The actress who was about to play Hermione in 'Harry Potter'
A few days after the premiere of the special "Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts", by HBO Max, information about the participants is already beginning to circulate. Like, for example, that Emma Watson was about to give up Hermione, her emblematic role.
Although Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, an HBO special that celebrates the two decades of life of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, has not yet been released, there is information that has begun to transcend. For example, that Emma Watson, actress who gave life to Hermione Granger, was about to give up the saga of J.K. Rowling before filming the fifth film: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So what would have happened if she backed out? Very simply, the producers would have gone back to the first option they had for this character.
In an interview for The Huffington Post, Janet Hirshenson, casting director of the first film, admitted that there was a strong candidate to play Hermione: Hatty Jones, who had more experience than Watson on the sets, after having starred in the feature film. Madeline, in 1998.
"There was another little girl that we tried out. She had just done, I think, Madeline. She did a great movie and it was very Hermione-esque, so I think Emma saw her, at the auditions, and said, 'Oh, well, no. I have no chance. There she is,'" he said. And against all certainty, the role was left to the then unknown.
"The character had to be annoying, sometimes, but not too annoying. So we said with the first option, after a while she was going to be annoying. But with Emma, after a while, you'll love her even more." One of the producers said, 'can I hire her until she's 21?' We all said, 'My God. A star is born,'" Hirshenson added.
Now, what was the reason for Emma to decide to leave the Potter franchise? In her own words, fear. "Yeah, I think I was scared. I don't know if you ever felt like you hit a tipping point where you were like, 'This is forever, now.' Fame had finally come home in a big way." assured in the special.
