After becoming a dad, Rupert Grint sees dark roles differently: “It’s just terrifying”
Rupert Grint says becoming a dad has him rethinking dark characters — and he lays out what sparked the shift.
When Rupert Grint signed on to the body‑horror movie Nightborn, the pull wasn’t just the scares. The script zeroes in on new parenthood, and Grint says becoming a dad has changed how he steps into dark material — including this one.
“Becoming a dad is like it just in itself. I found it was amazing…it's an incredible ride, but it's kind of there are a lot of it at moments where it's just terrifying. This kind of alien kind of appears in your house, and you have no idea really kind of how it works,”
he told CBR, adding that Nightborn ranks among the scariest roles he’s taken.
The film follows a couple, Saga and Jon, who retreat to a remote forest home to raise their newborn — until the baby develops an appetite for blood. Seidi Haarla plays Saga, and Grint is Jon, as the parents’ bond frays under a nightmare they can’t explain.
Post–Harry Potter, Grint has leaned into moodier turns in psychological horror and thrillers; this one pushes that instinct straight into the parental deep end.
Why this script hit now
Grint told Awards Radar the timing felt almost supernatural. He says the script arrived just as he and his partner, Georgia Groome, learned they were expecting their second child — a coincidence that sealed his yes.
“So it was kind of — it felt very, very kind of fated, really, that I should do this.”
Even after filming, he said moments from the shoot stuck with him — especially a birth sequence for Haarla’s character that he described as both triggering and terrifying.