Since wrapping Greta Gerwig’s Little Women in December 2018, Watson has not appeared in any new productions. Speaking to Hollywood Authentic, she admitted:
“Most of the work isn’t the filming itself—it’s the promotion and selling of this piece of art. That balance can become really skewed. To be honest, I don’t miss selling things. That was destroying me mentally. But I do miss using my craft, and I do miss the art. I just realized I was doing far too little of the parts I actually loved.”
Watson first found herself in the spotlight in 2000, when she was cast in the Harry Potter film series. In 2014, she starred alongside Russell Crowe in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Three years later, she played Belle in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017), before taking on the role of Meg March in Little Women (2019).
While many of her projects were successful, some were less well received—for example, her 2016 drama The Colony, which notoriously grossed only £47 at the UK box office.
Reflecting on her experience on set, Watson said:
“On a film set, you don’t get much rehearsal time. But when I could prepare, think about how I wanted to approach something, and then the moment the camera rolled—you had to forget everything else in the world. It’s such an intense form of meditation. You can’t be anywhere else. It’s incredibly freeing. I miss that deeply. But I don’t miss the pressure.”
Watson, who graduated from Brown University in 2014, is currently continuing her studies at Oxford. Alongside her academic pursuits, she remains deeply involved in issues of environmental justice and climate change, and has also spoken publicly in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
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