IT is impossible to imagine anyone else playing the character of brave and brainy Hermione Granger apart from Emma Watson.
Her brilliant performance as Hogwarts’ darling witch, and one-third of the iconic Golden Trio, not only gave life to the Harry Potter franchise but also made Watson a household name.
However, this reality almost did not happen. In the recent HBO Max special Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts, the British actress revealed that she considered dropping out during the fifth instalment of the series.
“I think I was scared. I don’t know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, ‘This is kind of forever now,’” she admitted.
Watson later added: “The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way.”
But regardless of the loneliness and pressure, Watson found the courage to finish her character’s story.
Unfortunately, this sense of loneliness also caused other castmates to consider quitting the franchise.
Rupert Grint, who played her friend and future love interest Ronald Weasley, also shared similar emotions while filming the series.
He said: “I guess we were just kind of going through it at our own pace. We were kind of in the moment at the time. It just didn’t really occur to us that we were all having similar feelings.”
Though this was happening, the fellow actors did not speak with each other on the matter.
“We never talked about it on the film because we were all just kids,” said Daniel Radcliffe, who played the titular Harry Potter.
“As a 14-year-old boy, I was never going to turn around to another 14-year-old and be like, ‘Hey, how are you doing? Is everything okay?”
Fortunately, the trio pulled through and completed shooting the series. And thanks to their commitment, the series eventually became the third highest-grossing franchise worldwide.
