Emma Watson reveals why she turned down the role of Cinderella, but couldn’t resist the chance to play Belle

Emma Watson attends The Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit tribute to Tom Hanks on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

While speaking with Total Film, Beauty and the Beast star Emma Watson revealed that she previously turned down the chance to play another Disney princess, Cinderella.

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Lily James starred in the 2015 live-action remake of Cinderella, but the role was apparently offered to Watson first. Watson passed, however, before eventually accepting the role of Belle in the upcoming Beauty and the Beast instead.

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“I didn’t know they were going to make Beauty and the Beast at the time I turned down Cinderella,” she said. “But when they offered me Belle, I just felt the character resonated with me so much more than Cinderella did.”

Watson said she thinks Belle is a better role model for young girls than Cinderella.

“She remains curious, compassionate and open-minded. And that’s the kind of woman I would want to embody as a role model, given the choice,” she said. “There’s this kind of outsider quality that Belle had and the fact she had this really empowering defiance of what was expected of her. In a strange way, she challenges the status quo of the place she lives in, and I found that really inspiring. “She manages to keep her integrity and have a completely independent point of view. She’s not easily swayed by other people’s perspective — not swayed by fear-mongering or scapegoating.”

RELATED: Listen to this lovely snippet of Emma Watson as Belle singing in the upcoming film “Beauty and the Beast”

Watson admitted she had “concerns” about the film’s original script at first, but was assured that making the movie would be a collaborative opportunity between her and the director, Bill Condon. While Belle’s personality will remain true to the character, a few changes were made to modernize her.

“In the animated movie, it’s her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle,” Watson previously said. “I was like, ‘Well, there was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn’t fit in, other than she liked books. Also, what is she doing with her time?’ So, we created a backstory for her, which was that she had invented a kind of washing machine, so that, instead of doing laundry, she could sit and use that time to read instead. So, yeah, we made Belle an inventor.”

Beauty and the Beast hits theaters on March 17, 2017.

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