Rupertised!

BY ANDREW JOHNSTON: http://www.myspace.com/andrewgriswold, http://www.justgiving.co.uk/ajohnston1973

July 30th 2008

Everyone has an idea about what a movie set looks like. A short-tempered director yelling “Action!”, pampered stars complaining about the size of their trailers, chairs with everyone’s names on them… The reality is slightly different, however, as I will find out today.

Cherrybomb, the debut feature by Northern Irish husband and wife directing team Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glen Leyburn, has been filming for three weeks in Newtownabbey. It’s a low-key shoot, and the County Antrim ‘new town’ is an unlikely location for one of the stars of the world’s top-grossing motion picture franchise.

But Rupert Grint – better known as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series – has been hard at work filming his role as Malachy in Daragh Carville’s tale of “sex, drugs and stealing cars”.

I’ve just finished writing this week’s TV column for the local rag when I receive an invitation to watch some scenes being shot and interview the cast and crew. I’m honoured and a little surprised that the paper I write for, the News Letter – the world’s oldest English language newspaper, don’t cha know – is the only local print media visiting the set.

I get to the Valley Leisure Centre – which is doubling for the ‘Titanic Leisureplex’ – around noon and see Carol McCullough, the unit publicist, hanging about the main steps. Rupert will be joining us after he finishes some transatlantic phone interviews, Carol says.

The Cherrybomb set in the Valley’s foyer is as far from blockbusterdom as you can imagine. There are no camera cranes, no star trailers and no paparazzi hiding in bushes. A car crash has been shot, I’m told, and there are fight scenes, but today it’s just dialogue. The assistant director looks relaxed, leisure centre regulars sidestep the lights and cameras and the crew are eating muffins. It’s a nice vibe.

The first person I speak to is Rupert’s stand-in, Adam Montgomery. The local drama student got the gig because he’s “five-foot-eight-ish with red hair”. After the shoot Adam intends to get a job in a garage so he can “afford a moped”.

The next to arrive is Robert Sheehan, who plays Luke. Rupert’s co-star has wild hair and a funky glam rock jacket and is bursting with energy as he describes his relationship with Rupert’s character in the film: “Luke and Malachy are best mates. The future beckons then a chick comes along and breaks us up. I blame the whole middle of the film on the chick.”

“The chick” is Kimberley Nixon’s character, Michelle. The Welsh-raised star of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is on the other side of the set, flicking through a magazine as she waits between shots. I ask what it’s been like working with Rupert and Robert. “I couldn’t have asked for two nicer boys,” she says. “There have been some challenging scenes but they’ve been so sweet and lovely and I feel really easy and safe with them, which means I can do my job better.”

Then Rupert comes ambling into view. He’s wearing his character’s purple leisure centre uniform – Malachy works at the Titanic Leisureplex for Michelle’s dad, Crilly, played by James Nesbitt – and has his hair slicked back. Rupert’s been yakking to journalists all morning but shows no sign of fatigue as he talks about his time in Northern Ireland.

“When I first got here it was quite a shock,” he says. “I’d never been before so it was all quite new. But it’s a great place, and every day I’ve tried to do some sightseeing. I’ve been to the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.”

I get to watch the three young stars filming a scene. It’s hard to tell how the sequence will play in the finished piece, but one thing’s for sure: Rupert and Robert have nailed the Belfast accent. It’s a notoriously tricky brogue, and one that has tripped up the likes of Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones.

“It’s not an accent I’ve ever been familiar with,” says Rupert. “It’s such a mix of different sounds. I had to start from the beginning, but Brendan Gunn, the voice coach, made a CD with all my lines, which helped.”

Cherrybomb’s adult themes, modest budget and fast shoot set it apart from the sprawling Harry Potter franchise. “It’s a totally different world,” Rupert says. “It doesn’t compare. Today for example we’re doing 12 scenes. On Potter we do a scene a day, a scene a week sometimes. A huge percentage of it is greenscreen, but there’s none of that on this.

“It was never a conscious thing to move away from kids’ movies, it just happened. In the space of a week I got the script, met the producers and that was that. It was a bit of a whirlwind. I’m quite nervous about how it’ll be received!”

And speaking of Potter: “Number six is coming out in November [it was later pushed back to July 2009]. Then there’s the big one, number seven, which is being split into two. It’s going to be a year-and-a-half shoot starting in February. I’ve got another thing called Wild Target in between, which is being filmed in the Isle of Man.”

On the way out I grab a quick word with co-director Glen Leyburn, who’s full of praise for Rupert. “He’s been brilliant,” says Glen. “He’s a gentleman and very easy to get on with. We couldn’t have wished for a more easygoing bloke, and he’s incredibly talented.”

My afternoon on the set of Cherrybomb wasn’t as glamorous or as hectic as I’d been expecting, but it was an interesting experience – and one to rub in the faces of my Potter-loving mates.

Thanks to Carol McCullough and Generator Entertainment.