A new chapter

HARRY POTTER star Emma Watson has a whole host of attributes.

She is, for many, the most natural on-screen performer among the young Potter cast; she is a model, a fashion creative and regularly tops the best-dressed women polls. She’s also pretty good at ping-pong — “She thrashes Rupert Grint and me all the time,” laughs Daniel Radcliffe — and, it transpires, a fairly speedy sprinter.

The latest instalment in the Potter franchise — The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (the second part was shot with the first but will be released as a separate film next year) — sees the three main cast-members, Watson, Radcliffe and Grint, out in the real world, and they’re on the run.

“We shot a cool scene running through this forest,” begins Watson when I join her on set of the movie. “We are going full out downhill, through this forest, dodging trees with six guys behind us, just going crazy. Dan was nuts, it got quite competitive. We were hopping over trees and going underneath.

“There was no acting required; it was genuine adrenaline, like ‘Oh my God, oh my God, I’m gonna die’. So yeah, I really enjoyed that. I used to do quite a lot of athletics at school, so I enjoyed giving Dan and Rupert a run for their money. They had been sat around in their trailers for months.”

The 20-year-old Watson, who plays Hogwarts brainbox Hermione, scored A-grade A-levels and is now studying at Brown University in Rhode Island, USA. She shot the two Deathly Hallows movies back-to-back during her gap year.

“This is the last chapter in the series,” she tells me during a break in filming on set. “And in many ways it does feel really important; there are no more second chances. I certainly feel more pressure. Pressure that I’m putting on myself, just because I really want it to be good.”

With director David Yates overseeing the movie (he shot the last two films), the chances are The Deathly Hallows will deliver what the fans want. It certainly feels very different from its predecessors, according to Watson. “We have left Hogwarts; we are not really in the castle anymore,” she explains. “We’re not in school uniform anymore, which makes a huge difference, too, and Hermione, Harry and Ron are essentially refugees.”

In this chapter of the story, Hermione gets amorous with Rupert Grint’s Ron and with Radcliffe’s eponymous boy wizard, Harry. After spending half her lifetime with these two lads, filming the scenes was uncomfortable.

“I basically grew up with them both, so yeah it’s very, very weird,” Watson concedes. “I’ve only done the scene with Ron so far. It’s horrible kissing someone you don’t really have feelings for in that way. It was just horribly awkward. The nicest thing about it was, before we did it, we just turned to each other and were like, ‘God this is going to be awful isn’t it?’ We both sort of agreed and were just laughing at each other.”

All three main cast members are close friends and all hope to stay in touch now that filming is complete and they’re set to move on with their lives. “I will have been here for over a decade and I am ready to do new things and work on new projects,” Watson says. “It’s been like my home, it’s been my school, it’s been my family, it’s been everything. Obviously I am be very sad to leave so many people that I care about behind, but excited to do other things as well.

“I actually have a funny feeling the three of us will become closer when all of this is over, because we have shared this experience. Strangely, I think we will spend more time together than we have done filming.”

For the moment, however, that will have to wait. Watson is in her first year at Brown and already has a number of post-Potter gigs, not least her modelling contract with Burberry.

“It’s been nice to step out of Hermione and that’s why I have enjoyed the modelling,” Watson says. “It is just been nice to show the world that I can be people other than Hermione. It’s nice doing something different, to have a bit of variety, and I found modelling really interesting, especially when you work with great photographers who want to make stories, or want you to be a certain character within a shoot.”

Talented and extremely bright, Watson has managed her celebrity well, too. “Every now and again I have moments when I just wish things were slightly simpler,” she says. “I don’t really want to focus on that too much, though, because I have had such an amazing experience here. It does not really seem right to complain too much.”

All the young cast members are saddled with fame, and need the obligatory bodyguards when attending high-profile events. “When we were younger, Dan, Rupert and I used to try to hide from the people trying to keep an eye on us. Now, it’s like, ‘Really, I’m fine.’ On the street, occasionally people stop me, but I’d rather deal with that than not go out at all and not have any kind of life. That’d be really tragic.”

And what does she plan on doing when she finishes her degree? Follow co-star Radcliffe on to the stage, perhaps?

“Yeah I’d love to try theatre one day. I really would. I’d love to go through the experience of training for it and the rehearsal period. I love the idea of having an audience that’s right there in front of you that’s live.” And when she does, she’ll no doubt prove a major talent. After all, whether it’s acting or sprinting, Emma Watson really does have a whole host of attributes.

* Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is released on November 19.