Emma Watson Beyond Harry Potter

Not only has Emma Watson received the Elle Style Icon Award earlier this year, the young star has received numerous film awards such as Best Female Film Star at the Otto Awards and Young Artist Awards. We take a sneak peak at an interview with Emma Watson provided by Warner Brothers to discover her life beyond Harry Potter.

How has the experience been going to Brown and living in America? Do you feel sort of American now or are you still like the English person?

It’s really weird, actually. It has become a second home to me and I do really love it. I’m very happy. I could very easily see myself spreading my time between New York and London.

Why did you choose to go to the States over a university here? I’m sure you could get in anywhere.

For a number of reasons. A friend of mine went over to university in the States and when he was telling me about the fact that he was able to study more than one subject at a time and that it was much more open and broad, that really appealed to me. And then also I’m much more anonymous in the States and I needed a change. I needed a fresh start, somewhere where I could go and feel like I could really reinvent myself. And that’s what Brown has been for me.

So would you still think of an acting career or is it still up in the air for you?

No, definitely, and this film’s given me a lot of confidence. I just did a movie called My Week with Marilyn, which is a Weinstein production with Eddie Redmayne and Michelle Williams and that went really well. And, no, I think I will keep acting. I think I’d like to make maybe one movie a year or something, especially until I’m done with Brown, definitely. Because it’s really hard. It’s really exhausting trying to juggle the two. It takes a lot.

How do you juggle school and working on movies?

You just have to be really organized with your time. And I tell professors in advance that I have to leave for this period of time and I hope they’ll understand. And I have to work hard to earn that kind of trust and respect that they allow me to do that. I have to show them that I’m a hard worker and that I take my studies seriously because otherwise they wouldn’t let me do it. So, at the beginning of the semester, it’s all about getting good grades so that they’re like, [Laughs] ‘Okay, you can go up and do whatever it is you have to do.’

How are you feeling now that the films are coming to a close? Are you nostalgic?

That question never gets clearer or easier really to answer. It’s hard for me to answer because I still don’t really know how I feel about it. I’m still processing it. So, to give you an answer is actually quite hard. I have days where I feel relieved and I have days where I feel very sad. And I have days where I’m like, ‘I’m so excited.’ Because this just took up my life, all of my time; my life revolved around Harry Potter. That was the focal point of my existence. And it’s exciting now that I have this time, I can accept other things. I mean, I know the grass is always greener, but there were moments when I was making this when I was like, ‘God, I wish I could go and do that.’ Or something would come up and now I have time to go and do different things. So, it’s exciting too. I swing kind of like a pendulum back and forth between all these different emotions.
Emma Watson has landed many a gig since Harry Potter, including the new face of Lancome, Vogue editorials, Burberry Campaigns and the launch of People Tree, a fair trade fashion brand.

This interview was provided by Warner Brothers. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is released on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 15.