No Magazine

[Sophie]

Ain't he cute! And look, he really does have legs!

I have a newfound appreciation for ginger leg hair.

[Dove]

Hooray for his legs! I mean we haven't seen them until now! Ginger leg hair FTW!

[Sophie]

Bigger, hi-res again, thanks to Snitch Seeker:

[Kait]

Amazingggg! It's so refreshing to see him doing edgier, indie sorts of interviews rather than the teen magazine junk that most stars in our age group are so desperate to be seen in.

The pics are great too! Simple, but there's definitely a specific vibe in there!

[Sophie]

Transcript of interview:

Rupert Grint looks slightly uncomfortable. The young British star may be the veteran of six Harry Potter movies, with numbers seven and eight on their way, but right now he looks less than convincing as a stylist helps him into a tight leather vest as part of the shoot for these very pages. Maybe it’s his inner wizard or perhaps that there doesn’t seem to be much rock n’ roll in this flame-headed actor but between shots, the fashionable attire appears out of place on the young man know to millions as Ron Weasley.

It is when the photos are done and Grint joins me on a couch in the filthy North London pub we have sequestered that he looks more relaxed, though truth be told, Grint’s unease may have been entirely in my mind, for one-on-one, his laid back manner offers nothing but a meditative air of calm. Of course, this is all in a day’s work for Grint, who has been in the public eye ever since he was cast in the impossibly successful film adaptations of the Harry Potter series of books. Only ten years old at the time he has effectively done the bulk of his growing up (more than half his life) in front of the film-going public.

Now at the age of 21, he is on the verge of adulthood, still living at home but one of the highest paid people under 25 in the world. I t is a distinction he shares with his two co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, three young actors who are now at a crucial stage in their careers as they start to think about life outside the franchise that has made them all incredibly successful. Radcliffe and Watson’s futures have been playing out for a little while now: Radcliffe has been dabbling in theatre and television for many years, while Watson is currently the highest paid actress in the world, and as of June 2009 become the face of Burberry--though she is to leave acting behind for a time to focus on university in America.

It has been Grint whose star has taken a little longer to rise. The actor has already featured in two films, though neither stirred much critical praise (the first, Thunderpants, in 2002 saw Grint playing best friend to a boy with earthmoving flatulence, while the eccentrically sentimental Driving Lessons from 2006 garnered only lukewarm reviews). But as Grint and his chums near the end of their fantasy film tenure, a new side to this young actor is about to emerge, and the two films he is set to appear in should go a long way towards dispelling the image of bashful, caped wand-waver.

First up is Cherrybomb, a fast slick movie about friendship, behavioural inheritance and the perils of youthful exuberance. In the film, Grint and his best friend compete for the affections of his boss’s daughter, who just happens to be trouble on a stick. It was a film that Grint was more than happy to be involved with, but shaking off his magic cloak was not part of his decision to take on the role.

“It wasn’t really that conscious, actually,” he says. “It just kind of happened. The script came along when we had just finished the sixth movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and it just fitted the gap. It was very different, too, quite an adult sort of role. So yeah, it worked out well. But it was nice to play a character with some more depth, who was a bit more real.”

Grint admits he did have concerns about playing such a role, given that for the most part, he only played a mixture of ‘scared’ and ‘awkward’ in his years as Ron Weasley. “It was quite daunting, actually,” confesses the softly spoken actor. “But as the Harry Potter movies have gone on, there has been more in them and my character has developed more. But up until recently, it was just me playing this scared guy, with the odd light-hearted line. I never got to push myself, so I was quite worried about doing Cherrybomb because there’s a lot going on with this character. It was a real challenge. The accent as well, because it’s a Northern Irish accent, so it was quite worrying...especially because the crew was all from Belfast.”

Grint explains that as his co-stars, Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon, were also British, the three of them supported each other in learning the thick Irish drawl. The film is slickly shot and heavily stylised in the manner of Shallow Grave or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which can be attributed to the graphic design background of Glenn Leyburn, who alongside partner Lisa Barros D’Sa, directed the film. For Grint, it looks like Cherrybomb and Wild Target--the second of his soon-to-be-released films--are perfectly timed. As the character of Ron Weasley prepares to take his final curtain call, with the two-part release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over the next year, it is imperative that Grint is seen as a versatile actor. With his foppish mop of red hair neatly Brylcreemed into submission for Cherrybomb, the physical transformation is immediate, though it remains to be seen whether people will be able to dissimulate between the Rupert Grint they have seen mature into a young man through a series of wizard movies, and the considerably more streetwise, up-for-it youth who isn’t above joy-riding and sneaking a few cheeky lines in a club loo that is his character Malachy. It takes a little bit of time to get it out of him, and I sense that he doesn’t want to say anything remotely negative about the nurturing role that has made him, but after some prodding he admits that after so many years of treading the same ground, the Harry Potter movies are starting to feel a bit “contained” and “routine.”

Born in Essex in August of 1988 to a housewife and memorabilia dealer, Rupert Grint had no real ties to acting before Harry Potter, unlike his two co-stars. Although he had appeared in the odd school play, he had neither the acting genes that Daniel Radcliffe inherited, nor the early desire to become an actor that grabbed hold of Watson at the age of six. It was by “fluke” that Grint even sent in an audition for the movie that would irrevocably change his life. Even after he landed the role, it was some time before he started to take the job seriously, or to see it as a job at all. “I mean, it never occurred to me that it was a job when I first started,” he shrugs. “It was just the fun thing I was doing at the moment. But I suppose it was a few films in really, about film three or four, when the process became clear and it felt like playtime was over, that it was actually hard work. I suppose it was then that I really knew I wanted to keep doing this. I loved it, I was having such an amazing time.”

Having been there for each other from the beginning, the three stars of Harry Potter have formed close ties with each other, though as their on-screen time together draws to a close, Grint furthers that they may have to let each other go in real life to a degree as well. “We are all quite different and all have our agendas on what we want to do,” he says, “but we have been through quite a lot with each other. It’s been a long time and it is quite an intimate process, filming together for so long, because you see each other all day every day, so you form close bonds. We’ll definitely keep in touch when it’s all over but we don’t really see each other outside of filming.”

Of fame and near-worldwide recognition that he has encountered through the movies, he remains humble and unfazed by the attention. Admitting that he cannot go anywhere without people recognising him (he says it’s the hair that gives him away), he chooses his moments (not around the release of one of the movies) and places (not a busy pub on a Friday or Saturday night). The one downside that Grint has found about his fame is that he has been filming every year for the past 10 years, he hasn’t had time to do some of the things that a lot of people his age have done, like traveling the world. In this respect, he feels he has “some catching up to do,” just as soon as the last Harry Potter film is done in about five months.

Before then, there will be another round of press to do for Wild Target, in which Grint puts down the magic potions and picks up the semi-automatic weapons. “Again, it was a very different kind of character and it was very real,” explains Grint of the movie. “There were no special effects or magical creatures. It’s a remake of a French movie and it’s got a really good, dark humour to it. It’s based around these three characters, all quite independent people who are all missing something in their lives. It all centres around Bill Nighy’s character, who is a professional assassin on the verge of retirement, and is going through a mid-life crisis. He can’t complete his contract: he’s meant to kill Emily Blunt’s character, who is a big on artist and professional thief. So we all meet in this big shoot-off in this big, dramatic situation and we form this weird kind of family. It was a fun film to do.

Cont...

[Sophie]

Cont...

Next up, Grint has been strongly rumoured to play Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards in a biopic of the most celebrated, undecorated ski-jumper in the history of the sport. Grint quips that though he can’t ski, this may actually be a good attribute to have for the film. Filming will start for the movie once Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows wraps. On the end of the movies that have made him the star he is, Grint remarks that “it is a weird thought that after that, we’ll be done with it. I never thought it would end, really, because it’s been such a big part of my life for so long. It will be kind of like leaving school and graduating. But I’m glad I’ve had a taste of what being in real movies is like, because I don’t think I’ll ever be in another movie like Harry Potter. It’s quite unique.” With that, Grint smiles as he thinks about the moment his career got off the ground. “I was very lucky,” he chuckles. “It’s quite scary to think what I would have done with my life so far if I hadn’t sent off that form.”

End

[Sophie]

I love this one. It's so cute/funny: "Don't look at my hairy legs! Or the fact that I'm wearing leggings and shorts at the same time. Or that I have mismatching socks! DON'T!"


But this one is probably my favorite. Sexy and up to no good.

[Lorena]

Love it, thanks for posting the scans and transcript!

Now I hope I'm not alone when I say this because I don't want to be a downer, but as much as I love HP and am going to be devastated when the films are over...but I'm excited to see where he goes in terms of acting. It's going to be great to see him in more roles and begin that long process of really seeing him as an actor, versus Ron from the HP franchise. But I'm not really saying anything new...anyway, loving this new article/photo shoot.

[Sophie]

I totally get what you mean, Lorena. I fluctuate between really dreading the end of my beloved HP series, and being really, really excited to see where Rupert takes his career next. I'm excited to see him try out different personas. I was lucky enough to see Cherrybomb already, and let me tell you, he can completely transform and become someone so different from Ron Weasley. And so different from himself. He's got nothing to worry about, in spite of what he said about Cherrybomb being "daunting," because he totally has it in him. He's a natural.

[Carolyn]

Sexy.Beast. I LOVE these photoshoots that he's been doing. A really good variety. I don't want HP to end, either. But, at the same time, I can't wait to see what this boy gets up to next. It's so exciting!