Emma Watson's on Acting and Her 'Harry Potter' Role

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - World Film Premiere

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Emma Watson began the Harry Potter series as a fresh-faced, wild-haired big screen newcomer. After shooting eight films, Watson was thankful for the opportunity but was inevitably ready to move on with her career. After shooting the final film, Watson attended Brown University and graduated in 2014. Following graduation, she returned full-time to acting before announcing a year-long break from acting in February 2016 to engage in human rights work.

Promoting Harry Potter

In 2010, Watson took a few weeks off from Brown to promote Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. In these interview highlights from Warner Bros, Watson spoke about life on the set of Deathly Hallows, kissing her co-stars, and shooting the memorable final Harry Potter scene.

Regarding Deathly Hallows, Watson said that it was nice not having the whole infrastructure of having the castle and the school year. She goes on to say, "As much as it’s been amazing to work with all the talent, it can become quite stilted having all these kind of like barriers in place."

The Uncomfortable Mudblood Scene

In scenes like when Bellatrix carves 'Mudblood' on her arm, Watson expresses that it was weird and horrible to do the scene. In fact, the actress Helena agreed, despite being able to get into evil characters. Watson goes on to say, "The Mudblood idea wasn't something that was written in the script. It's something that Helena and I came up with." With the idea surrounding a spell, the actress explored portraying it as powerful but felt it would be even stronger to have the audience physically see Mudblood. This happened by designing Bellatrix's handwriting on set for almost an hour.

"I did one take and David [Yates] let the camera roll for like two minutes and just left me there screaming. When I looked at the edit, I was like, "Wow." I mean fair enough, you can't have two minutes of me screaming. But I was like, "I did that a lot longer than was actually shown!" But, no, I think it was quite disturbing for the crew, which I was pleased about obviously because it showed I was doing a good job. It wasn't a fun day."

On Kissing Radcliffe

Journalists have told Watson that Daniel Radcliffe called her a fiery kisser and routinely bring this up with her. Watson, not knowing what to say to them, said, "I think for the scene it obviously had to be something that would really disturb Ron, that would make him really jealous and upset him, so I think the kiss had to be passionate from Hermione’s end." Watson jokingly takes the feedback that she is an "animal" as a personal compliment and told Radcliffe that he has been telling journalists she pounced on him. Although Watson was defensive, she felt, in the end, it was a positive due to the flattery.

Handling the Media Hype

Watson describes handling the media hype as an experience. She is now in her 20's and has experienced many press conferences since she was nine and ten years old. Watson says, "You just get used to it. It’s not worth it. It takes too much emotional energy to get upset every time something is written that you don’t want to see. You just have to let it go." If she didn't, she admits that she would be a crazy person, but jokes that maybe she already is. Watson admits that she still gets upset over comments made about her, but that it doesn't get to her as it once did.

"Things still get misquoted all the time. There's so much information out there about me you'd think it would be very easy to check facts."

10 Fun Facts on Set

  • Being like her brothers, Watson admits that kissing her two co-stars was horrible because she felt awkward. Thankfully, she realized that it looked good and realistic after powering through and being professional.
  • Watson says that Radcliffe is not a naturally-gifted dancer, but notes that the dance sequence was perfect, silly, and spontaneous for the scene at hand.
  • She agrees that the Deathly Hallows' camping scene could draw comparisons to Twilight.
  • Watson's favorite Harry Potter Scene with Ron was when they go off together to get the basilisk fang in Part Two to destroy the Horcrux. Watson says that "It’s kind of like a comedy act because it’s the first time you see Hermione and Ron like in tune. We're usually so offbeat."
  • The baby pictures in Deathly Hallows were actually Watson's baby pictures that she received from her father. She specifically said that there is a picture of one of her favorite towels with bunny rabbit ears on it.
  • Working with Director David Yates inspired Watson to work from her heart, be honest and work on "finding the truth." She felt he made her a better actress, especially at the very beginning, when she felt she was playing such a character.
  • To this day, Watson feels that she is still emotionally processing the fact that filming is over. While Watson says that she feels relieved some days, on others, she feels sad because her whole life revolved around the Harry Potter story.
  • Watson notes that toward the end of Harry Potter, she, Dan, and Rupert rewrote dialogue because they knew their characters so well and knew what they would and would not say.
  • Watson has played the character Hermione for 10 years.
  • The film has given Watson a lot of confidence to continue acting in other areas. She has performed in movies like My Week with Marilyn, a Weinstein production with Eddie Redmayne and Michelle Williams. Watson says, "I think I will keep acting. I’d like to make like one movie a year, especially until I’m done with Brown."