25 fun facts you didn’t know about your favorite teen movies

A Cinderella Story – A Harry Potter prince charming

You wouldn’t expect A Cinderella Story to have a connection to the Harry Potter series, especially since none of the stars are British. But there’s actually a pretty major link between them: Ron Weasley!

A Cinderella Story is about Sam (Hilary Duff), a teenage girl who loses her father and is forced to live with her evil stepmother Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge) and her twin daughters. She dreams of graduating high school and getting away from the hell her stepmother puts her through, but until then, Sam slaves away at Fiona’s diner to save for college.

Sam also has a secret online romance with a boy at school, but she doesn’t know it’s Austin (Chad Michael Murray), one of the most popular boys in school. Chad Michael Murray was the ultimate teen heartthrob back in 2004, but they almost went in a completely different direction with the character.

Before Murray was involved, the studio cast Rupert Grint to play Austin. That’s right, Ronald Weasley himself was almost Sam’s prince charming. The film would’ve been a huge opportunity for the British star to breakthrough in the American teen movie market, but unfortunately, he had to drop out due to filming commitments for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

That’s not even the only link to the famous series. In the film, Sam has the Harry Potter books by her bed. If you think about it, Sam’s background is pretty similar to Harry’s. Sam lives in the attic, while Harry lives in a closet under the stairs. Both characters also lost their parents and were raised by abusive guardians.

So when you think about it, Harry Potter really was a lot like Cinderella!