Emma Watson has admitted she felt daunted by the extreme subject matter in her new film, political thriller Colonia Dignidad, but she couldn’t say no to such a strong female role.
The 24-year-old Harry Potter actress stars opposite Rush’s Daniel Bruhl in the new movie, based on true events that took place during the Chilean military coup of 1973. Emma’s character Lena follows her lover, played by Daniel, to a cult called Colonia Dignidad, where General Augusto Pinochet’s secret police sent prisoners to be tortured.
Emma told Total Film magazine: “It really challenged me. It really pushed me to the brink, this role.
“I got sent the script and my agent sent me the Wikipedia page on Colonia Dignidad.
“I immediately went, ‘Oh my God, I’m not sure!’ it was really, really, really heavy and really awful subject matter, but the script was such a page-turner and so well written and I’m really a big fan of Daniel Bruhl.
‘I really liked the director [Florian Gallenberger]. It all just kind of felt right: a really intelligent female leading role character. It felt like the right thing to do.”
Emma was only nine when she first auditioned for the role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, but her starring role in the franchise went on to make her famous all over the world.
However, the former child star confessed she felt she still had to prove herself as an actress after the franchise ended.
Emma said: “I’ve just always been aware that it was a bit of a double-edged sword. I think I never really thought necessarily I’d become an actress or become famous.
“It’s something I felt very passive in. It was something that happened to me. They came to my school. They saw me and they took photographs of me. I was taken up to London to audition.
“I just happened to be picked up and put in one of the biggest film franchises of all time. I wanted to feel active in what happened to me in my life.
“I wanted to be able to move myself into a place where I felt like I was driving my career and my life, rather than just responding to things that happened to me. I wanted to try to make it my own.”
She added: “It feels like I was building a portfolio over the last five, six years.
“Now I feel like I’m ready to really be carrying films. I’m really just ready now to focus on my career full time and go full steam ahead. It’s exciting at the moment.”
See the full interview in the latest issue of Total Film, on sale from March 13.
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