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Emma Watson Could Have Starred In ‘La La Land’ And ‘Cinderella’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:25 PST, Jan 20, 2017

Emma Watson has finally explained why she turned down Cinderella to star in Beauty and the Beast, according to Slash Film. The 26-year-old Harry Potter actress explains why she passed on the role of Cinderella in 2015’s Kenneth Branagh’s live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic.

Even though Emma Watson will soon be seen playing Belle in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, the actress could have played another major Disney character. In 2013, the actress was in talks to be cast as in the role of Cinderella, which eventually went to Lily James after the Harry Potter star turned down the role.

In her recent interview with Total Film Magazine, Emma Watson finally broke her silence on why she decided to pass on the role of Cinderella almost four years ago. Watson says she didn’t know Disney was planning to make the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast at the time she passed on the role of Cinderella in 2013.

But when she was offered the opportunity to play Belle in the upcoming Disney live-action film, Emma Watson knew right away that was her character. The Harry Potter actress explained that Belle resonated with her “much more” than Cinderella did.

“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.”

To avoid confusion, it must be noted that Cinderella is also considered a role model as she inspires goodness and kindness. But Emma Watson chose Belle over Cinderella simply because she felt a deeper personal connection to the character.

Emma Watson also admits that she wasn’t always fit to play the role of Belle. What the 26-year-old actress particularly liked about her Beauty and the Beast character was that she has an “outsider quality” and a “really empowering defiance of what was expected of her.”

Emma Watson found it very “inspiring” that Belle challenges the status quo of the place she lives in and does a great job at keeping her integrity while defending her “completely independent point of view.”

“She’s not easily swayed by other people’s perspective — not swayed by fear-mongering or scapegoating.”

When Emma Watson, who for years has been a vocal supporter of feminism, was cast as Belle in the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, part of the deal with Disney was to make her character more of an independent woman. And really, Watson’s Belle in 2017 has grown into a more active and stronger female character than she was in the 1991’s animated film.

But turning down Cinderella wasn’t the only major role Emma Watson hasn’t been cast in recently, according to the Huffington Post. Watson and Miles Teller (Whiplash, Divergent) were really close to playing the main characters in La La Land. Yes, the very film that has won seven Golden Globes earlier this month.

Emma Watson and Teller surely cannot look at the success of La La Land without holding back the tears, especially now that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have picked up top Golden Globes honors for playing the main characters in the Damien Chazelle-directed film.

In his 2015 interview with Esquire, Teller revealed he could have been cast in the movie musical but Chazelle, who directed Teller in 2014’s hit film Whiplash, eventually thought the 29-year-old actor wasn’t “creatively right for the project.”

Speaking to Uproxx in September 2016, Chazelle himself revealed that the Emma Watson/Miles Teller duo almost made it to the big screen. But in the end they went with the Emma Stone/Ryan Gosling combination instead.

Now fans can only wonder whether the film would have been just as successful with Emma Watson in the lead role.

[Featured Image by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images]

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