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January 7, 2009 - Watson “ready” to leave Potter behind

Emma Watson has confessed that she will be “ready” to leave the Harry Potter film series after completing work on The Deathly Hallows.

The actress, who has played Hermione Granger in the wizard franchise since 2001, told MTV that she has mixed emotions about leaving the character behind.

She said: “It will be bittersweet. It will be very scary because it’s been such a massive part of my life. It will have been nearly over a decade that I’d been playing Hermione.

“It’ll be tough but I’ll be ready to go I think. I’ll be ready to take on other projects. It will be exciting.”

Discussing Warner Bros’s decision to split Deathly Hallows into two parts, Watson claimed that she knows little about where the divide will take place but expects the first part to end on a “cruel cliffhanger”.

Source: Digital Spy

Tags: rumour, rumours!

Emma Watson : ‘Single’ Emma Watson still ‘waiting for her knight in shining armour

‘Harry Potter’ star Emma Watson has revealed that she’s “waiting for her knight in shining
armour.”

The 18-year-old, who was cast as Hermione Granger at the age of nine, rubbished her links with several suitors, saying she was still single.

“I’ve been linked with so many guys that I’m beginning to sound like a wanton woman,” the Mirror quoted her as saying.

“Relationships are complicated enough without reading that you’re breaking up or getting back together or cheating on one another every five minutes. Guys are either intimidated by me or they make fun of me.

“When I’m older I’d love to be married. Success is meaningless without someone to love. But he’ll have to be intelligent, interesting and able to hold a conversation. Not someone who bores you out of your mind.

“There aren’t a lot of gentlemen out there, unfortunately. But I’m waiting for my knight in shining armour. I’m sure he will come along at some point,” she added.

The French-born British actress, who would return for the final two instalments of the hit fantasy series, had recently been voted into the Top 100 sexiest girls in a men’s magazine.

Source: Entertainment Showbiz

The Tale of Emma

MIZZ MAG: Hey, Emma! You’re the voice of Princess Pea in the new flick ‘The Tale of Despereaux’. As you’re a big enough star to pick and choose your roles now, what made you say yes to this movie?
EMMA: Family films can still push boundaries, present challenging ideas and, most importantly, keep everyone entertained. It was just something really interesting, something different. I hope that directors will give me the chance to do something quite far away from Hermione.

MIZZ MAG: Is making sure you don’t get typecast in your ‘Harry Potter’ role what makes you pick certain films over others?
EMMA: That and just working with really interesting, talented people, I guess.

MIZZ MAG: Lonely Princess Pea becomes friends with Despereaux the mouse. Do you get much of a chance to chill out with your real-life mates? And if yes, what do you get up to?
EMMA: We hang out in Starbucks, we go and choose CDs, talk, go to each others’ houses-normal girlie stuff. I have a lot of guy friends, too. I love that I always know where I stand with them. I can be a bit of a boy when I’m with [lads]. But I also love fashion and make-up. I don’t have make-up on all the time but, when I want to, I have fun with my friends choosing clothes and putting nail polish on.

MIZZ MAG: When it comes to boyfriends, do you tend to have a type of lad you fancy?
EMMA: No, I’m not really into a particular type, but I do like boys who are into sports and love it when they speak two or three different languages. Yeah, that really does it for me.

MIZZ MAG: When you’re out and about in public, do you tend to get recognised a lot?
EMMA: Yeah, but whenever I go out, I just kind of play myself down a bit. It’s not too bad, I get people stop me and stuff, but I wouldn’t not go out just because a couple of people might stop me and ask for an autograph. That would just be awful! Some days I wish my life was simpler, but the rest of the time, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. After all, whose life is normal?

MIZZ MAG: Have you ever had any weird encounters?
EMMA: Recently, a woman took my arm, looked at me very seriously and said, ‘You’re quite pretty in real life.’ I didn’t quite know how to take it!

MIZZ MAG: Princess Pea teaches Despereaux to read in the film. Are you big on books in your own life?
EMMA: I’m currently trying to apply for uni, so reading lots and lots at home! I’ve started re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, too, in preparation for the start of filming in February, and I can’t put it down. Reading it for a second time has made it no less more addictive.

MIZZ MAG: What other hobbies do you have? Word is you’re pretty good at ping-pong….
EMMA: My parents played and they’re both really competitive. They never used to let me win, but I got quite good at it. Dan [Radcliffe] and Rupert [Grint] were quite taken aback that I could beat them. I think Rupert took it the worst.

MIZZ MAG: You were 11 when the first Harry Potter film came out, and now you’re 18. Do you ever wish your teenage years could have been a bit more normal?
EMMA: I wouldn’t want my childhood in show business to have been any different. I learned a lot of things, met tons of people from different places and had incredible experiences. It was just a bit different, but that’s OK. Of course, no one tells you how to handle fame or walk down the red carpet or answer questions about yourself. I just hope I get it right. I know I’ve been very lucky.

MIZZ MAG: You’re very rich and famous-ever find it hard to keep your feet on the ground?
EMMA: I have a really secure network of family and friends. My parents are both lawyers, and they have absolutely no interest in being part of the film industry. A lot of people find it hard to understand why I don’t want to be a full-time actress, but school life keeps me in touch with my friends. It keeps me in touch with reality. It makes me feel normal. Let’s be honest, I’ve got enough money that I never have to work again, but I’d never want that. Learning things keeps me motivated.

MIZZ MAG: You got straight A* and A grades in your GSCE’S-what are your plans for the future?
EMMA: I’ve applied to a few universities for next year, including several American ones. If I do go there, I’ll do a liberal Arts degree, but if I stay in the UK, I’ll do English Literature.

Source: Mizz Magazine

January 5, 2009 - Emma Watson, from Harry Potter’s Hermione to Tale of Despereaux

PLAYING Hermione in the Harry Potter movies, Emma Watson is used to acting around special effects, but her latest film takes guess-work to a whole new level.

Playing the sad Princess Pea who is kidnapped by fiendish rats in The Tale of Despereaux, the 18-year-old English actor had to concentrate her performance in her voice, little knowing what the final product would look like.

“Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect,” Watson says.

“I read the script. They showed me some sketches of how Pea was going to look. I saw a couple of clips. Aside from that, I didn’t know where they were taking it.”

She says she felt “like an idiot a lot of the time”.

“I was being kidnapped, and I was being dragged around, and there was a rat in my room,” she says.

“There were moments you had to be out of breath. You have to kind of recreate this in a dark room, and you have to be quite imaginative about it all. So when I’m screaming and being kidnapped, I was jogging on the spot for a couple of minutes trying to get out of breath and get in the moment.”

Next month Watson will start filming the next Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows, which will be in two parts. It amuses her to look at the early films and see the long-vanished children she and co-star Daniel Radcliffe once were.

“We have been depicted in a time of our lives when we’ve changed so much, we look so different, we are so different. It’ll be over a decade when I finish making the Harry Potters, so it’s quite something,” she says.

Watson will go to university in September. She hopes education will help broaden her work as an actor as well as give her a haven away from the frenzy of celebrity.

“The down side to fame is the intrusion into your life and this expectation that because they’ve seen you on screen, they kind of have a right to you as a human being and personally and in your life,” she says.

What is the most idiotic thing she has read about herself?

“The worst it gets is that I’m dating Dan (Radcliffe, who plays Harry) or Rupert (Grint, who plays Ron) or Tom (Felton, who plays Draco) or whoever it is. That’s kind of the silliest that they get, really,” she says.

Source: Herald Sun

Emma Watson: The Pop Machine interview

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Pop Machine

« Sigourney says ‘Ghostbusters’ sequel is on | Main | Hollywood and Obama: Who’s wooing, changing whom? »
Originally posted: January 5, 2009
Emma Watson: The Pop Machine interview

Here’s another “director’s cut” version of a piece that originally ran in the print edition. MC

SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Having played Hermione in the Harry Potter movies, Emma Watson was used to acting around special effects to be filled in later, but her work in the computer-animated “The Tale of Despereaux” raised such guesswork to a new level.

Playing the sad Princess Pea, who at one point is kidnapped and thrust into a “Gladiator”-like arena by some fiendish rats, the 18-year-old English actress had to concentrate all of her performance in her voice, little knowing what the final product would look like.

“Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “I read the script. They showed me some sketches of how Pea was going to look. I saw a couple of clips. Aside from that, I didn’t know where they were taking it.”

Over an interview in a beach-side hotel earlier this month, Watson discussed her surprise at the finished product, her decision to stay in school, her desire to act, and, of course, her ongoing life in the world of Harry Potter.

Pop Machine: What is it about acting with just your voice that’s different?

Emma Watson: To be honest, you feel like an idiot a lot of the time, particularly for my part, because it was quite physical: I was being kidnapped, and I was being dragged around, and there was a rat in my room. There were moments you had to be out of breath. You have to kind of re-create this in a dark room, and you have to be quite imaginative about it all. So when I’m screaming and being kidnapped, I was jogging on the spot for a couple of minutes beforehand trying to get me out of breath and get me in the moment.

PM: What surprised you the most when you finally saw it?

Watson: How much I liked it.

PM: ‘Cause you thought, ‘Oh, this is crap’ while you were making it?

Watson: No, not at all! [laughs] I guess you try and set your expectations at a certain level before you go and see a film. It exceeded my expectations.

PM: When I come across “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on cable, I think, ‘Oh, they were so little then.’ Do you do that?

Watson: It is strange. It is incredible how young we were, and we have been depicted in a time of our lives where we’ve changed so much, we look so different, we are so different. It’ll be over a decade when I finish making the Harry Potters, so it’s quite something.

PM: Are you filming now?

Watson: No, I start again in February to film “Deathly Hallows,” which will be split into two parts.

PM: Was this movie a nice break for you?

Watson: It was. It’s really nice to be part of something different. It’s nice to talk about something that isn’t Harry Potter, actually.

PM: So I’ll just ask you all Harry Potter questions now.

Watson: OK, thanks.

PM: At least now nobody’s asking you how the books are going to end.

Watson: Yeah. It’s funny, people really thought that we’d been entrusted with the endings, but no.

PM: I hear you like to sing.

Watson: Yes.

PM: Are you going to be the next Duffy?

Watson: [Laughs] She’s great, but I’d rather focus on my acting and get that really good before I branch out into anything else. So I guess it would be on film or on stage or whatever. I would love to do that.

PM: You’ve stayed in school while you’ve been doing all of this.

Watson: Mm-hmm. I go to university in September.

PM: You think it’s important to keep the schooling going rather than to be solely career focused?

Watson: Yeah. I hope that having my life and having an education will lengthen my career.

PM: Is that because it makes you a more well-rounded person?

Watson: Yeah. How as an actress are you meant to inhabit other people if you haven’t lived? How are you meant to play someone who gets the bus to work or has a part-time job or whatever if I’ve never experienced any of it myself or if I haven’t been to school? How does that make me someone that people can relate to? I don’t think it’s possible really.

PM: If you could change one thing about the entertainment business, what would it be?

Watson: All the baggage that comes with fame, being an actress. The down side to it is the intrusion into your life and this expectation that because they’ve seen you onscreen, they kind of have a right to you as a human being and personally and in your life.

PM: What’s the maddest you’ve gotten reading something about yourself?

Watson: I really have very little to complain about in terms of what’s written about me. The worst it gets is that I’m dating Dan [Radcliffe, who plays Harry] or Rupert [Grint, who plays Ron] or Tom [Felton, who plays Draco] or whoever it is. That’s kind of the silliest that they get, really.

PM: What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about what you do?

Watson: I guess that it looks incredibly glamorous, and in some ways it is and at some times it is, but if you’re really doing your job properly, then it’s tough. In the film industry you work very long hours, and making a film is a very intense process.

PM: Do you find that performing quieter scenes is harder than running and screaming?

Watson: Actually, it’s funny: I find it easier to cry than I do to laugh convincingly. It’s incredibly hard to pull off a laugh that feels natural take after take after take, that feels real. You can tell a fake laugh [snaps fingers] the minute you hear it, and that’s something I really struggle with more than producing tears.

PM: You can just turn on the waterworks.

Watson: Well, I’m a girl, aren’t I?

Source: Chicago Tribune