Emma Watson: ‘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 Brühl.

'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.’

'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.'

Speaking further about the way her career started, she explained: '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.

She continued: '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.'