Rupert Grint almost quit Harry Potter after Goblet of Fire
The former child star was feeling the pressures of fame
Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has revealed he contemplated leaving the film franchise after The Goblet of Fire.
Speaking with The Independent ahead of the release of Snatch series 2, the fiery-haired actor, who played Potter's best friend Ron Weasley, explained that the pressures of life in the public eye were becoming too much for him in the months after filming the fourth instalment of the series.
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"“I had just finished my GCSEs,” he said. “I thought, ‘Do I actually want to keep doing this? It’s a bit of a drag.’ Because obviously it’s a big sacrifice. You take for granted anonymity, just doing normal stuff, just going out. Everything was different and a little bit scary. There were times when I was like ‘I’m done.’”
He cited the paparazzi's "appetite" for a scandal as one of the negative forces that were weighing upon him at the time, adding that sometimes his interactions with selfie-hunting fans felt "dehumanising".
“It’s almost like having a split personality,” he said. “Sometimes it can be quite dehumanising to have people just taking pictures of you when you’re out. To them, you are just this one thing. It’s a weird existence. But that’s my life. I can’t really remember life before it. In a weird way, you become blasé about it. It becomes normal and you adapt.”
Grint carried on regardless of these factors, and wrapped up the eight film franchise before the age of 23 (he has just recently turned 30).
Since then he's gone on to appear in Snatch and Sky series Sick Note, and will star in the BBC's Agatha Christie Christmas adaptation of The ABC Murders.
Snatch series 2 airs on Tuesdays at 9pm on AMC
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