Emma Watson has revealed what the most “nerve-wracking” scene in the forthcoming remake of Beauty And The Beast was for her.
The 26-year-old plays the character of Belle in the live-action remake alongside Dan Stevens, who plays the Beast.
Watson told E! News she felt a lot of nerves when filming the scene where she and Stevens waltz together. “It was kind of nerve-wracking. That yellow dress is beloved in the imagination of girls all over the world you want it to be perfect.”
She added the film’s romantic scene was probably going to be the peak of her own love life too. “I was like, ‘I am probably never in my life gonna have a more romantic moment than this! I’m peaking at 26! My most romantic moment! It’s never gonna get better than this!'”
Watson, who famously played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, described the forthcoming Beauty And The Beast as “pure joy” and “unapologetically romantic”. “Sometimes we need that,” she said. “And I think particularly now we need that. You come out fuller than when you went in.”
In the new version of the classic film, Watson’s Belle has been given a fuller backstory – one that made her an inventor who creates the washing machine.
“That’s the wonderful thing about Belle,” Watson said. “I feel like even in the original she was very progressive – she was kind of a departure from a lot of the other Disney princess characters – and so I think it was really just where, in the moments I can fill in a bit more of her back story, I can pad her out a little bit more. It was really fun to be able to do that.”
Recently, Watson denied that her character Belle has Stockholm Syndrome, despite the plot seeing her fall in love with the man – or beast – who imprisoned her.
Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological condition that causes victims to develop feelings for their kidnappers, and could easily be applied to Belle, who’s held captive by he Beast in his castle.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Emma Watson says she doesn’t think that’s the case.
“It’s such a good question and it’s something I really grappled with at the beginning,” she said. “That’s where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [the Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought.
“She gives as good as she gets,” added Watson. “They form a friendship first and that gap in the middle where there is this genuine sharing, the love builds out of that, which in many ways I actually think is more meaningful than a lot of love stories, where it was love at first sight.”
Beauty And The Beast also stars Sir Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson and Ewan McGregor. It is released on March 17.