Emma Watson will next be seen as Disney’s iconic princess Belle in the studio’s reimagining of “Beauty and the Beast,” but now she’s still best known for embodying Hermione Granger in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” movie universe.
It’s been six years since the last film installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” Asked if she’d she ever consider a return to the world of wizardry during a SiriusXS interview on Thursday, Watson teased: “Ask me in another 10 years.”
She also made sure to chide the host, Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican, for even going there. “You don’t what you’re doing,” she warned. “You’re causing carnage.”
During the wide-ranging discussion, Watson was also asked to clarify her rumored casting in “La La Land,” in the role that eventually went to Emma Stone, landing the famous redhead an Oscar.
“It’s one of those frustrating things when names get attached to a project early on to build anticipation before anything’s really set in stone,” said Watson. “It was one of those situations where I had been committed to ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for gosh, the idea of the project itself, for years.”
Watson explained that with all the training involved for the part of Belle (horse riding, dancing, singing), she had no choice but to pass on “La La Land.”
“‘Beauty and the Beast’ wasn’t a movie I could parachute into,” she said. “I knew I had to do the work.”
Watson was of course also called upon to address the inclusion of a gay character (Le Fou, played by Josh Gad) in Bill Condon’s “Beauty and the Beast” revamp that’s caused Russia to slap the film with an age restriction, and an Alabama theater to pull it altogether. The actress downplayed the whole thing.
“I think that’s what so fantastic about Josh’s performance — it’s so subtle,” Watson said. “Does he idealize Gaston? Is he in love with Gaston? What’s the relationship there? It’s incredibly subtle to be perfectly honest. I don’t want people going into this movie thinking there’s a huge sort of narrative there. There really isn’t. It’s kinda of a play on the audience. I love the ambiguity of that.. it’s really interesting.”
“Beauty and the Beast” opens wide March 17.
20 Facts You Didn't Know About 1991's 'Beauty and the Beast' (Photos)
Nov. 22 marks the 25th anniversary of 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," so TheWrap teamed up with IMDb to give you these 20 facts you may not have known about the Oscar-winning film.
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Belle (played by Paige O'Hara), the "beauty" in the tale, was the first brown-haired Disney princess.
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The smoke during the transformation of the Beast is not animated -- it was real smoke originally used in 1985's "The Black Cauldron," TheWrap confirmed.
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Although Angela Lansbury is famous for singing the "Beauty and the Beast" ballad, she originally thought another actor would be more suited. The director asked her to make at least one recording of her singing the song, which ended up in the film.
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Before "Up," "Beauty and the Beast" was the only animated film that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1992.
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While Belle sits at the fountain during the first song and flips though the book, you can see a dark-haired maiden, a monstrous male figure and a regal castle.
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Julie Andrews was considered for the role of Mrs. Potts before Angela Lansbury was cast.
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Lansbury recorded her lines during her breaks on the set of "Murder, She Wrote."
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When the writers wrote the part of Cogsworth, they had John Cleese specifically in mind, but he turned down the role (it then went to David Ogden Stiers).
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This was the first Disney animated film to have a final and fully-developed script before animators started their work on it.
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Laurence Fishburne, Val Kilmer and Mandy Patinkin were considered for the role of the Beast, which was eventually played by Robby Benson.
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Every line of the title song has exactly five syllables.
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The dance between Belle and the Prince in the finale is reused animation from "Sleeping Beauty" (1959), where Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip dance in the ballroom.
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The sign post that Belle's father, Maurice, walks by in the woods reads "Valencia, Anaheim and Burbank."
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Belle is the only one in her town who wears blue, meaning to show how different she is from everyone else.
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"Beauty and the Beast" was the first Disney animated film to cross the $100 million box office mark.
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The finished product consisted of 7,000 feet of hand-drawn film, 1,100 painted backgrounds and 150,000 individually-rendered frames.
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"Beauty and the Beast" took over three-and-a-half years to complete.
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Walt Disney considered making "Beauty and the Beast" four decades prior, but it was sidelined because they couldn't figure out how to deal with the story's "claustrophobic" second half.
Glen Keane was the supervising animator in charge of designing the Beast. The creature became a hybrid with the mane of a lion, the beard and head structure of a buffalo, the tusks and nose of a wild bear, the heavily muscled brow of a gorilla, the legs and tail of a wolf and the big body of a bear.
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According to director Gary Trousdale, "Be Our Guest" was supposed to have been sung by Maurice. They then decided it would be more meaningful if directed at Belle.
You can find more trivia, goofs and quotes on IMDb.
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Here’s some trivia you may not have known about how Disney’s adaptation of the classic fable came to be
Nov. 22 marks the 25th anniversary of 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," so TheWrap teamed up with IMDb to give you these 20 facts you may not have known about the Oscar-winning film.