When you think of Rupert Grint, the affable, best-friend to Harry Potter named Ron Weasley probably comes to mind. It’s understandable, given his eight appearances int he franchise. The 32 year-old actor spent most of his childhood on the Harry Potter sets, and the two became virtually synonymous with each other. But turns out that Grint tended to have a “bad reputation” on set for a habit that also earned him a pointed nickname.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone released 19 years ago. Many of the stars have grown up and moved on to new things since then, but considering the franchise maintains a solid fanbase, they still reminisce about the old days. In this case, Rupert Grint answered a few Harry Potter-related questions on Tom Felton’s Home Party, including whether or not he laughed a lot on set. Here’s what Rupert Grint had to say about that:
I remember on Potter it would always be the most inappropriate scenes, like Dumbledore's funeral was a particularly bad one. For some reason, I found that absolutely hilarious. And yeah, once you start laughing, it's very hard to stop. I had a particularly bad reputation, they used to call me 'Go Again Grint' because I could never do anything without doing it like 20 times.
This is a pretty interesting story and perfectly understandable. Since Rupert Grint was one of the main characters of the cast, he often had to stay on set for longer stretches of time than most. As a kid, he probably got bored and needed to find things to entertain himself. But I’d imagine at the time it was difficult and uncomfortable when you needed to stop laughing and couldn’t.
In the past, Rupert Grint has shared some of his struggles about Harry Potter, his character, and acting in general. He’s said he has a hard time watching the movies and can only watch the first three, believing he can detach himself a bit more from “that kid.” The same kid who giggled through the franchise's serious scenes.
Though he was part of a huge franchise, that didn’t exactly convince him to keep acting. About midway through, he questioned whether he wanted to continue being in the Harry Potter franchise, fearing he’d be giving up his anonymity. Additionally after Harry Potter ended he considered leaving acting behind, wanting to see what else was out there for him in the world.
Since he garnered a bad reputation and nickname, I’d guess that might be part of why he questioned putting it behind him. Ultimately, though, he stuck with it and recently has been seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant on Apple TV+. He’s even voiced being interested in reprising his role as Ron Weasley if he was approached. Maybe this time around he’ll figure out how to curb his laughter.
