Harry Potter's pal breaks out in 'Driving Lessons'

Rupert Grint just passed his driving test. He'd failed once before, he admits. Now, finally, he can take his new, black Mini Cooper out for a spin.

"I can't wait to get on the road," he says. And not to worry - he's a much better driver in real life than he is on film, he assures.

He would have to be.

As Ben - a shy, gangly teenager growing up in a repressed, religious household - he grinds gears, lurches forward and back and runs over curbs and shrubs, all in the first few minutes of "Driving Lessons," an independent film from first-time British director Jeremy Brock. The movie opened Friday.

Harry's sidekick

Grint, 18, is known to a generation of moviegoers as Harry Potter's red-headed, chess-loving sidekick, Ron Weasley. Born in Hertfordshire, England, where he lives with his parents and four siblings, he made his film debut in 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Three more "Potter" blockbusters followed. One more has been shot. And as fans of the Potter books by J.K. Rowling know, that leaves two to go.

"He's used to films with lavish budgets," says Brock. "We had six weeks and a budget that probably wouldn't have covered the catering on 'Harry Potter.'"

Grint didn't mind. He was eager for a change. And this certainly beat his co-starring role in "Thunderpants" (2002), an epic saga about a boy's ability to - yes - break wind (his only other non-"Potter" film).

In this film, he is both literally and figuratively in the driver's seat, at the center of a coming-of-age drama and acting alongside heavyweights from Hollywood and London. Laura Linney, donning a British accent, plays his shrewish, moralizing mom, and veteran character actor Nicholas Farrell plays Ben's wimpy minister dad. Julie Walters - also an Academy Award nominee - plays Evie, the eccentric actress who hires Ben as a companion and jolts him out of his straitlaced life.

"I suppose the quiet, emotional scenes were a bit tough," says Grint, sitting in a suite at the Essex Hotel in Manhattan last week. "I'm not used to that. In 'Potter' films, I'm usually just scared," he says, opening his eyes wide, as if suddenly consumed with the horror of losing a Quidditch match.

"He's completely instinctual," says Brock. "There are shots of him when he's had the big argument [with Evie], and he's standing there conveying enormous amounts of emotion."

Ready for his close-up

The chap can handle a close-up. We see him register the obvious disconnect as his teary-eyed mom utters the mantra of the minister's wife: "We're God's ambassadors - we show the world a smiling face." Or the quiet disappointment as his father buries himself in bird books. Shorup-ship-see, shorup-ship-see - he tries to teach Ben the skylark's call. Ben stands there, quiet, pained, aching to break free.

"Primarily, with him," says Brock, "you remember his stillness."

By the time Evie takes him on a free-wheeling road trip to Scotland, audiences will no doubt be eager to see how much young Grint can cut loose. Drinking beer, salsa dancing with a sexy lass - Ron Weasley never gets this kind of action at Hogwarts.

His first kissing scene "was a big step," Grint recalls. "I was quite scared. The whole crew is watching. Although the worst part really is watching it with your family after," he says, chuckling.

His partner? "She was really cute," Grint says of Scottish actress Michelle Duncan, who plays the romantic Bryony. "She was a bit older, too, so that helped. She was about 24 or something."

Ah, the charms of a mature woman of ... 24.

"He is living it on screen," says Brock. "[Grint] is the age of this kid, going through the same things. We all felt that. He was growing up on screen."

Grint's father, Nigel, who accompanied his son to Manhattan, smiles proudly when asked about his son's accomplishments. (The Grints seem a teenager's dream - they allowed their son to graduate from school early, at age 16, to pursue acting full-time. "It was hard to juggle film and schoolwork - plus, I didn't really get on at school, " says Grint.)

And how is Rupert's driving for real?

"He had proper lessons from a school of motoring," says Nigel Grint. "And then we practiced. He was driving quite well after a few lessons."

After facing off against the likes of three-headed dogs and Draco Malfoy, what's a little parallel parking?

[Joseph v. Amodio || Newsday, 16 Oct 2006 || Original article found here]