Emma Watson has been an integral part of our cinematic landscape since 2001. As one of the main leads of the Harry Potter franchise, which to this day is one of the biggest film series of all time, Emma enchanted viewers worldwide with her acting talent. Even apart from the Harry Potter films, Emma has been an iconic presence in several other movies as well, like the live-action adaptation of Beauty and The Beast or the 2019 film, Little Women.
Though, since that Greta Gerwig directorial, the British actress has been suspiciously absent from the limelight. In a recent interview, Emma opened up about her reasons for this prolonged absence.
Why has Emma Watson been on an acting hiatus?
Emma Watson’s prolonged absence from the acting world has been a point of concern for many of her fans all over the world. The actress has an impeccable track record and has been part of some of the most iconic movies of the 21st century, which has led her to amass a massive worldwide following.
Though the actress reassured her fans that she hasn’t retired from acting or anything like that, it’s just that she is interested in exploring some other avenues in the field of cinema. Namely, writing and directing.
“I don’t see myself as having stepped away from acting,” the Bling Ring actor told British Vogue in an interview published on January 25, 2024. “I just see myself as wanting to expand what I do and being able to be in things that I have written or directed or produced,” she added.
The Harry Potter actress has even started exploring these different avenues in her free time, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The actress ended up making her directorial debut in 2022 with a short film for the Prada Paradoxe fragrance.
Emma Watson’s growing affinity for a role behind the camera
With the rise of streaming and a growing number of actors taking up directing, this seems to be the perfect timing for Emma Watson to make her debut as a director.
One of the things that has motivated the Beauty and The Beast actress to take up a more vested interest in her projects is because of her lack of involvement in the previous projects that she was involved in. The fact that she didn’t have any say in the making of what she was promoting bothered her a bit, leading her to seek a bit more agency in her roles.
To explore this new avenue, the British actress has also been taking up classes in order to become better at this new art form for her. Though, her first feature-length directorial may be a bit far away. The Little Women actress knows that producing a project from scratch can be a daunting task and may take years’ worth of her time. That’s why she is making sure that she is completely ready before taking the plunge into this new chapter of her professional life.
