Knock At The Cabin's Home Invasion Was A Very Real Fear For Rupert Grint

M. Night Shyamalan's newest film "Knock at the Cabin" puts an apocalyptic spin on the home invasion thriller. The story follows a family having a peaceful vacation in the woods when a mysterious group of strangers suddenly accosts them. Unlike the usually sadistic monsters of other home invasion films, though, these four intruders seem reluctant and even mournful about having to tie up their targets. Despite the invaders' relative politeness, Rupert Grint brings a sense of malice to the one named Redmond, who seems a lot more aggressive and violence-prone than his mild-mannered comrades. Perhaps that's because Grint was channeling a real experience he had with an actual home invasion.

The actor who is most famous for playing Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" films has begun a burgeoning relationship with Hollywood's twistiest director. Grint is part of the main cast of Shyamalan's television series "Servant" on Apple TV+, in which he plays the brother of a woman who adopts a doll that may be a reincarnation of her deceased son. Shyamalan was reportedly enamored with Grint's initial audition, calling the actor a "secret weapon" on the show that is currently wrapping up its final season. In a more-than-a-coincidence moment of true M. Night Shyamalan fashion, the two seemed destined to work together years after the director turned down offers to direct "Harry Potter" at several points.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rupert Grint talked about how much he likes working with Shyamalan, referencing the fateful day the director visited the set of "Harry Potter" and met Grint for the first time. He mentioned that when the director approached him about "Knock at the Cabin," the pitch was "quite vague, which is kind of his style." However, Grint knew that he wanted to take the role because the subject matter tackled his "biggest fears: the end of the world and home invasions." The actor recalls the nerve-racking incident that planted the seeds for his completely rational anxiety:

"My house was robbed a few years ago — and I saw the guy come in. I was watching 'The Irishman' and I could see, through the bedroom door, this guy in my living room, on all fours, looking for things. In the end, he just took some Kit Kats. That's all he got. He was also wearing my coat, which was a strange experience. It kind of stays with you, almost like PTSD. It really froze me. You don't know if he's got a weapon or what his intentions are. The movie kind of triggers that slightly."

The would-be burglar didn't break in with the blunt and bladed weapons that Redmond and his crew use in "Knock at the Cabin," either. Grint mentioned that he "waltzed in fairly effortlessly," and most likely didn't even know about the homeowner's famous identity. Perhaps acting in Shyamalan's film allowed Grint to therapeutically mirror that harrowing situation, though his character's intentions are much more sinister than searching for Kit Kats.

While the apocalypse and "home invasions" may rank as numbers one and two on Grint's personal list of scariest things in the world, the fears he has felt after becoming a father also helped him with an acting job. In 2021, the actor told Esquire a story about what it was like for him and his partner when their young daughter, Wednesday, came home the first night after being born:

"I don't want to go too into detail, but the first night was just terrifying. You can't sleep at all, just constantly checking that she's breathing ... Sleeping, in general, for me, is something I've really struggled with. I think as a kid, people always said, 'They died in their sleep,' so I always thought sleep was a really dangerous, dangerous thing."

While most parents have to deal with those fears in more traditional ways, Grint was able to work through some of them while acting on "Servant," a show that's very much tapped into the anxieties and anguish of what happens when a family loses a child. "[It's] that thing that you'd do anything to get your kid back," he explained to Esquire. "[Parenthood] really helped me understand that. I guess I already had some concept of it, obviously, but I think having a kid of your own really nails that down." 

Actors are frequently searching for an edge, something to help them understand and relate to their characters in ways that will help them slip deeper into their skin and disappear in the performance of it all. It's a shame Grint had to go through that uneasy relationship with sleep (both for himself and his daughter), but as long as he and his family are OK, at least that fear helped him understand and relate to his "Servant" character on a deeper level.