Rupert Grint found making the Harry Potter movies "suffocating"

9 March 2021, 16:58

Daniel Radcliffe reads the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

By Jazmin Duribe

"It just never ended. Every year, we came back. And it was kind of like Groundhog Day."

Rupert Grint has admitted that making the Harry Potter movies was "suffocating".

The actor is best known for playing Harry Potter's best friend Ron Weasley in all eight Harry Potter movies. The franchise launched his acting career and propelled him into the spotlight aged 11. Despite his successes, Rupert has admitted that being part of the wizarding world franchise also had its downsides.

"There was a time where it felt quite suffocating because it was heavy going, because it was every day for 10 years in the end," he explained on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast on Monday (Mar 8).

"It was a great experience. Such a nice kind of family atmosphere. It was always the same crew we kind of grew up with, so it was a great place to be. But sometimes it definitely felt like, 'I want to do something else. See what else is out there.'"

READ MORE: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is reportedly being adapted into a movie

When Rupert initially signed up to play Ron, just four books had been published and only two movies were planned. However, the popularity of the franchise quickly meant Ron had to commit to an additional six movies. He added: "It just never ended. Every year, we came back. And it was kind of like Groundhog Day because it was the same sets. It was the same people. But it was great. I loved it."

That's not his only gripe, though. Rupert also wasn't feeling his hair in Goblet of Fire. We all had dodgy haircuts in our teens, however, poor Rupert's is on record. "My hair in film four is one of my biggest regrets. I think everyone actually had a phase of having this really long hair. They liked it, it was kind of wizard-y. We went through our puberty on camera."

Luckily, it's not something he has to see too often. Rupert claims to have only seen each movie once (except Philosopher's Stone, which he recently watched for the second time) because it "feels too soon".

Now, you'd think after all of this, Rupert would be put off of going anywhere near another Harry Potter movie again. Well, no. He has previously said he would "never say absolutely no" to making another Harry Potter movie and with rumours there's a Cursed Child film in the works, could Rupert finally reprise his role as Ron Weasley?!

QUIZ: How well do you actually remember all 8 Harry Potter films?