Grint Gets Brave in "Half-Blood Prince"

(CBS)  He plays a lovesick wizard-in-training.

But it's all fine to Rupert Grint, who portrays Ron Weasley in the sixth Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Grint said this film's shifts in his character are welcome. Ron joins the Quidditch team at the Hogwarts School, and has his first girlfriend, Lavender Brown, in "Half-Blood Prince."

"In previous years, he's been a bit of a wimp really," Grint said on "The Early Show" Tuesday. "And it's nice to do this kind of stuff."

Grint told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez doing his first on-screen kiss was "embarrassing," particularly because it was in front of so many people.

The kiss, he said, was "OK," but added he didn't have to do very much because Lavender's character did all the work.

"Ron's kind of the prey in the current relationship, so she kind of pounces on him," Grint said. "She's kind of obsessed."

Grint also commented on a visit to the set by first lady Michelle Obama and daughters, Sasha and Malia Obama, during a visit to England.

He called the visit "crazy" because the Obama entourage took over the whole studio on Sasha's birthday.

"We just kind of were eating cake with them in the great hall," he said. "It was quite a surreal moment."

Grint said the Obamas were big fans of the books and films. He said they liked the visit to the Harry Potter set better than meeting Queen Elizabeth II, whom they'd visited the day before.

But what's next for Grint when the Harry Potter series ends?

Grint said he's going to miss doing the Harry Potter films because he's done them half his life, but he wants to do more work as an actor.

He said, "I want to continue acting if I can, and just kind of move on and just do different parts."

Grint stars with Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, and Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter.

[debinok1]

TOO much focus on the romance not enough on the plot. I can only hope they don't screw up the last 2 as badly as they did this one.