Emma Watson has opened up about the one thing she ‘doesn’t miss’ about acting since taking a break from the big screen.
She was only 10 years old when she got famous
Watson, 35, was only a 10-year-old when she landed her role as the iconic Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie series.
She then went on to appear in movies like The Perks of Being a Wallflower as well as the musical Beauty and the Beast.
It’s been six years since her last role
The actress has been taking a step back from the big screen, with her last movie appearance being her role as Meg in the 2019 movie Little Women.
Despite putting big roles on hold, the actress is still present within the industry as she was at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
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She spoke about how she’s been spending her time
In an interview published on Sunday, September 21, Watson told Hollywood Authentic how she’s been spending her time away from the silver screen.
In the conversation, she mentioned that she’s currently working on ‘something that [she’s] never done before’, describing herself as ‘maybe the happiest and healthiest [she’s] ever been’.
Watson opened up about acting
Watson opened up about the things she doesn’t miss in acting, noting that the job came with ‘having the weight of a public persona, that sort of needs constant feeding and sprucing and glamorizing’.
It takes a lot of energy from her
Watson explained, “It’s very energy-intensive stuff. And shedding the multiple identities has freed up so much space, I think, for me to be a better sister, daughter, friend, granddaughter, and then artist. And someone who’s trying to do some critical thinking of her own.”
She also doesn’t miss ‘selling’ her work
The actor further shared that she doesn’t miss ‘selling’ her craft, adding, “In some ways I really won the lottery [with acting], and what happened to me is so unusual.”
“But a bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art.”
Watson wanted to be authentic
“The balance of that can get quite thrown off,” she added. “I think I’ll be honest and straight-forward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying.”
But it wasn’t all bad for Watson, she also shared the parts of the job that she enjoyed doing.
There are other parts she misses
Watson said, “I do very much miss using my skill-set, and I very much miss the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed.”
“The moment you get on a film set, you don’t get very long for rehearsal.”
She misses the feeling of immersion in a scene
“But the moment you get to talk through a scene – or I got to prepare and think about how I wanted to do something – and then the minute the camera rolls, and getting to just completely forget about everything else in the world other than that one moment – it’s such an intense form of meditation,” Watson said.
“Because you just cannot be anywhere else. It’s so freeing. I miss that profoundly.”
It’s the pressure she wanted to get away from
The actress wanted to get rid of the pressure, adding, “But I don’t miss the pressure. I forgot it was a lot of pressure. I did a small thing for a play, just with my friends.”
“I was like, ‘Bloody hell, this is stressful!’ And that wasn’t even for a real public audience or anything. I don’t miss that.”
