Shots delicately fired: Emma Watson had the chance to star in the live-action adaptation of Cinderella, but the Harry Potter star said she’s glad she passed on the role. “I didn’t know they were going to make Beauty and the Beast at the time I turned down Cinderella,” she told Total Film. “But when they offered me Belle, I just felt the character resonated with me so much more than Cinderella did.” Belle is the better role model, Watson explained, and she worked with director Bill Condon to build Belle into a more dynamic character: “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,” Watson said. “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.” So good luck to Cinderella and her little glass slipper or whatever.
