Do you prefer working with an English team? When I visited you on the Harry Potter set, the majority of people were Englishmen.
WATSON: Well, I shouldn’t say I have a favorite director—that wouldn’t be very diplomatic. But one of the people I enjoyed working with most was Alfonso Cuarón [who directed Watson in the third Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)]. I have a real thing for Mexican directors. And I love Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

What happened between that gym photo and the first day of shooting?
WATSON: It was a long time—eight auditions . . .

Did you meet any of the other girls who were going out for the parts?
WATSON: Yes! I won’t say the name, but there was this girl who had already done a film before. I can remember just crumbling at the sight of her, thinking, “She’s been in a film before, and she knows how to do this. I have no chance.” Even worse, one time I came to the studios, and she was there playing cards with one of the other boys auditioning for Harry—not Daniel
Radcliffe. And I was like, “Oh, my god, they’re making friends already! I’m definitely not going to get it.” I was so, so upset.

WATSON: Probably. But I wanted it so badly.

Why? Because you wanted to be in movies and be famous, or because you identified with that role?
WATSON: I loved the books—I was a massive fan. I just felt like that part belonged to me. I know that sounds crazy, but from that first audition, I always knew. At the beginning, they were casting the other characters as well—but I always knew I was going out for Hermione. She came so naturally to me. Maybe so much of myself at the time was similar to her. Of course, all this terrified my parents—there were literally thousands and thousands of girls going out for the audition, and my parents were anxious about what I would do if I didn’t get it.

Not only that, it’s probably tiring being Hermione. I was on the set with you, and those are long, long days. What time are you there every morning?
WATSON: At the moment, we’re there at about 6:30 a.m., which means I’m picked up at about 5:45 a.m. We’re filming both the seventh and eighth movies at once, and I’m trying to do all of my scenes now and through the summer so I’ll be available for university come September—though it already looks like I’ll be working on Christmas and March breaks.

In these next two films, are most of your scenes with Dan and Rupert?
WATSON: Yes. In the last book, they’ve left Hogwarts, and they’re traveling around together. It feels right that it started with the three of us and it’s ending with the three of us. It’s about our friendship.

How are you with those young men off set? Are you friends?
WATSON: To be honest, we see so much of each other when we’re working that hanging out together would be overload. I love them, but I need to see other friends off set. They’re like my siblings now.