It can be hard at times to separate Rupert Grint from his "Harry Potter" roots. Even now, over a decade after the last film in the franchise was released, Grint's name is still synonymous with Ron Weasley, the clumsy boy wizard with a heart of gold. But Grint's acting career definitely has roots outside of Hogwarts. Over the years, he's appeared in various other films including Jeremy Brock's "Driving Lessons," Jonathan Lynn's "Wild Target," and 2009's "Cherrybomb" directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn.
"Cherrybomb" is a British drama about two teenagers who both fall for the same girl. In increasingly more serious attempts at getting her attention, they eventually find themselves in over their heads and headed for disaster. Grint plays one of the teens, Malachy McKinney, an employee at a local movie theater. In the film, Malachy is the exact opposite of Ron Weasley, eager to participate in a world of drugs, sex, and booze. Talking to girls is nowhere near as nerve-wracking either. Who knows though? Maybe it's Grint's impeccable Irish accent he sports for the role that makes him come off as more self-assured. In fact, for Grint — who is English — adopting a new accent was not as difficult for him as you might think.
Not That Hard To Get The Hang Of
Learning a new accent can be especially challenging for an actor. Many times, professional voice coaches are brought on set to help stars achieve authenticity with their words. In a conversation on YouTube with Celebrity Interviews, Rupert Grint talked about how he prepared for using an Irish accent on the set of "Cherrybomb" and how this particular aspect of his character wasn't really that big of a struggle to achieve.
"It wasn't actually an accent," he said. "I'm really actually that kind of familiar with it." He went on to explain how a voice coach did help the cast to prepare for their roles through imitation by "[making] a CD actually of him kind of saying all our lines." Grint would listen to his dialogue on his iPod (Hello, 2009!) which he found "quite handy." He also said that he listened to a podcast by Irish comedian Patrick Kielty, as well. Though, in the end, he said the thing that helped him the most was "just being out there […] working with all the people."
The interviewer also asked Grint if he had any special phrases he would use to jumpstart the accent if necessary. Grint said that the phrase, "How're you?" usually did the trick. "It's got a weird mouth kind of thing," he explained. For those who've seen the film, it's certainly a bit of a trip to see an Irish Ron Weasley on the screen, but Grint is so masterful at bringing his character to life, that all traces of the famous Weasley brother are quickly left behind. Don't worry, Seamus Finnigan. You're still the most recognizable Irish wizard at Hogwarts.
Read this next: The 14 Best Harry Potter Scenes, Ranked
The post How Rupert Grint Found His Irish Accent For His Role In Cherrybomb appeared first on /Film.