Interview

Since the first Harry Potter novel was published in 1997, millions upon millions have dreamt of being transported to Potterworld. But what they probably don’t know is that, in reality, it’s only a few miles northwest of centralLondon—part of a former WWII aircraft factory turned movie set called Leavesden Studios. This is where Emma Watson, known around these parts as Hermione Granger, sits, like most days, perched in her trailer, squeezing in a lunch of french fries, as she waits for a shot to be set up in a converted hangar.

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For Watson, the series of soundstages, dressing rooms, and art departments—a.k.a. Potterworld—has been both a place of work, and, in many ways, a second home for the last decade. She was handpicked at age 9 to play one of contemporary fiction’s most beloved characters, and since then, she’s been acting opposite

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) on a grueling, all-consuming filming timetable to unleash the eight installments for an exceedingly hungry, Potter-obsessed public. (To date, the five films that have already been released have grossed more than $4 billion worldwide. The sixth chapter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, out this summer, is expected to bring that number far higher.) The films that have made Watson famous are not mere child’s play. They can be quite dark, unsettling affairs, which, for Watson’s character, has meant following the progression of a goody-goody little girl with muggle parents (muggle means “unmagical,” for any Potter neophyte left out there) into an over-achieving, articulate young woman who punches villains yet still works a pink ball gown.

While Watson has committed her formative years to this Leavesden Studios set, she doesn’t seem to resent that she’s had to trade slumber parties, nightclubs, and football games for rehearsal, filming, and premieres. Although now that she’s finally an adult, the 19-year-old has started to steer her own ship (or, in Watson’s case, the Prius she bought last year). She recently moved out of the family home and into a London duplex she shares with a roommate (its proximity to Potterworld was a deciding factor in the choice of location). She’s picked up an interest in high fashion (and a new fan in Karl Lagerfeld, who recently photographed her for a magazine--see photos here). And, most interestingly (at least to celebrity rags), she’s considering leaving the U.K. this fall to start school at an Ivy League in the U.S. She’s even suggested that her acting career may end when Potter does.

Watson’s life is suddenly falling off-script—but it’s definitely not falling apart. What little naïveté she does possess revolves mostly around her own sense of celebrity. Sure, she acknowledges paparazzi outside of a restaurant, but she is completely unaware of the perks. She once asked me if it would be possible to get her a ticket to a fashion show in Paris—little did she know that the designer’s PR would have picked her up in a helicopter if they had known she wanted to attend. I’ve waited for a table with her at her favorite Mexican dive in Covent Garden, London. I’ve taken her to concerts in Brooklyn clubs that were carpeted in empty beer cans. And once we played pool in a London pub frequented by big hairy gay men in leather chaps. She seems to be just as happy outside of Potterworld as she is working in the center of it. As expected, her schedule is ridiculous: Days are meticulously planned, call times are often before sunrise, and she’s Hermione for entire days that turn into entire weeks. Unlike most English girls, Watson had never been to a traditional football match. So, the day after my visit to Potterworld, we took in a Chelsea vs. Manchester City game. Afterward, we went back to her apartment, which is on the top two floors of a row house. Despite the fact that Watson hosted a dinner party the night before, the place was tidy. She proceeded to make tea and jammed toast as we sat down to talk about Potter, Hogwarts and all.