The Somber Harry Potter Scene That Rupert Grint Could Not Stop Laughing Through
Often times with films and television productions, behind-the-scenes footage eventually makes its way to the public in the form of blooper reels. After all, film shoots are comprised of long days on set, and in the monotonous bustle of any given production, actors are bound to flub lines or do something silly to make their colleagues laugh.
The "Harry Potter" film saga wasn't immune to having scenes broken up by unintended laughs, and it's easy to see why. At the very beginning of the sprawling, eight-film saga based on author J.K. Rowling's blockbuster book series, the film's three leads — Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who played Harry, Hermione, and Ron — were 11, 10, and 12 years old, respectively, and just on the cusp of their goofy tween-slash-teen years. In fact, fans got a look at the kids' shenanigans in behind-the-scenes footage in the "Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts" streaming special in early 2022. In the special, Today reported, Radcliffe and his fellow castmates were shown "fooling around in between takes by slapping each other's hands and playing little games" before getting into a serious frame of mind for filming.
While the threat of the evil Lord Voldemort loomed over the "Harry Potter" saga, the first few films in the series, at least, let the kid actors be kid characters. However, as the actors — and thus their characters — aged and themes grew more serious in the run-up to the grand, two-film finale "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the story became less of a laughing matter. That, of course, doesn't mean that laughter still didn't creep into some of the more serious moments on set, including a memorable one with Grint during a pivotal scene in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
Grint admits to having a laughing fit during Dumbledore's farewell scene
Of the three main younger characters in the "Harry Potter" films, it appears that Rupert Grint is the biggest cut-up. In fact, Grint, during co-star Tom Felton's aptly titled virtual reunion "Tom Felton's Home Party" (via The Insider), admitted how he has a propensity to laugh during shooting. "It's still a problem — it's something I've never been able to shake," Grint admitted during the reunion, which was staged in 2020 to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the release of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." "Even making this video, I'm, like, 'Take 20.' It's quite hard to explain because it's never really anything in particular that I'm laughing at."
Noting how he has the problem of laughing at the "most inappropriate" times, Grint explained that "Dumbledore's funeral was a particularly bad one." "For some reason, I found that absolutely hilarious," Grint recalled during the virtual gathering. "And yeah, once you start laughing, it's very hard to stop. It just becomes a thing."
While Grint said that it was "Dumbledore's funeral" where he had the laughing fit, in all likelihood, he meant it happened during the farewell scene in the movie, where all of Albus Dumbledore's students say goodbye to the beloved professor after his tragic death. During Luna Lovegood actor Evanna Lynch's "Normal Not Normal" podcast (via Cosmopolitan UK) with Fred and George Weasley actors James and Oliver Phelps in 2021, Lynch shed some light on why the funeral scene from the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" novel was never filmed. Lynch recalled her discussion with producer David Heyman, who said, "It's just too expensive." In a last-ditch effort to represent the fans, Lynch said she countered Heyman by saying, "'Take some of my paycheck, because I think it's worth it.' And he was like, 'Evanna, it wouldn't cover it!'"