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Emma Watson talks backing off acting after Harry Potter, Beauty and the Beast

By Dan Selcke

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 15: Emma Watson attends The Kering Foundation's Caring for Women dinner at The Pool on Park Avenue on September 15, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 15: Emma Watson attends The Kering Foundation's Caring for Women dinner at The Pool on Park Avenue on September 15, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) /
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Emma Watson shot to fame as Hermione Grander in the Harry Potter movies, one of the most successful film series of the past couple of decades. She was only 11 years old when the first Harry Potter movie premiered, and afterwards, she had her pick of projects.

She appeared in both major Hollywood blockbusters like Beaty and the Beast as well as smaller dramas like The Bling Ring. But the last time she acted was in 2019’s Little Women. Since then, she’s stepped back from acting. Now, speaking to the Financial Times, she talked about why.

“I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest,” Watson said. “I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.”

"I was held accountable in a way that I began to find really frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say. And I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better.’"

Emma Watson is returning to movie acting

That led her to her current ventures, which include writing and directing an ad campaign for Prada (which she hopes is the first of more directorial outings) and Renais, a premium gin brand she’s making with her brother.

That said, she does have a new movie lined up, one that will begin shooting in early 2024. So this break wasn’t retirement from acting, just a chance to recharge and refocus on what she really wants to do.

Next. We had ChatGPT write 10 alternate endings to Game of Thrones. dark

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