Free Emma Watson by David Nolan Page B

leave big spaces, OK?’
    ‘These kids were starting to take themselves seriously as actors,’ enthused director Cuarón. ‘So they were willing to explore more emotional territories. I was so lucky that I had them so raw and so willing to go there.’
    One of the places that Emma had to go was in bringing Hermione’s budding interest in Ron to the screen. ‘Hermione and Ron spend the whole film just arguing with each other,’ Emma said. ‘Ron is convinced Hermione’s cat has eaten his pet rat. Their squabbles are a bit of a cover-up . They actually have a bit of a soft spot for each other. It’s a classic love–hate relationship. You always tease the ones you fancy.’
    Not everyone was quite so keen to see the first buds of romance between Hermione and Ron – Rupert Grint seemed faintly appalled by the prospect. ‘I hope it doesn’t happen,’ he told Entertainment Weekly. ‘I hope Ron gets killed off before they actually do something.’
    Some of Ron and Hermione’s onscreen interactions ended up on the cutting-room floor, including a moment where there was, as Watson put it, ‘an awkward hug between them. Alfonso kept the scene in where they hold hands for a moment when they are frightened so I know audiences will see what is developing between them. I think Alfonso and [writer] Steve Kloves did a really good job on adapting Prisoner of Azkaban . Even though a lot was cut, they did a great job of making sure the really important things made it into the film.’
    One such really important moment was a sequence that would sometimes prompt a round of applause during screenings: the ‘foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach’Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) getting his comeuppance at the hands of Hermione courtesy of a swift punch to the face. Alfonso Cuarón recalled, ‘Emma was looking forward to that moment, and I remember Tom telling Emma, “Oh, if you want to hit me, just hit me, just hit me.”’
    ‘I loved it – I loved every single second of it,’ Emma told Teen Hollywood . ‘Girl power – it was great! I would have done it for a whole week, but it was only a couple of takes. I went, “I want to do it again! I want to do it again!” It was great. It’s a great moment. It was cool.’
    Not so cool for Felton. ‘Getting punched by Hermione – that one gets brought up a bit with me,’ he admitted during an interview with MTV. ‘A lot of street cred was lost on that film,’ he sighed.
    As well as filming at Leavesden Studios, the Potter crew took in a wide variety of locations around the UK to create the look of the film. St Paul’s Cathedral in London and Virginia Water in Surrey were brought into play and the cast moved to the Highlands of Scotland for several weeks to film on purpose-built sets at Glencoe to bring Hagrid’s hut and Hogwarts’ Bridge to Nowhere to life. This was part of a deliberate attempt to highlight the ‘Scottishness’ of Potter in the third film. Although it’s not explicit, there was a general understanding that Hogwarts was north of the border, so it was right to use the dramatic scenery of the Highlands. Unfortunately, no one bothered to mention the equally dramatic weather. ‘Once we got to Scotland, it rained every day,’ producer Mark Radcliffe told the Making of The Prisoner of Azkaban documentary. ‘Literally the set would be washing out from under us. Atlunch we had to have a helicopter dropping gravel, and have the crew put the gravel back in to keep the dirt from washing away from under the set. Then we’d have to bring everybody back in to try to work.’
    As if to emphasise the fact that she was growing up, Emma’s dressing-room door had a sign attached to it: ‘Beware – Babe Inside’. For a more literal example, look no further than what happened to Emma on set on 15 April 2003, as recalled by actor Chris Rankin, who plays Percy Weasley. ‘There was an apparent power cut in the middle of a huge piece of Emma’s dialogue during a Great Hall