Emma Watson Was Able to Leave Hermione Behind After Doing This Stunt in ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’
Emma Watson was eager to explore more diverse film roles after completing the Harry Potter series. But she felt she truly got Hermione out of her system after doing this one film stunt.
Emma Watson was able to fully part ways with her ‘Harry Potter’ character thanks to this film
Watson felt the 2012 film Perks of Being a Wallflower helped separate herself further from her Harry Potter counterpart. Watson portrayed a charismatic young student who takes a peer of hers under her wing. The film’s director, Stephen Chbosky, warned Watson how big the role would end up being for her.
“At our initial meeting, he said, ‘Okay, not only is this going to be one of the most important parts you play, you’re also going to have the summer of your life and meet some of your best friends,’” Watson recalled to Entertainment Weekly. “I thought, ‘That’s quite a claim. Who is this guy? Everything he said came true.’”
In the midst of filming, Watson did a stunt that many on set thought would’ve been too dangerous to do. But the actor insisted to do the scene anyway without the help of a stunt double.
“It was really funny, the stunt team on the film really didn’t want to let me do it,” she once told Daybreak (via Contact Music). “It was meant to be a stunt girl but I was like, ‘You can’t not let me have that moment!’ It was weirdly emotional. It really felt like… metaphorically like I was coming through something.”
She felt the scene in question helped her move past from Harry Potter entirely.
“I started as Emma with some Hermione still left in my system,” she said. “I went through the tunnel and I came out ready to start something new.”
Emma Watson felt like she was able to live out the high school experience she missed out on by doing ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’
Watson always valued her education, but her high school experience was extremely different thanks to her Harry Potter obligations. Because of this, she missed out on her high school years, but felt she was able to make it up in Perks.
“It really did. It was a very voyeuristic experience,” Watson once said according to The Columbus Dispatch. “Getting to go to Friday night football and Olive Garden, school dances and all of that stuff — that was really another world to me.”
Perks also came at a good time for Watson who felt stuck in a crossroads between adulthood and adolescence back then.
“There are some parts of me that feel very old, and then there are other parts of me that are, like, I have a sense of my own arrested development,” Watson said. “There are some parts of me right now that are probably going through adolescence.”
Emma Watson still has her gift from her ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’ director
Watson still has a memento given to her by her Perks director Chbosky to this day. In an interview with Vogue, the actor shared with fans some of the items she usually carries around with her while traveling. This included Chbosky’s special gift to her, which was a limited edition copy of the T.S. Elliot poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
“Actually, this copy has an inscription in it from Steve Chbosky who I did the Perks of Being A Wallflower with,” Watson said. “And it’s so sweet the note that he wrote, so I have to read it.”
Watson went on to recite the words inside the piece.
“’For Emma on her graduation. These words by T.S. Eliot are forever. So is your passion for learning, for living, for literature,’” Chbosky wrote to Watson. “’I couldn’t be happier or prouder of you for this accomplishment. You inspire me everyday. Please enjoy this limited edition for an unlimited life.’”
