Emma Watson has revealed she turned down the role of Cinderella in Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 live-action remake of the classic Disney animation.
Now Watson is starring in a different live-action Disney remake, Beauty and the Beast, opposite Dan Stevens. Speaking to Total Film, the actress explained why she was excited to play this Disney Princess and not Cinderella.
Emma Watson as Belle in Beauty and the Beast
“I didn’t know they were going to make Beauty And The Beast at the time I turned down Cinderella,” she told the magazine. “But when they offered me Belle, I just felt the character resonated with me so much more than Cinderella did.”
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Describing why Belle resonates with her so much more, Watson continued: “She remains curious, compassionate and open-minded. And that’s the kind of woman I would want to embody as a role model, given the choice.
“There’s this kind of outsider quality that Belle had, and the fact she had this really empowering defiance of what was expected of her. In a strange way, she challenges the status quo of the place she lives in, and I found that really inspiring.
“And also, she manages to keep her integrity and have a completely independent point of view,” Watson continued. “She’s not easily swayed by other people’s perspective; not swayed by fear mongering or scapegoating.”
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Watson is said to have a lot of input when it came to making Belle’s character more well-rounded. One of her ideas is said to have been making Belle an inventor like her father rather than just a ‘bookworm’.
Watch Emma Watson in the trailer for Beauty and the Beast below:
