During the late 90s and early 2000s, Emma Waston gave life to Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film franchise. This was not only her breakout role but also the role that gained her international stardom. After the last Harry Potter movie came out, Emma shocked fans by revealing she was going to attend college. Luckily for her fans, she didn’t quit acting altogether.
Since then, Emma has starred in more than 20 movies, including The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012) and The Bling Ring (2013). She’s also appeared in major blockbusters, like the 2017 live-action remake of The Beauty and The Beast and Greta Gerwig’s remake of Little Women in 2019.
Fans can’t help but notice that Emma hasn’t appeared in any new movies since this successful 2019 film. Well, in a recent interview, the actress revealed why she decided to take a break from Hollywood. And honestly, her reasoning makes sense.
Another Popular Actress Could Have Taken Emma Watson’s Role in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women
In 2019, Emma Watson portrayed Meg March in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women. The movie also starred Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep. While it’s clear that Emma did an incredible job as Meg, another popular actress could have played this role.
Turns out that, initially, Greta Gerwig wanted to cast Emma Stone for the role of Meg. But, ultimately, the actress had to pass down this role because of scheduling conflicts. Stone was set to star in Zombieland: Double Tap and wouldn’t have the time to work on both projects. That’s why Emma Watson was cast in this role instead.
While this move turn out to be quite beneficial for Emma Watson, it wasn’t the best decision for Emma Stone. Little Women went on to make millions at the box office, Zombieland: Double Tap was a complete box office flop.
Emma Watson Admitted She Was Happy to Be Starring in Little Women
Little Women made more than $210 million at the box office across the world. Moreover, this movie received plenty of critical praise and was nominated for multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design, Best Motion Picture of the Year, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Florence Pugh.
On more than one occasion, Emma Watson revealed that she loved being a part of this project. In 2020, Watson told Vogue that she loved the premised of the novel and, of course, of the film adaptation because it served as a reminder that there are many different ways to be a woman. “I have this theory,” she admitted, “Louisa [May Alcott] had a lot of sisters in real life, but I think also she kind of put a little piece of herself into all of the March sisters. I think it was a really good literary device to explain that there’s not one way to be a feminist – which we still seem to be struggling with.”
She also revealed that she felt a connection with her character in the film. “With Meg’s character, her way of being a feminist is making the choice – because that’s really, for me anyway, what feminism is about. Her choice is that she wants to be a full-time mother and wife. To Jo, being married is really some sort of prison sentence. But Meg says: ‘You know, I love him and I’m really happy and this is what I want. And just because my dreams are different from yours, it doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.’”
Despite the Success of Little Women, Emma Watson Hasn’t Appeared in Any New Movies
Since the premiere of Little Women in 2019, Emma Watson seems to have taken a step back from acting. According to IMDb, the only other project the actress has appeared in since then is the beauty campaign for Prada Paradox fragrance.
In 2022, Watson directed, wrote, and starred in a short film to promote Prada Beauty’s new fragrance. But, other than that, the actress hasn’t taken on any new projects. This has led fans to believe that the Harry Potter star has taken a break from Hollywood. As it turns out, they were right!
Other Stars Who Took Long Breaks From Hollywood
Part of her retreat from the spotlight had to do with her role in Little Women. Watson told the Financial Times that she didn’t feel comfortable during the press tour for the movie.
“I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest,” Watson revealed. “I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.”
“I was held accountable in a way that I began to find really frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say. And I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better.’”
Despite this, the actress has revealed she’d like to comeback to Hollywood eventually. In fact, there are rumors that she’s got a couple of projects scheduled for next year. So her long-awaited come back to the big screen might be earlier than anticipated.