LOS ANGELES—WHEN WE RECENTLY wrote about our London interview with Daniel Radcliffe, we promised to write next about his “Harry Potter” co-star, Rupert Grint.

We found out that Rupert had a lot of fans from girls around the world, including Filipinas! Many of them e-mailed to make sure I would deliver on my promise. So now we are writing about the red-haired Rupert who is excited about his turn to fly on a broomstick and play Quidditch in the next film in the wildly popular series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (due out June 2007).

While Daniel is confident and articulate, Rupert is shy—which is an appealing quality to many girls. They also love his hangdog expression and his other trademark facial reactions, a combination of scared, worried and what’s-this? look. That grimace or stumped look has endeared him and his character, Ron Weasley, to young fans everywhere.

At the Claridges Hotel in London, the young actor reacted with those various expressions to the questions at our press con with him. When a female reporter asked Rupert what he liked in girls and he seemed bashful, the writer prodded him by inquiring if he liked big breasts. The question definitely elicited that smiling, oh-my-Gawd look from him.

Wearing a blue shirt and jeans, he appeared taller than the last time we saw him on the set of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” last February. He brought a bottle of Coke which he later drank in a glass between poses for our photographers. Shoulders stooped, he spoke in a very soft voice, often resorting to “um…” between sentences.

Q: Are you doing films other than the “Harry Potter” series?

Rupert: I’ve just finished “Driving Lessons.” I did this movie after “Goblet of Fire.” It’s a comedy which I quite enjoyed doing. Laura Linney is in it. I definitely want to continue doing more stuff like that.

Q: Do you tend to look for a character that is different from Ron Weasley?

Rupert: I did another film after the first Harry Potter film called “Thunderpants.” My character was completely a geek. I am not really worried about getting labeled like that at the moment. I’m having a really good time playing Ron.

Q: What do you do when you’re not filming?

Rupert: I’ve started playing golf. I’m also learning to drive a car at the moment and that’s taking up quite a lot of time.

Q: If you were not an actor, what would you like to be?

Rupert: I am not sure. I really do love acting now ... but I remember when I was a lot younger that I always wanted to be an ice cream man.

Q: What are you attracted to in girls?

Rupert: A good sense of humor…

Q: Big t-s?

Rupert: (Laughter) Okay, yeah. You can say that, yeah.

Q: Do you play any musical instrument?

Rupert: I have a guitar but I don’t know how to play it yet. Definitely I want to learn. I like rock at the moment. I like AC/DC — they’re cool — and Killers.

Q: Has your success in “Harry Potter” changed your family’s standard of living? Perhaps you have moved to a castle?

Rupert: I suppose it has, a little bit. I don’t know about a castle but it’s not bad, yeah.

Q: Do you still go to the same school? How are your studies?

Rupert: When I was in school, I always went to the same one. Now, I’m a bit older and I’ve left school. I can always go back and take up art in the future.

Q: In this movie, Harry Potter has dreams and nightmares. Do you remember your dreams?

Rupert: I do sometimes remember them, yeah. I tend to have really surreal dreams.

Q: How often do you and the main cast see each other?

Rupert: When we’re filming, we see each other every day. This one took about a year to make. I play golf occasionally with the twin brothers in the film.

Q: Do you play pranks on each other?

Rupert: In the early days we did, yeah, but now we’re a bit more mature.

Q: What do you have in common with Ron?

Rupert: We both come from a big family and we both hate spiders. And we both have ginger hair.

Q: And what do you have in common with Daniel?

Rupert: Obviously, the physical things that change, like our voice. We have the same sense of humor. We muck about occasionally.

Q: Not everybody gets to dance with the great Maggie Smith. What was that like?

Rupert: I was a bit scared about that but it turned out to be quite fun. We had a choreographer on the set.

[Ruben V. Nepales || Inquirer, 27 Nov 2005 || Original article found here]