{"id":468905,"date":"2026-02-14T21:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468905\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T21:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:26:08","slug":"rupert-grint-on-the-rise-of-fascism-obviously-im-against-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468905\/","title":{"rendered":"Rupert Grint on the Rise of Fascism: ‘Obviously, I’m Against It’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cHarry Potter<\/a>\u201d star Rupert Grint<\/a> has become the latest celebrity at the Berlin Film Festival<\/a> to be asked to speak on the rise of fascism and far-right politics. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cObviously, I\u2019m against it,\u201d the British actor\u00a0\u2014\u00a0famed for his role in the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d film franchise \u2014 said during the press conference for his new film, Finnish horror \u201cNightborn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe question follows a trend of star guests being asked about politics at the festival, with several \u2014 including Michelle Yeoh and jury president Wim Wenders \u2014 declining to answer, sparking arguably the biggest talking point of the Berlinale so far (and leading to one attendee pulling out of the event in disgust<\/a>). On Saturday, a reporter asked Grint if, since he had spoken about about \u201cHarry Potter\u201d author J.K. Rowling\u2019s anti-trans views, he would consider speaking out against the rise of the far-right, specifically in the U.K.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cObviously, I\u2019m against it,\u201d Grint said. \u201cBut I choose my moments when to speak. But I think yeah, it\u2019s obviously hugely relevant now. You\u2019ll hear from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGrint wasn\u2019t the only member of the press conference to talk politics, with \u201cNightborn\u201d director Hannah Bergholm asked about her reason for wearing the watermelon pin used to express solidarity with Palestine. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs grown-up human beings, I think we have a responsibility to speak up against violence and injustice.\u201d she said, adding \u201cand it\u2019s important that we don\u2019t tell other film artists that they shouldn\u2019t speak up.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, screenwriter Ilja Rautsi added: \u201cI think it is important to shine a light on whatever issues we are facing because art is all about empathy Politicians or millionaires who don\u2019t do anything but cause problems, it\u2019s maybe good to create some form of pressure, or just to get people aware of whatever is happening in the world, what are the wrongs that are taking place in Ukraine or genocide in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNightborn\u201d will have its world premiere on Saturday night in Berlin. The second feature from Finnish director Bergolm and\u00a0shot in Lithuania, the chilling supernatural horror follows a couple, Saga (Seida Haarla) and Jon (Grint), who move to an isolated house in the forest. But their marriage starts to crack on the arrival of their newborn son, who only Saga knows has something very wrong with him.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso at the press conference were Haarla, producer Daniel Kuitunen, and composer Eicca Toppinen.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Variety<\/a> ahead of the festival, Grint discussed HBO\u2019s upcoming \u201cHarry Potter\u201d TV series and said hearing the news of the incoming trio of young actors set to play Harry, Hermione and Ron made him reminisce about starting on the film franchise himself more than 25 years ago. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen they were announced, it really took me straight back to \u201999,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause it was such an exciting time. I do wish them all the best \u2014 it\u2019s such a fun journey. But it\u2019s quite strange and surreal. But it really didn\u2019t feel that long ago that we wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGrint wrote a letter to Alistair Stout, the youngster playing Ron Weasley in the show, but said the new Potter kids\u2019 experience would likely be very different to his own as he didn\u2019t have social media to worry about. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a long time, and there are definitely periods where you want to get out it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a sacrifice, especially when you\u2019re young. But I have no regrets. It was a great time and I think they\u2019ll have lots of good people around looking after them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHarry Potter\u201d star Rupert Grint has become the latest celebrity at the Berlin Film Festival to be asked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[191249,88,9346,80100],"class_list":{"0":"post-468905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-berlin-film-festival","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-harry-potter","11":"tag-rupert-grint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}