Rupert Grint is opening up about his decade-long experience playing Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" franchise, saying that at times it could be "quite suffocating."
The 34-year-old actor made the remarks during an interview with Bustle magazine while discussing the impact the experience had on his decisions for future roles.
"Potter was so full on — [filming] all year, then we'd promote the rest of the time. It was quite suffocating," Grint told the outlet. "I wanted a break, to reflect on everything. ... It was an out-of-body experience for a while, but I think we finished at the right time. If we continued, it could've gone downhill."
Grint was 11-years old when he stepped into the role of Ron, completely unaware that the break would see him through eight films spanning 10 years.
At the time, the role seemed perfect for Grint, who could relate to Ron on various levels. But as time wore on, the actor found the lines blurred between the character he was playing and his true self
"I was feeling the difficulty of being seen, being overshadowed," he said. "In the movies, we merged into one. By the end of it, I was playing myself. The lines were blurred."
Twelve years have passed since the film series concluded, but even now Grint admits he feels connected to the character.
"I answer to it if someone calls me Ron," he said, "It's my second name."
Back in 2021, Grint and costar Emma Watson revealed that they both considered quitting the franchise during an appearance on HBO Max's "Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts."
"I think I was scared," Watson admitted to Grint, according to Yahoo! "I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, 'This is kind of forever now.' "
Grint later admitted he had moments when he would be "contemplating what life would be like if I called it a day."
"I had moments like that kind of all the way through," he replied to Watson.
"I also had similar feelings to Emma, kind of contemplating what life would be like if I called it a day, but we never really spoke about it. I guess we were just kind of going through it at our own pace. We were kind of in the moment at the time. It just didn't really occur to us that we were all having similar feelings."
Watson added, "The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way."
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