Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a short interview I conducted with Rupert Grint.

Now, this was probably the strangest interview I’ve ever done. It went well… he wasn’t a chatty Cathy, but he was definitely engaged in the conversation. It wasn’t that at all. The interview doesn’t even go into weird areas.

But Rupert Grint looks like my little brother’s twin. I look nothing like Grint myself, but my little brother looked exactly like Grint when the first movie came out and has somehow oddly grown in time with Grint’s appearances in the movie.

So, the crazy thing was that when I was talking to Grint I kept thinking I was talking to my brother. Not literally, of course. I’m not that insane yet, but I it was kind of distracting me a bit.

I didn’t have a photographer with me, but I asked if I could get a quick photo to include in the article, so here it is. Enjoy the interview!

Quint: I don’t know how you do it. If I were in your shoes these junkets would kill me.

Rupert Grint: It’s alright once you get into it. Yeah.

Quint: What’s the worst part? The repetitive questions or just the grind of doing these all day?

Rupert Grint: Mainly it’s just the junkets, the TV junkets, where you’re just sitting in a room and they come one after another. It gets a little bit boring.

Quint: I also imagine with TV it’s a bit different than this. I mean, here you could just be lounging, it’s just your voice.

Rupert Grint: Yeah, yeah.

Quint: But with TV you also have to worry about how you look, how you’re coming across.

Rupert Grint: Yeah, exactly. It’s alright, though.

Quint: One thing that I really liked about what David Yates did with this, what really struck me when I saw the movie, was that he made a real effort to keep the friendship natural. Previous directors did a great job, of course, but here there’s an extra bit where you really do come off as mates hanging out.

Rupert Grint: Yeah.

Quint: Was there a difference in how you were directed by Yates to achieve that?

Rupert Grint: I dunno, really. Probably sort of subtle little things. I think, just on the whole, ‘cause we’ve been doing it so long, got to know each other more we’re probably more relaxed with each other.

I think, also, that he used contemporary music he used (during filming) of some of the Common Room scenes. Like a band called The Ordinary Boys, he’d play that in the Common Room and that gives it a sort of more casual feel.

It’s a really good atmosphere as well because he’s a really nice guy, really laid back and calm.

Quint: So, there wasn’t as much pressure for you…

Rupert Grint: Definitely. Well, there’s always a little bit of pressure, but it was just a really good atmosphere, yeah.

Quint: I noticed that in the film they took a lot of the big Ron Weasely scenes out, so you’re left with being the driving force of Harry’s story…. Was there any difference in how you approached this film?

Rupert Grint: Not really. I read the book before we do it, just to get it fresh in my head, then the script usually comes out and I got a few light rehearsals with the director. That does sort of help. I don’t know. Because we’ve been doin’ it so long, it’s quite easy to slip back into it, really, because we know the characters pretty well.

Quint: When a new Potter book comes out, I know in my case I can’t help envisioning the movie world when reading it. So, when you read it is it like reading a rough draft of a script?

Rupert Grint: (laughs) Yeah. It is sorta like that, yeah. It’s weird… just finding out what you’re doing as well. It’s quite strange. I know the 7th book is gonna be quite interesting. A lot of things are going to happen, we’re going to know who’s gonna die…

Quint: Well, everything’s at stake now. I think HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is one of the best books of the series…

Rupert Grint: Yeah.

Quint: … and I was really happy with it, but there’s just something about this being the final book that means all bets are off. There’s a different kind of feeling, especially coming off of HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

Rupert Grint: Yeah, it’s gonna be massive. It’s gonna be really cool.

Quint: Now, when you read the scripts and you find, like in this movie, a lot of the juicier stuff didn’t make it through is there any level of disappointment you feel?

Rupert Grint: I was a bit disappointed when Quidditch didn’t make it, but I mean… it’s such a big book, there’s so much to fit in I can understand why they pared it down.

But I’m kinda hoping it’ll be in the next one.

Quint: I think it’s kinda fascinating what they do with your character in the next one. I mean, I’m sure all the focus right now is on the Lavender Brown relationship…

[Grint laughs]

Quint: … And that is good stuff and I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun, but the interesting stuff to me is how your relationship with Hermione develops. That kind of true budding romance versus the more lustful thing with Lavender. I think I like it so much because it’s really kind of been set up for a while now…

Rupert Grint: Yeah, gradually. And in this one you see him being a bit more protective as well when she gets picked up by Grawp. He wants to sort of be the hero. But, yeah. In these films there’s always been a sort of hint of that and maybe that’ll kind of feature in the 7th book as well. We’ll see.

Quint: In ORDER OF THE PHOENIX we get to meet Luna and Umbridge. I met Evanna Lynch on my set visit and she was so Luna Lovegood.

Rupert Grint: She’s like that in real life. It’s great.

Quint: It translated so well into the movie, too. She’s great in it. How was she to work with, being that she’s such a huge geek for the books? I heard she was kind of going around and correcting everybody.

Rupert Grint: She knew everything! She knew the book inside out. Everyone would go to her and ask her (when they had questions). And she’s got her own theories. She’s really into it.

Quint: When a new cast member shows up, is there an automatic “welcome to the family” feel?

Rupert Grint: Yeah, definitely. In each film has new people coming in. It’s very exciting really, seeing new people. They always feel quite welcome. It’s such a sort of cozy atmosphere because it’s been the same crew and the same cast for long.

This has got a few new ones. Tonks as well, Nat Tena… who else?

Quint: And Katanga from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as Kingsley…

Rupert Grint: Yeah!

And I was pulled out of the room to await my turn with director David Yates. That was a great interview, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Lots of talk about how he’s approaching HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. Good stuff in there.

I need to get some sleep before my travels to catch my flight back home tomorrow, but I will do my best to get the Yates interview transcribed and up before I hit the sack.

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com