During filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Emma Watson, who played the adored Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, talked candidly about an especially unpleasant situation. Watson said in a recent interview that because of their close connection and on-screen sibling bond, the passionate kiss she had with Ron Weasley’s actor, Rupert Grint, seemed like “incest”.
“Not because Rupert isn’t lovely, and there are millions of girls out there who would probably chop their left arm off to kiss him, but it just felt like incest,” said Watson. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”
Watson said that the fact that she and Grint had known each other since they were 11 years old made the scene even more strange. “The great thing about kissing is that you close your eyes, so it was fine when I was actually kissing him because I had my eyes closed,” Watson shared. “That’s why I couldn’t think about believing it was him. The hardest part was having to look at each other when we opened our eyes. We just couldn’t go on.
Watson hasn’t changed how he feels about the scene much over time. The kiss was “the most horrifying thing either of us has ever had to go through,” she said again in the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion show.
The scene was already uncomfortable, and everyone on set wanted to see the private moment. It was something that everyone wanted to be a part of, Watson said. “Cause everyone was like, ‘This is gonna be good, guys.'”
Watson had trouble with the idea of kissing her on-screen brother or sister, but she did say that she had a crush on Tom Felton as a child. In the homecoming special, she told a sweet story about how seeing Felton’s drawing of God made her fall in love with him.
The Harry Potter group has always been known for having a close relationship, and Watson’s confession about her awkward kiss with Grint shows how hard it can be for actors to play close friendships.
