Did you know Emma Watson, best known for playing Hermoine in the Harry Potter films, was offered the title role in Disney’s live-action Cinderella before she said yes to Belle? In an interview with the magazine Total Film Watson said, “I didn’t know they were going to make Beauty and the Beast at the time I turned down Cinderella. But when they offered me Belle, I just felt the character resonated with me so much more than Cinderella did.”
She goes on to say why the character of Belle resonates with her, “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. There’s this kind of outsider quality that Belle had, and the fact she had this really empowering defiance of what was expected of her. In a strange way, she challenges the status quo of the place she lives in, and I found that really inspiring. She manages to keep her integrity and have a completely independent point of view. She’s not easily swayed by other people’s perspective—not swayed by fear-mongering or scapegoating.”
Of course Downton Abbey’s Lilly James played the role of Cinderella.
Watson can be seen as Beauty and the Beast comes to theaters in