Authors: David Nolan

Emma Watson (13 page)

BOOK: Emma Watson

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‘This is a beautifully staged production, hair and costumes perfect for the time period, as well as automobiles and household furnishings,’ said the
Monsters and Critics
website. ‘One of the treats among treats is hearing and watching Emma Watson as Pauline deliver a speech made by Puck in Shakespeare’s
Midsummer Night’s Dream
. She is perfection!’

The
Guardian
also approved – in a very
Guardian
sort of way: ‘A proto-feminist, cockle-warming costume drama. Now there’s a combination you don’t see very often.’

For Emma,
Ballet Shoes
proved there was more to her than Hermione, Hogwarts and Harry Potter. She could exist outside the franchise bubble – she could act. ‘I always had concerns that I was Hermione because I
looked
like a Hermione,’ she told the
Daily Mail
in 2009. ‘But what else did I bring? So this was the test. And it worked.
Ballet Shoes
was a small production, but it gave me the confidence to think I could actually have a career as an actress after the Harry Potter films. That I wouldn’t just always be Hermione.’

Ballet Shoes
came at a time of great change for Emma. She was looking to move away from Oxford to ease the commute to the Leavesden Studios and began looking at
apartments close to where her dad Chris lived in north London. Brother Alex would also move to the area, leaving Oxford to live with Chris. She ended up with a rented apartment in Islington but the freedom would come at a cost.

‘Since moving to London, I’m starting to feel the tension when I walk out of my door,’ she told
Sky Movies
magazine. ‘Harry Potter has such a high level of interest, anything – even if it’s nothing – is news.’

Independence was beckoning. ‘I’m learning to drive at the moment and I just can’t wait for the feeling where you can just get in a car and go anywhere you want,’ she told IGN. ‘Just the freedom of that. I can’t wait to go to uni or go and travel and just live on my own, have that first experience: cooking disasters, I’m sure, and not being able to do my own washing and everything. Yeah, I can’t wait.’

Just how independent she could truly be was brought home to her shortly afterwards. Chris wanted to talk to his daughter. With her 18th birthday just months away, he had something to tell her. He sat her down and explained – in the calm measured manner you’d expect from someone with his legal background – just how seriously rich she really was. She claims she’d never really thought about how much money she had earned since getting the part of Hermione Granger. Now it was time to find out. It’s believed the figure Chris Watson gave to Emma was in excess of £10 million. ‘I want you to be able to understand that your money isn’t some kind of abstract concept. I want you to have a feel for what it’s worth and what you can do with it,’ he told her.