I stumbled across this Vanity Fair article on
Emma Watson (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/emma-watson-cover-story),
which talks a lot about her career and how a lot of things that she has been
doing falls perfectly in line with her persona.
Even though she makes all the right moves in
terms of PR and choosing the right movie roles, it doesn’t feel like her
celebrity personality is inauthentic or calculated. The Vanity Fair article
even talks about how she is more like a real person than a movie star. It
features a quote by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda that really
caught my attention: “She played this very smart, conscious, noble wizard—and
then somehow we had the good fortune that she became a smart, conscious, noble
woman.”
Lead actors of teen franchises like Harry
Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, etc., usually have to go out of their way and get
roles completely different from what they’re known for in order to obtain a
mature persona that will be taken seriously in the industry. However, I find it
interesting how Emma Watson was able to be successful by doing the opposite of
that. Like Lin-Manuel Miranda pointed out, Watson started out playing a smart,
conscious, brave, independent and noble girl and still has those qualities as a
part of her persona.
We often talk about how movie stars bring what
we already know about them – whether it is about a previous role or about their
personal life – to their roles and I think Emma Watson is a perfect example of this.
I watched Beauty and the Beast last weekend and I was able to notice how Emma
added to Belle’s character with her smart and empowering persona. Because I was
aware that it was Emma Watson playing Belle, I already expected the character
to have an emphasis on being smart, independent, brave, noble and empowering.
It felt like she was bringing something new to the character, and at the same
time that she added to the movie, that role also advanced her career.
This was her first major role after Harry
Potter and she has done a great job at securing her stardom while growing up
and venturing into other roles, but now that she has achieved a lead role in a
Disney blockbuster, I want to see her try something different. Maybe she still
needs to operate within her current persona for a little longer before she does
so, but I think it will be very interesting to see her going completely out of
her comfort zone for a role. I think that could even be the moment in which she
gets to be on the spotlight during awards season…
No comments:
Post a Comment