Emma - Articles/Press - Tatler 2007.
Tatler Magazine 2007
Photoshoot Here.
WIZARD KID:
Emma Watson has the planet under her spell as Harry Potter's sidekick Hermione. But she doesn't go the whole Hogwarts for that Hollywood Lifestyle.
Sitting inside Oxford Prison, Emma Watson is surprisingly at ease about the iron gate, the clanking doors and the tiny cells. For her first magazine cover interview, the venue chosen by Warner Bros is behind bars. Oxford Malmasion hotel, the former jail in the city where she lives. "Cool place for a party," she suggests before turnign down a cup of tea (she never drinks Tea and Coffee).
Modest, clver and self knowing, Britains most famous teenager actress is very sure about what she likes and where she wants to go. When she was 3, her grandmother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she gave three answers, a princess, a fairy and a mattress. "I couldn't quite say actress," she recalls with a faint blush. But someone was clearly listening because her wish was granted..and in spades.
For seven years Emma has played Hermione in the Harry Potter films and it has propelled her into the public eye in a truly international scale. In France she is almost a cult, in Borneo her face is known. A billion Harry Potter readers will probably visualise her as Hermione over the next decade. Her fame is more extreme than that which Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor, Drew Barrymore, and Lindsey Lohan all had as child stars.
Never has there been a global phenomenon like Harry Potter, which has taken up most of Emma Watson's 17 years. It has meant tutors on film sets, press minders to safeguard her, a chauffer to whisk her to work - and having to change her mobile number every few months to hsake off nutters who call with annoying jokes about wands.
It has given her what every actress wants, a great female role, near universal praise for charismatic, captivating performances.
It all began one morning in assembley at the Dragon, the top Oxford prep school, when her name was called out. " I thought i was in trouble or had a detention," says Emma "the school had these things called blue slips and i already had a couple for not handing in homework, and for been late." But it was just the teachers announcing who had been chosen to audition for the first Harry Potter film. Already a fan of the boy wizard, Emma was at the time a third way through the third book.
The further she progressed in the audition stages, Emma coverted the part of Hermione more and more. 2Mum and Dad kept trying to make me realise there was a very small chance because thousands of other children had been seen, she recalls. 2 It was not a performing arts school - just a small school in Oxford. But i badly wanted it."
She had a dozen auditions before she was tantalised with the offer, of a "preferred candidate contract" and so her remarkable career was underway.
Unlike most pupils, the more Emma was away from school, the more she liked been there. "I know that sounds strange, but when you are filming you never quite know what your going to be doing each day", she says "you are pulled from place to place and the schedules change. So i really enjoyed the feeling that i was back at school i wanted to take responsibility for my education instead of been pushed along with it".
This was a girl that always knew that knowledge was empowering. When she was very young she liked learning poems - at the age of seven she won a poetry contest for her recital of The Sea by James Reeves.
There was always a element of the performer about her. She would insist on going out to the shops in her favourite fairy outfit or her Sleeping Beauty costume. At 12, she volunteered to sing Natalie Umbruglia's "Torn" at a huge party in a castle in France during the Millenium celebration.
With Harry Potter, fame came bug time. "When the first film was released, someone asked me to sign a book and i remember thinking Hoe weird- why would anyone want my name in the front of a book? " the second and third films were when it really started to go weird. By the fourth it was mad."
Sometimes she finds it all a bit mystifying. " It is odd how normal courtesies don't seme to apply when people recognise someone," she says "maybe it's because they think they only have that moment to meet you. Alot of people call me Hermione and forget that ia m a real person and have another name." The experience was definitely something to boast about for one eight year old prep school boy who recently met her onset - his friends jaws dropped when he told them he had shared a coke with her.
But it can be daunting and exhausting to have everyone wanting a piece of you. It has made her wary " I don't give my number out to people i don't really know, i'm careful with it." And with talk of a stalker in the press earlier this year, the fame game has a creepy side too. "That stalker stuff was exaggerated," she says " to be honest my friends were more freaked out than i was. I'm used to it. My friends were quite shocked by how blas'e i was about it."
However how octane her life, Emma has always remained sane and unspoiled. " Becoming famous happened when i was so young, but i don't find it difficult to have a nice ordinary life. People who try to hide from fame can make it go completely the wrong way. All those huge designer shades make them look like bugs! And walking round with bodyguards draws more attention to you. I think the best way to try to cope with fame is to try and live a normal life as possible. That means generally blending in to every day existence at home, taking the bus round Oxford, popping into the supermarket for her mum and going on normal bucket and spade holidays. " Don't worry my teenage brother Alex keeps me very down to earth," she says "He is 14 going on 24 and such a ladies man - it's impossible to be his sister, he keeps me laughing."
She is also close to her parents who are divorced. She has fond memories of her dad playing records by Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, BB King and Llyod Cole, and the Commotions. She especially recalls the way her mum and dad looked so smart. "Dad loved his Hermes ties!"
Emma may be a serious minded actress but she has a fabulously girly side too. " I love clothes but i'm actually such a bad shopper. It totally stresses me out". she laughs " In Oxford i go to Agnes B, and the little boutique shops, Selfridges and Harvey Nichs in London. Do you know Sefton? It's a chain of shops Diverse that has really cool stuff". One advantage of her film success is is that now she is becoming a "proper" celebrity. Designers are starting to send her clothes, " Whenever i dress up ii want the clothe to be an expression of me" she says " I don't think you should be a clothes horse. Someone telling me what to wear takes the fun out of it"
She is sophisticated beyond her years, which perhaps comes from spending early childhood France. Her dad owns a vineyward in Chablis. " I love Spanish and French food. I like antipasto, massimo in Charsiios. All those hams and salami's sundried tomatoes and french beans - their lovely."
Emma is highly entertaining about the astonishing things that have happened to her. like the day Brad Pitt suddenly appeared in the studio. " i had been waiting to see him, but then i dropped something and remember thinking "oh god, i'm not standing up to shake his hand - i'm on the bloody floor! what am i doing here?" She also met Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Johnny Depp and Pharrell Williams.
Inevitably the conversation turns to boys " I am not really into any particular type. but i do like boys who are into sports, and love it when they speak two or three languages, yeh that really does it for me". She is currently been wooed by Warner to do another Harry Potter movie " I want to do it but haven't signed a contract yet. I definitely intend to do it" she says. " I initially signed on for the first two films, and then we've done it film by film." Clearly she loves what she does. " I would do Harry Potter for nothing, it's not really anything to do with money."
Her description of Hermione sounds remarkably like Emma herself " She's definitely a feminist, and very intelligent. She's naturally brainy but wants to know more everything every piece of knowledge she can possibly find anywhere. She's a little nervous round people and scared to say what she thinks and extremely loyal."
Now she has turned 17. Emma is about to kiss goodbye to been a child. Like her co-star Daniel Radcliffe who has received stunning reviews with his role in Equus as the disturbing young man who strips naked in the west end production.
Her next plan is to study philosophy in Cambridge.
Where does she see herself in 10 years time? There is no rulebook to her career. None of my family has ever experienced it. No one tells you how to handle fame or walk down a red carpet or answer questions about yourself. I just hope i got it right, I have bene cushioned by the whole Warner thing, so what happens nex will be really important. I know i've been very lucky.
Most importantly she has a very wise head. No wild child falling foul of drink, drugs and rock and roll.
"To be honest, I'd be too frightened to take drugs. I have enough in my life without looking for something else, and i hope that'll always be the case."
Emma Watson has the planet under her spell as Harry Potter's sidekick Hermione. But she doesn't go the whole Hogwarts for that Hollywood Lifestyle.
Sitting inside Oxford Prison, Emma Watson is surprisingly at ease about the iron gate, the clanking doors and the tiny cells. For her first magazine cover interview, the venue chosen by Warner Bros is behind bars. Oxford Malmasion hotel, the former jail in the city where she lives. "Cool place for a party," she suggests before turnign down a cup of tea (she never drinks Tea and Coffee).
Modest, clver and self knowing, Britains most famous teenager actress is very sure about what she likes and where she wants to go. When she was 3, her grandmother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she gave three answers, a princess, a fairy and a mattress. "I couldn't quite say actress," she recalls with a faint blush. But someone was clearly listening because her wish was granted..and in spades.
For seven years Emma has played Hermione in the Harry Potter films and it has propelled her into the public eye in a truly international scale. In France she is almost a cult, in Borneo her face is known. A billion Harry Potter readers will probably visualise her as Hermione over the next decade. Her fame is more extreme than that which Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor, Drew Barrymore, and Lindsey Lohan all had as child stars.
Never has there been a global phenomenon like Harry Potter, which has taken up most of Emma Watson's 17 years. It has meant tutors on film sets, press minders to safeguard her, a chauffer to whisk her to work - and having to change her mobile number every few months to hsake off nutters who call with annoying jokes about wands.
It has given her what every actress wants, a great female role, near universal praise for charismatic, captivating performances.
It all began one morning in assembley at the Dragon, the top Oxford prep school, when her name was called out. " I thought i was in trouble or had a detention," says Emma "the school had these things called blue slips and i already had a couple for not handing in homework, and for been late." But it was just the teachers announcing who had been chosen to audition for the first Harry Potter film. Already a fan of the boy wizard, Emma was at the time a third way through the third book.
The further she progressed in the audition stages, Emma coverted the part of Hermione more and more. 2Mum and Dad kept trying to make me realise there was a very small chance because thousands of other children had been seen, she recalls. 2 It was not a performing arts school - just a small school in Oxford. But i badly wanted it."
She had a dozen auditions before she was tantalised with the offer, of a "preferred candidate contract" and so her remarkable career was underway.
Unlike most pupils, the more Emma was away from school, the more she liked been there. "I know that sounds strange, but when you are filming you never quite know what your going to be doing each day", she says "you are pulled from place to place and the schedules change. So i really enjoyed the feeling that i was back at school i wanted to take responsibility for my education instead of been pushed along with it".
This was a girl that always knew that knowledge was empowering. When she was very young she liked learning poems - at the age of seven she won a poetry contest for her recital of The Sea by James Reeves.
There was always a element of the performer about her. She would insist on going out to the shops in her favourite fairy outfit or her Sleeping Beauty costume. At 12, she volunteered to sing Natalie Umbruglia's "Torn" at a huge party in a castle in France during the Millenium celebration.
With Harry Potter, fame came bug time. "When the first film was released, someone asked me to sign a book and i remember thinking Hoe weird- why would anyone want my name in the front of a book? " the second and third films were when it really started to go weird. By the fourth it was mad."
Sometimes she finds it all a bit mystifying. " It is odd how normal courtesies don't seme to apply when people recognise someone," she says "maybe it's because they think they only have that moment to meet you. Alot of people call me Hermione and forget that ia m a real person and have another name." The experience was definitely something to boast about for one eight year old prep school boy who recently met her onset - his friends jaws dropped when he told them he had shared a coke with her.
But it can be daunting and exhausting to have everyone wanting a piece of you. It has made her wary " I don't give my number out to people i don't really know, i'm careful with it." And with talk of a stalker in the press earlier this year, the fame game has a creepy side too. "That stalker stuff was exaggerated," she says " to be honest my friends were more freaked out than i was. I'm used to it. My friends were quite shocked by how blas'e i was about it."
However how octane her life, Emma has always remained sane and unspoiled. " Becoming famous happened when i was so young, but i don't find it difficult to have a nice ordinary life. People who try to hide from fame can make it go completely the wrong way. All those huge designer shades make them look like bugs! And walking round with bodyguards draws more attention to you. I think the best way to try to cope with fame is to try and live a normal life as possible. That means generally blending in to every day existence at home, taking the bus round Oxford, popping into the supermarket for her mum and going on normal bucket and spade holidays. " Don't worry my teenage brother Alex keeps me very down to earth," she says "He is 14 going on 24 and such a ladies man - it's impossible to be his sister, he keeps me laughing."
She is also close to her parents who are divorced. She has fond memories of her dad playing records by Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, BB King and Llyod Cole, and the Commotions. She especially recalls the way her mum and dad looked so smart. "Dad loved his Hermes ties!"
Emma may be a serious minded actress but she has a fabulously girly side too. " I love clothes but i'm actually such a bad shopper. It totally stresses me out". she laughs " In Oxford i go to Agnes B, and the little boutique shops, Selfridges and Harvey Nichs in London. Do you know Sefton? It's a chain of shops Diverse that has really cool stuff". One advantage of her film success is is that now she is becoming a "proper" celebrity. Designers are starting to send her clothes, " Whenever i dress up ii want the clothe to be an expression of me" she says " I don't think you should be a clothes horse. Someone telling me what to wear takes the fun out of it"
She is sophisticated beyond her years, which perhaps comes from spending early childhood France. Her dad owns a vineyward in Chablis. " I love Spanish and French food. I like antipasto, massimo in Charsiios. All those hams and salami's sundried tomatoes and french beans - their lovely."
Emma is highly entertaining about the astonishing things that have happened to her. like the day Brad Pitt suddenly appeared in the studio. " i had been waiting to see him, but then i dropped something and remember thinking "oh god, i'm not standing up to shake his hand - i'm on the bloody floor! what am i doing here?" She also met Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Johnny Depp and Pharrell Williams.
Inevitably the conversation turns to boys " I am not really into any particular type. but i do like boys who are into sports, and love it when they speak two or three languages, yeh that really does it for me". She is currently been wooed by Warner to do another Harry Potter movie " I want to do it but haven't signed a contract yet. I definitely intend to do it" she says. " I initially signed on for the first two films, and then we've done it film by film." Clearly she loves what she does. " I would do Harry Potter for nothing, it's not really anything to do with money."
Her description of Hermione sounds remarkably like Emma herself " She's definitely a feminist, and very intelligent. She's naturally brainy but wants to know more everything every piece of knowledge she can possibly find anywhere. She's a little nervous round people and scared to say what she thinks and extremely loyal."
Now she has turned 17. Emma is about to kiss goodbye to been a child. Like her co-star Daniel Radcliffe who has received stunning reviews with his role in Equus as the disturbing young man who strips naked in the west end production.
Her next plan is to study philosophy in Cambridge.
Where does she see herself in 10 years time? There is no rulebook to her career. None of my family has ever experienced it. No one tells you how to handle fame or walk down a red carpet or answer questions about yourself. I just hope i got it right, I have bene cushioned by the whole Warner thing, so what happens nex will be really important. I know i've been very lucky.
Most importantly she has a very wise head. No wild child falling foul of drink, drugs and rock and roll.
"To be honest, I'd be too frightened to take drugs. I have enough in my life without looking for something else, and i hope that'll always be the case."