Emma Watson As Belle In Beauty And The Beast

Is pirouetting into cinemas this Friday, and ahead of the release we sat down with Emma Watson and fellow cast and crew members to discuss Disney's latest live action remake.

Watson has spoken a lot about her love of strong-willed and independent Belle, and it turns out this iteration of the character is linked to the role she's best known for - Hermione Granger in the

It's interesting, actually, the last day that we finished on set was the anniversary of the day I was cast as Hermione, she said.

Beauty And The Beast Star Emma Watson Says Belle Is

Someone had sent me an email to say that. I felt this strange sense of completion or full circle. I did feel they were spiritually linked in some way, for sure.

It's true that like Hermione, Belle is educated and bookish - in this iteration of the story she's not just an assistant to her inventor father but even invents things herself, including a donkey-powered washing machine in order to allow herself more time to read.

But of course, the fact that she's so interested in literacy and she loves books and the fact that she's so independent-minded – all of these things made me feel close to her and made me feel I could find a way into her and understand her, for sure.

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Talking of her own love of books, Emma went on: I think it helped at times when I felt very confused by the world around me, and at times overwhelmed by the world around me.

It's helped me make sense of things. At other times, books have served as an escape. At other times, books have served almost as a friend.

For me, they're utterly sacred. I think when I was younger, I probably took them for granted a lot more than I do now.

Emma Watson Shared How

There's something about being forced to read something when you're at school that takes all the fun out of it. But when you don't have to anymore, then that's all you want— well, that's what I've found, anyway. That's all I want to do.

The Beast in our movie is highly educated, he said. In the animated film, he's illiterate. That really informed every scene with Dan, because he could really go toe to toe with her.

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Disney confirms Beauty and the Beast spin-off news Beauty and the Beast star joins Pinocchio movie Beauty and the Beast spin-off title revealed Beauty and the Beast is getting a prequel seriesIn this version, Belle is not only a bookworm but also an inventor -- she uses her inventions for everyday chores such as laundry, which in turn provides her with time to catch up on her reading. Her backstory with Maurice will also be expanded upon, as this version of the story confirms the death of her mother.

Listen To Emma Watson Sing “belle” In New 'beauty And The Beast' Trailer

As a result of his wife's passing, Maurice is somewhat overprotective of Belle and has reservations over her dream of experiencing adventures.

Belle and Maurice are given significant backstory explaining why they moved to the village in the first place (Every morning just the same/Since the morning that we came/To this poor provincial town) and why Belle has a missing Mom. They lived in Paris until a plague killed the mother. Maurice became desperate to protect Belle and thus they moved to the small, safe village. This also provides an alternate reason for Maurice setting out in the first place; his music boxes are sold at an out-of-town market once a year.

Belle is an intelligent, cultured woman creative enough to invent the impromptu washing machine... and this is why almost no one in the village likes her even though she's nice to everyone. (The exceptions are Père Robert, Monsieur Jean and Agatha/The Enchantress).

Emma Watson Cast As Belle In Disney's Beauty And The Beast

While Gaston is obsessed with marrying her, it's only because she is the most beautiful woman in the village; he sees her as just another prize to claim now that his Glory Days of War are over and has no respect for her as a person.

Belle truly defines herself. She is a very intelligent young woman, due to her love of books, providing her a wide vocabulary, activate imagination and open mind... she’s an endless dreamer in simple words. Belle is very confident and doesn't often listen to the others, she’s not afraid of speaking her own thoughts. She’s a very independent woman and doesn’t like to be controlled by any man. Loves to take care of people in need and frequently dreams about a life of adventure and romance. Belle is able to look past how people appear and into their hearts.

In the film, Belle dreams of adventure, she has also stated that she also wishes for a friend who accepts her for who she really is and not for her appearance. This is because everyone in town criticizes her for doing her own thing and they do not understand why which makes her feel like she does not fit in. However, despite this, even when people gave her a hard time she never changed, but came to a better understanding of herself. This made the biggest difference when she broke the spell and charmed the Beast just by being herself.

Emma Watson Sings 'belle' In New Beauty And The Beast Clip

Belle gives a fruit to a donkey. Monsieur Jean asks Belle where she is off to. Belle replies, To return this book to Père Robert... It's about two lovers in fair Verona.Emma Watson says she has made her Belle ‘the kind of woman I would want to embody as a role model’. Photograph: Laurie Sparham/PR Company Handout

She’s about to star as the heroine of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but post-Potter she has received more plaudits for her activism than her acting

I t may seem strange that one of the most anticipated films of 2017 should be a live-action remake of a Disney cartoon about Stockholm syndrome, but Beauty and the Beast has already built up the kind of fan base that is normally reserved for rebooted sci-fi franchises and adaptations of erotic bestsellers. When the first trailer went online in November, it was viewed a record 127m times in 24 hours, beating the previous leaders in that particular field, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Fifty Shades Darker. Stranger still, 27m of those views were on the Facebook page of the film’s star, Emma Watson.

Emma Watson Performs “belle” In 'beauty And The Beast': Watch The Clip

That figure might suggest that the 26-year-old who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series is now a bona fide superstar. But Watson’s celebrity status is slightly more complicated. As a Hollywood player, she isn’t going to give Jennifer Lawrence or Scarlett Johansson sleepless nights, but as an actor-activist she has the kind of influence that would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

For proof that Watson isn’t yet an A-lister, you just have to glance at her filmography since she hung up her Gryffindor robes. Broadly speaking, she has taken supporting roles in ensemble projects, such as Simon Curtis’s My Week with Marilyn and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, and above-the-title roles in films that vanished without trace. Alejandro Amenábar’s repressed-memory chiller Regression didn’t recoup its $20m budget, and Colonia (AKA The Colony) pulled in a grand total of £47 in its opening weekend in the UK. Meanwhile, she turned down the title role in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, and accepted then dropped out of La La Land, thus handing Emma Stone the part that may well win her a best actress Oscar. In the years between Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast, in other words, Watson was better known for films she wasn’t in than for films she was.

‘She is clearly not an activist of the old school’ ... Emma Watson at the Noah film premiere in New York. Photograph: Startraks Photo/Rex Shutterstock

Emma Watson Sings In Iconic Scene From Beauty And The Beast

In contrast, Kristen Stewart followed her stint in the Twilight series by embracing arthouse cinema and being embraced right back: she was the first American female actor to win a César award for her performance in Clouds of Sils Maria. And Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, has grabbed every possible acting opportunity, from big-budget capers (Now You See Me 2) to indie curios (Swiss Army Man), from television (A Young Doctor’s Casebook) to theatre (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead). Compared to them, Watson is barely trying.

But there is more on her mind than acting. Having stepped away from the business to study for an English degree at Brown University in Rhode Island, she now spends as much time on feminism as she does on films. In 2014, she became a UN Women goodwill ambassador; in 2015, she was named on the Time 100 list of world’s most influential