The Star Malaysia - Star2

Love works in mysterious ways

Should Harry and Hermione have ended up together in Harry Potter? Rupert Grint says what he thinks.

- By JAMI GANZ

RUPERT Grint is opening up his chamber of secrets. Well, sort of.

Over eight years after bidding the magical world of Harry Potter farewell, the Brit who played Ron Weasley says there’s nothing he would have changed about his character’s storyline.

“I was behind it all the way, real ly,” Grint, 31, said in a recent interview at The Whitby Hotel in New York. “I think it ended in a really good place.”

Though Potter scribe J.K. Rowling has since revealed that Harry and Ron’s third musketeer, the brilliant Hermione (Emma Watson), should have ended up with Harry instead of Ron, Grint supports the published canon.

“I have heard these theories. I think on paper, it makes probably more sense that she ends up with Harry,” Grint added.

“The Ron and Hermione thing was brewing for a long time, it’s that kind of classic thing . ... I like how it all came together. It kind of made sense to me in a way.”

The pair spent the bulk of the series bickering about everything (Ron’s “emotional range of a teaspoon”, Hermione’s constant mothering) before sharing a passionate kiss in the throes of mortal danger, which led to marriage, two children, and Ron’s ... unflatteri­ng comb-over.

Grint said he’s never rewatched the films and added that he only saw the first film, 2001’s Sorcerer’s Stone last year.

“It’s just something I’ve never really wanted to (watch),” Grint explained.

“Not that it’s kind of cringey or anything, but I mean ... it was us growing up. It kind of documents our (lives) . ... And the most awkward stages of being a teenager, and so it’s a weird thing. It’s a weird perspectiv­e watching them.”

And while Grint might not yet have “detached ... enough” from the later films, he added that the films were “a huge part of our lives and something I’m immensely proud of being apart of”.

Grint admitted he’s uncertain if Potter fans’ expectatio­ns influence which roles he’s taken since playing the youngest Weasley boy, adding,

“It’s never really a conscious thing.”

In M. Night Shyamalan’s new series, Servant (available on Apple TV+), the redhead plays Julian, the brother of Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose), whose infant son, Jericho, died only weeks earlier.

Stuck in the denial-stage of grief, Dorothy and husband Sean (Toby Kebbell) take care of a baby doll used to substitute the real thing, which is mysterious­ly replaced by an unfamiliar living baby after they hire an eerie young nanny, Leanne (Nell Tiger Free).

Grint, who has “always been a huge fan” of the Sixth Sense director and felt “addicted to the scripts”, said that joining the half-hour thriller was “kind of a no-brainer”.

“We don’t have any fat, we just kind of go straight to this moment,” Shyamalan, 49, said.

“With film, you have to create a language, get people fluent in that language, do the conflict and then resolve it, all in two hours . ... But in this long-form ... you have more room for character.”

The Signs director, who is most well-known for his third-act twists, giddily admitted” “There’s definitely a ‘What the (expletive)’ quality to the show.

“There’s some really weird and shocking scenes ... and they’re visceral,” Shyamalan explained.

“You just have to keep watching because it’s so bizarre.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service

 ?? —AFP ?? Grint currently stars in the creepy series Servant.
—AFP Grint currently stars in the creepy series Servant.
 ?? — Filepic ?? Rowling revealed that Hermione should have ended up with Harry (centre) instead of Ron.
— Filepic Rowling revealed that Hermione should have ended up with Harry (centre) instead of Ron.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia