Emma Watson looked forward to further expanding her filmography after the Harry Potter films were over.
Still, however, Watson didn’t feel an immediate need to distance herself away from her role as Hermione Granger. And she wasn’t going to suddenly star in raunchy features to do so.
Emma Watson didn’t believe in herself as an actor after ‘Harry Potter’
Acting in Harry Potter for so long had its pros and cons when it came to Watson. The wizard franchise helped turn Watson into a household name, and gave her years’ worth of experience in film. But after playing Hermione Granger for so long, she doubted she could play anything else. Which initially made doing films outside of Harry Potter intimidating.
“I didn’t know if I believed in myself yet as an actress, outside the role of Hermione, which I knew I could do, and I did for a long time. I didn’t know if I had other people in me or not,” Watson once said on The Jonathan Ross Show (via Mirror). “I did doubt myself a little bit. I think I’d just played one person, who in many ways was similar to my own personality, and I played her for ten years and I got so comfortable doing that, that the idea of coming out and playing somebody else was terrifying.”
But she credited the 2012 movie Perks of Being a Wallflower, and its director Stephen Merchant, for helping her.
“After the Harry Potter series, I didn’t feel very confident in myself as an actor. It’s rather sheer luck that I’ve improved now but back then, I needed someone to believe in me, and Stephen really did,” she once told the Daily Mail.
Emma Watson didn’t want to go nude or do drugs in movies just to avoid being typecast as Hermione Granger
Although Watson was willing to do almost any kind of role, she made it a point to avoid period dramas. She was well-aware how crucial it was to pick her roles carefully after her Harry Potter fame and fortune.
“Really, I was open-minded about doing anything, but the one thing I knew I didn’t want to do was get myself into a corset because I was worried I’d never get out again. I knew that it would be a really comfortable thing to do, but I felt coming straight out of Harry Potter, I had to dive into something really different,” she once said in an interview with GQ.
This included avoiding anything that would put her in a corset. But as open-minded as the young actor was, there were certain boundaries she wouldn’t cross for movies.
“I’m not going to get my kit off or snort cocaine in a film, just to leave Hermione behind,” Watson once told The Times. “I’m not going to do something shocking because I’m so paranoid or insecure that I can’t play another role convincingly. I don’t want everyone to forget me as Hermione. I’m really proud of her.”
Emma Watson would only undress on screen under one condition
At one point, Watson revealed that she wasn’t too closed off to the idea of going nude in films. But only on the condition that it was in favor of a good and appropriate narrative.
“I’ve been saying since I was 16 that if it’s an interesting character and important for the character development, and of course if it’s important to the story, then I’ll do it because I’m an actress and that’s it really,” she once said according to The Scotsman.
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