In another
interview while promoting her film
The Tale of Despereaux, Emma Watson spoke candidly about the
Harry Potter films and how they have impacted her on a personal level, including
Half-Blood Prince and
Deathly Hallows; her life in the spotlight; her options for university next year; and how she manages to keep normal, amongst other things.
Quote:
Q: What's the best - and worst - thing about being famous?
EW: The best thing about being involved in Harry Potter, is that you can make a six year old girl or boy's day by giving them a handshake and it's so easy. It costs me so little to make someone incredibly happy so that's amazing and I've walked away and thought 'God I'm so lucky to be in a position that people are that excited to meet me'. It's amazing.
The downside is that the level of curiosity into your life means that it becomes quite intrusive and the level of criticism is hard to deal with sometimes. It can make you really insecure.
Q: Do you have the same problem as your co-star Daniel Radcliffe with the fans not wanting you to grow up?
EW: Like Peter Pan. Yeah, I think they do... I think it's gonna take a while to shake off the British press. Every headline I'm in, there is some reference to magic or broom stick or witches or whatever! So it will take a while. The books and the films are loved so much that people don't want to let go, they don't want it to end but unfortunately I'm growing up, I'm not gonna be young forever.
Q: What can you say about the next "Harry Potter" movie?
EW: It's more of a romantic comedy; it has quite love interest in it. I think the humour is very good in it; they really got that in this one. Harry is [Ginny]'s first kiss and it really develops their relationship, very set it up for the final chapter. It's good...
Q: Is it true that you didn't want to take it on?
EW: No, it isn't (laugh)! It just take a while for scheduling because I was doing my A levels so they had to kind of work around that. It was a little bit difficult but no...
Q: How do you feel about shooting the last "Harry Potter", are you emotional about it or do you feel like it's good timing?
EW: I think I will feel emotional about it in some ways because I spent most than half my life doing it, you know and the crew is like a second family to me; so it will be very emotional. But in the same time, I'm excited because it frees my time to go do other projects. I'm ready to go do something else now, it has been a while!
Q: Do you ever wonder what your life would have been if it wasn't for being cast in Harry Potter?
EW: It's become so much a part of my life that it's hard to imagine now what my life would have been like. Sometimes I wish my life were simpler but, for most of the time, I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
Q: What's your next career challenge?
EW: I guess I'm eternally going to be Hermione! My biggest challenge will be convincing people that I can be someone else.
The Tale of Despereaux is in theatres now;
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released July 17, 2009.