The Harry Potter movies feature veteran talent alongside some new child stars. One of the younger contingents was Rupert Grint, who played the Harry Potter character, Ron Weasley. In a recent interview, he spoke about advice he was given by his co-star Alan Rickman.
“I corpse a lot,” Rupert told In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast. “[Rickman] always had some interesting tips on how to not do that.” Corpsing refers to when an actor starts laughing and breaks character. It’s commonly used in theatre, and it can a tough impulse to wrangle, especially if you’re a child making a blockbuster fantasy movie.
Grint says Rickman gave similar advice to the other children in the film: do theatre. Get on stage, in front of a live audience, and work on your craft that way. According to the actor, who’s enjoyed a long career since, it worked. “He was the one that really encouraged all of us to go and do theatre at some point,” Grint remembered. “I remember him definitely saying that to me. Which I did actually do.”
There’s some irony in stories of Rickman being lovely, because he played Professor Snape in the franchise, a cruel teacher that was frequently mean to Harry, Ron, and their friend Hermione. Behind-the-scenes, nothing could be further from the truth for the late performer.
Grint speaks highly of eventually doing stage work. “I felt very kind of human again, weirdly,” he told the podcast. These days, you can see him in Servant, a drama series by M Night Shyamalan, on Apple TV Plus. Season 3 came out just this year, in fact!
For what’s coming in the Wizarding World, check out our guide on Fantastic Beasts 4.