I love Rupert Grint. Unabashedly. Undoubtingly. And yes, a teense obsessively. Date of birth? August 18, 1988. Starring role in relatively obscure British film Thunderpants? Seen it. Oddest possession? A used ice-cream van. Why, for the love of Gryffindor, do I know these things?
Back in 2004, I sat in a darkened theater as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban flit across the screen. In a minor scene barely a quarter of the way through, Ron Weasley plunks into his mouth a magical candy that bestows him with the ability to roar like a lion. And roar he does, his face mockingly twisted in a sexy snarl. The actor, Rupert Grint, is 16, I am 18, and for the first time I realize that the boy wizard is a stud muffin. I’ve been ashamed ever since.
Why the guilt? To ladies of my generation, Rupert Grint falls into that awkward, embarrassing category of attractiveness. Old enough to be hot, but not exactly old enough that it would be completely socially acceptable for me to verbalize it. Now I know how Demi Moore must feel.
It’s a pretty uncomfortable situation to be in. In the years that followed, Grint got some good-looking company in the lookie-but-no-touchy department. Zac Efron, Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner – all fine male specimens who are, ahem, a teensy bit younger than myself and therefore off-limits crushwise.
In my defense, I only thought 17-year-old Taylor Lautner was cute until he opened his mouth and I realized that, holy hell, he’s 17 years old. Crush extinguished. Unfortunately for my ever-shrinking self-respect, that never happened with Grint. Cute turned into handsome turned into OMG SO FREAKING HOT. Le sigh.
How did this happen? Grint is the oldest of the three Harry Potter stars, and is the only one who seems to have filled out. Emma Watson still looks like a baby (plus I don’t swing that way), I’ve always thought Daniel Radcliffe is a dead ringer for my brother (…ew) and that leaves Grint the only one remotely crushworthy.
Throw into the mix an adorable moptop of carrot-colored hair (I’ve always had a thing for redheads), a sexy British accent (seriously, I’m powerless against them) and an endearing performance as the courageous but often dopey Ron Weasley. I was a goner from the get-go.
Thankfully, as time passed, so did the creepiness of my infatuation. Fast forward to 2010: while I am and will always be 2 years older than him, the age difference is mercifully a heck of a lot less glaring these days. Oh, and I can legally buy him a drink. Hey, it could happen.
Grint continues to be known primarily for his work in the Harry Potter films, but he has starred in a handful of other projects to critical acclaim. Several of which include sex scenes (ooh la la).
In 2006’s Driving Lessons, Grint’s character loses his virginity to an older woman (no comment) and in the upcoming Cherrybomb, he stars as a good-teen-gone-bad who apparently spends a good portion of the film in a state of undress. Yowsas.
It’s looking like people are beginning to take notice of what I saw in that roar way back when. Suddenly, this embarrassing crush isn’t so embarrassing anymore.
–By Rachel Tepper
Post from: Crushable
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is refusing to apologize for not including Farrah Fawcett in its In Memoriam montage on Sunday. It’s the same story every year — there are always simply too many people who have passed away to include in the short montage. As an Academy rep said: “No matter how carefully and how conscientiously people address who is included, there are people who just simply can’t be.” [E! Online]
