Which Harry Potter Movie Was the Hardest for Emma Watson to Watch?
One of the most endearing things about watching the Harry Potter movies back to back is seeing Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) change from film to film. They start out as pre-adolescents, but by the time movie #8 rolls around they're all grown up.
While most actors have years to develop their craft – attending theatre school, doing small parts, auditioning and making mistakes and adding to their skills – child actors are in the uncomfortable position of learning on the job.
Their development is often cataloged for all the world to see, in awkward line deliveries or overblown emotion.
You might think that the Harry Potter stars would find their earliest work the most embarrassing, given how young and inexperienced they were.
Emma Watson was only 11 when Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released, but she actually says the earlier films are easier to watch because she no longer identifies with the girl on screen. Watson once told Contact Music:
"Really, I find it easier to watch the earlier films, which might surprise you, because I had the whole bushy hair, chipmunk face, big cheek thing going on, which wasn't a great look for me. Actually, I find that easier to watch because I can completely disconnect myself. It felt like such a long time ago. I really don't identify myself with that girl."
On the other hand, Watson finds the later movies much more difficult to get through.
In particular, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Parts 1 and 2) no longer have the benefit of showing a different, younger version of Watson – which makes watching herself on screen a much more uncomfortable prospect.
Funnily enough, Daniel Radcliffe also has a hard time watching his acting in those later films, though for a different reason. Radcliffe once told The Daily Mail that he thinks he got "complacent" while filming Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, which he thinks is his worst work.
Since graduating from the Harry Potterverse Emma Watson has continued to work in Hollywood, in an intriguingly diverse range of roles. She made her mark as Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie, opposite Tom Hanks in The Circle, and in Greta Gerwig's critically acclaimed adaptation of Little Women.
In 2022 she directed her first short film, Prada Paradoxe.