Emma Watson and Rupert Grint almost quit the Harry Potter movies halfway through
29 December 2021, 12:42
Daniel Radcliffe On Harry Potter Reunion For Philosopher's Stone 20th Anniversary
Emma Watson seriously thought about leaving the franchise after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
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Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have revealed that they both considered leaving Harry Potter whilst filming all eight movies.
It's hard to imagine Harry Potter without the iconic cast. Ever since the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came out in 2001, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have become synonymous with their characters. Daniel, Rupert and Emma were the perfect fits for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the original films.
However, there was almost a time when Emma and Rupert quit and their parts would have been recast with different stars.
READ MORE: Harry Potter director wants to make a Cursed Child movie with the original cast
Speaking on HBO's Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special, David Yates, who directed the last four films, revealed that Emma almost quit after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. David explained: "One thing that David [Heyman, the producer] and the studio spoke to me about was Emma is not sure she wants to come back to do another Potter."
In the same special, Emma let slip during a one-on-one chat with Rupert that the celebrity side of being in Harry Potter was hard to deal with. Emma said "things started getting spicy for all of us" around Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Rupert then continued: "You were considering pulling out, I’ve never really spoken to you about that."
Emma then explained: "Yeah. I think I was scared. 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." Rupert replied: "I had moments like that kind of all the way through." He also revealed: "I also had sort of similar feelings to Emma, contemplating what life would be like if I called it a day."
Divulging further, Rupert said: "We never really spoke about it. I guess we were just 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 probably kind of having similar feelings."
Watch the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts trailer
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) said it was particularly hard for Emma because she didn't have any girls her own age in the main cast. Tom stated: "People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it. Dan and Rupert, they had each other. I had my cronies, whereas Emma was not only younger, she was by herself."
Emma agreed with Tom by saying "at times, I was lonely". Daniel then also admitted: "We never talked about it on the film, because we were all just kids. As a 14-year-old boy, I was never going to turn around to another 14-year-old and be like, 'Hey, how’re you doing? Is everything ok?'"
Emma then confirmed that the fans and the cast are part of the reason why she stayed. She said: "The fans genuinely wanted you to succeed, and we all genuinely have each other’s backs. How great is that?"
Can you imagine the Harry Potter films if Hermione and Ron had left and been recast halfway through?
