started, one of the first things I treated myself to was a quad bike.

'Then I went and bought a hovercraft a couple of years ago. I just thought it would be a fun thing to own. If I'm not driving it around the lake in my garden, I'm out in the fields with it. I love golf so I've got a Hummer-style cart to get me round the course. It doesn't improve my golf, though – I've been stuck on a 12 handicap for too long now.

'My first car was a Mk 1 Mini, which I bought as soon as I could drive. I turned it into something of a chav car with Lamborghini doors, spinner wheels and lights underneath. Next was a 1950 Chevy pick-up in maroon and black. Very cool. More recently I bought a bright orange Range Rover Sport, which I get a lot of stick for. People rib me that I only bought it because it matches my hair.

'I wouldn't mind a collection of old Mustangs and a few classic hot rods.'

Grint talks about his years as a Harry Potter star with an air of faint incredulity that something so extraordinary could have happened to someone as normal as himself. 'It's all been like a wild dream,'he says.

'I've now been doing Harry Potter half my life and the last ten years have been like living in a strange bubble. It's not surprising I look 16 – in my head I still feel 16 – and that feels a good age to be. I've never had to grow up. I'm still a big kid really.'



'It's always at the back of my mind that acting might come to an end for me when Harry Potter finishes,'says Rupert of life beyond Potter in 2011, at the conclusion of the two-part Deathly Hallows finale

Despite his success, Grint's future is more uncertain than one might imagine. When he talks about life beyond Potter in 2011, at the conclusion of the two-part Deathly Hallows finale, he sounds anxious.

'It's always at the back of my mind that acting might come to an end for me when Harry Potter finishes. I don't know if I'm good enough to have a long career. I've got a bit of an inferiority complex about my acting. My self-esteem is quite low in that sense.'

From the moment Grint was chosen to star alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in the Potter franchise, there's been speculation as to which of the young stars would be the first to go off the rails.

But Grint laughs at the suggestion.

'That was never going to happen to me. Filming Potter is so intensive it doesn't leave much time for going off the rails. It doesn't mean that I can't let my hair down from time to time. I never get completely out of my head but I can put away quite a few (drinks). But I'm aware, especially at premiere parties, that I can't afford to be seen falling on pavements. I tend to do my drinking with old schoolfriends around the pubs where I live, rather than at glitzy showbiz places.

'And I was never the kind of kid who was destined for trouble. Probably the worst thing I did was steal a hairbrush and a Billy Goats Gruff book from a local shop. I think I went in with the intention of nicking something and I must have panicked and grabbed the first two things I saw. Clearly a life of crime wasn't for me.'



Apart from small roles in school plays, Grint had no acting experience when he applied for the role of Ron Weasley. Grint set himself apart from the other 40,000 applicants by submitting a CV in video form.

'It was completely on a whim. I'd sent in one application and had heard nothing back. So I figured there was nothing to lose by being a little inventive. My video was in three parts. There was a rap about myself; I dressed up as a woman and did a little sketch in the character of my drama teacher, then I read some Ron Weasley dialogue. I wasn't thinking, “If I get this role, it will change my life.” Even after I'd got the part, it didn't feel life-changing.

'The strangest moment was when I went back to school to finish my exams after filming the first movie. All the kids cheered and clapped when I walked in. But along the way I've lost touch with a few old friends who maybe felt intimidated. Perhaps they expected me to start behaving like a big movie star.

'But I never took myself too seriously. I come from a very normal background and I'd like to think I've never stopped being normal.

'I think I'm different from a lot of people in that I didn't spend my teenage years agonising over what I was going to do with my life. From the age of 11 I've had that strong sense of direction. I've missed the agony a lot of kids go through in terms of wondering what they're going to do with their lives.

'And as for girls, I've never been seriously involved with anyone. I've certainly never been in love. I've always preferred to keep things casual. I'm not seeing anyone now and I don't feel the need to have a girlfriend.

'It's not that I find it hard to meet girls – they do come and chat me up from time to time. Sometimes I'm interested. I tend not to go for the very pretty ones. I prefer the quirkier types, the ones who are a little weird. But when it comes to girls, I'm quite insecure.'

Until May 2008, Grint's life had also been untouched by tragedy. Then came the brutal murder of 18-year-old Rob Knox, who had acted alongside Grint in The Half-Blood Prince. Knox was stabbed outside a Sidcup bar as he tried to protect his younger brother from a knife-wielding youth.



'Rob didn't have a big role in the film but I got to know him well,'says Grint.

'Everyone on the set liked him. He was a funny lad, a proper character. Going to his funeral... that was a sad day. Rob was the first young person I knew who'd died. The enormity of his death hasn't really sunk in for me yet. But I've learnt something from it in terms of counting my blessings, realising how lucky I am and the importance of making the right decisions for the future.'

When I meet Grint, he's come from the Harry Potter set near Watford, where filming has been on hold to welcome First Lady Michelle Obama.

'I'm not easily impressed by famous people, but nothing's matched this,'he says. 'I didn't think I was going to be nervous, then this huge motorcade pulled up at the studio and Michelle stepped out of a black Range Rover and everybody was speechless. It's hard to imagine Gordon Brown having that kind of effect.

'We sat around, ate cake and chatted. She said that the President is a big fan of the films and loves the books, and that she'd met the Queen the day before – but visiting the Potter set was far more exciting, that we were a lot cooler. It was hard to take it all in. I kept thinking, “Here I am talking to the First Lady.”'

For the three main child stars of the Potter movies, the transition to adult acting was always going to be a challenge, yet Grint is widely regarded as the most naturally gifted actor among them. He's just completed filming on Wild Target, in which he stars alongside Bill Nighy as an apprentice hitman.

'The best thing about that was learning how to handle guns,'he says. 'We were at a shooting range, and I thought it would be easy. Just aim and fire, right?

'But it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. I wasn't prepared for how powerful and loud a gun is. When you fire, it physically knocks you back. But I did learn to take a 9mm Glock handgun apart and put it back together again blindfolded.'

Next up is the gritty thriller Cherrybomb, in which Grint stars as a troubled youth dabbling in sex, drugs and violence. 'I don't have a problem with violence in movies,'he says.

'I don't buy into the idea that violence in films is responsible for knife crime and things like that. Most people can tell the difference between a film and real life. I'm a huge Tarantino fan – I love Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, and if he came calling and offered me a role, I'd take it.

'The hardest things for me are intimate scenes. Last week I filmed the long-awaited kissing scene with Emma Watson for Half-Blood Prince. Kissing her was always going to be strange. We've known each other for ten years so it was a bit like kissing my sister. We were both determined to get it right the first time, but our first try was a disaster because we both felt so self-conscious we couldn't stop laughing. It took five takes in all.

'It would have been even more challenging if I hadn't had a bit of practice filming Cherrybomb. In that I have my first bedroom scene – it was very nerve-racking and not remotely sexy because the set-up is so mechanical. It's a very adult role, just the kind of thing I want to do more of.

From here on, I don't want to play it safe. I need to take on roles that are as far away from Harry Potter as it's possible to get. If I'm to continue as an actor, I need to play characters that are nothing like me at all.'

For a moment he sounds like a true thespian earnestly discussing his craft. But that soon passes.

'You want to know the best thing that happened to me recently? I get sent lots of different stuff by fans – mostly pyjamas and the odd marriage proposal – but a little while ago I got sent a package containing a CD full of ice-cream-van chimes. I couldn't wait to try them out...'

Grint turns 21 in August – but clearly he's in no hurry to grow up just yet.

~*~*~

I. I can't even. I love this guy. SO FUCKING MUCH. And I'm so torn. There's a part of me wants to sex him into oblivion, and another part that wants to throw him laser tag birthday parties and shit.

I suspect his career will go far beyond the HP franchise. Rupert's the best actor of the trio. TRUFAX.

OH RUPERT. NEVER CHANGE.

Comments

[happyville.livejournal.com]

FDJKF UNF. I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO REACT.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

I'M SORRY BUT I CAN'T HELP YOU

I HAVEN'T GOTTEN PAST HIS CROTCH IN THE FIRST PICTURE

[jearsforqueers.livejournal.com]

I feel that he will be the one, to continue in acting. I really hope they all do, but for some reason, Rupert seems to be the one that will go really really far.

ILU RUPERT BB <3

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

OMG, the story about buying the ice-cream van is the cutest thing EVER!

[colorcapsule.livejournal.com]

DAMN

JUST. DAMN


And I was never the kind of kid who was destined for trouble. Probably the worst thing I did was steal a hairbrush and a Billy Goats Gruff book from a local shop.

LIKE OMG WHERE CAN WE FIND GUYS LIKE HIM THESE DAYS.

ASDKJHAKLSDHJASD
KJAHSDKAJSHDKSAJD
ZXCZKJDCHAKNBKIUFZSAL;

[crazyace86.livejournal.com]

This. This is the guy that I need. He may have his head in the clouds a lot, but his feet are firmly on the ground. He's light-hearted, but knows when to be serious and when to break out the utter silliness. He's quirky and he doesn't care, but he's comfortable in his own skin.

*sigh*

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

oh my
*fans self*

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

Right?

dkfjasfl;kf;

[gryffinclaw.livejournal.com]

*DEAD*

GUH. Have I mentioned how jealous I am of you getting to interview him? So jealous.

He is going to be on Regis and Kelly come July 9th. I am honestly SHOCKED! I have never seen Rupert on that show. Always Dan and Emma and I really wondered why.

Anyhow great interview. Hot pics! Must find icons.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned how jealous I am of you getting to interview him?

That weren't me. Believe me, I'd *still* be twirling about that!

[gryffinclaw.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* I had both yours and Red's posts open and thus confused where I was commenting

Bottom line thought, RUPET IS HOT

[wwmrsweasleydo.livejournal.com]

He's lovely. My 9-yr-old youngest daughter's life plan is (and has been for a few years) 1. Become an actress (she's pretty good and doing the right stuff for that to maybe happen). 2. Be in a film with Rupert Grint. 3. Marry him!

That would really be OK by me. He's one of the few people who actually could be good enough for one of my kids.

Be a bit distracting, though. I can't talk to good-looking boys. He'd have the most silent mother-in-law of anyone ever.

Nice pics. Nice boy. Thanks.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

I like the way your girl thinks. =D

[pixvix.livejournal.com]

...........Oops I'm pregnant.

I can't even READ the interview....to busy DIEING!

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

Oh but you MUST read it. The Times actually let him speak, and it's brilliant! I don't think I've ever heard the dear talk (read) that much.

I love him so hard.

[pixvix.livejournal.com]

Okay I read the interview...took me FOREVER because I couldn't stop drooling over all of the pictures. Reading this reminded me why I love him. I really believe that he's going to one of the few GREAT actors to come from this generation filled with "reality" kids because he's fucking GOOD. Talent without the mega ego.

[cheeky-weasley.livejournal.com]

There's a part of me wants to sex him into oblivion, and another part that wants to throw him laser tag birthday parties and shit.

Do both. There's bound to be shodowy corners LOL.

I'm saying this everywhere BUT after seeing those pics, I don't remember how it feels to not be turned on. Jesus christ almighty.

AND the interview is absolutely brilliant and articulate. It's amazing.

New icons must be had. Your's is wonderful.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

I like the way you think, LOL!

When I first saw the pictures, I couldn't speak for a while. Honestly -- my mouth just sort of hung open like some gaping fish.

Thanks! I made that one on the fly -- I think the shot of him combing his hair is my favorite.

I may try to make some more tonight, if time (and children) permits. :p

[cheeky-weasley.livejournal.com]

That one is my favourite picture too, but they all sorta lie in a wonderful blur of awesomness and lip-biting loveliness.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

He's. He's just so wonderful.

If I wasn't already married, I think I really could fall in love with him.

[thywillbedone.livejournal.com]

Omg.

This boy has always been perfect. Now that he's older...*continues perving like usual*

[captainrosie.livejournal.com]

I. YOU. HE. AFLASDKJDFKSJLHKI.

I AM CONVERTED. I LOVE HIM.

[sexyscholar.livejournal.com]

Whee!



I think that makes me two for two, doesn't it? Matthew first, and now Rupert. XD

Isn't he wonderful? Just this brilliant mix of laid-back cool and smoldering sexy. I've loved him for five years now. I think I always will. ♥

[thatmikeychick.livejournal.com]

IS DED!!