When Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was announced, the majority of the fandom had a hard time coming to terms with Hermione being played by a different actress. Having seen Emma Watson play the character for ten years, fans were all too convinced Emma might have been Hermione all along.
As fans have read the books hundreds of times, they are intimately familiar with the habits and traits of the characters, with Hermione being one of the most well-known due to her distinctive qualities. If you happen to be a fan of the movie version of Hermione (which all of us are), here are 10 mannerisms you have to check out that Emma Watson nailed, and made Hermione come alive.
Bossiness
One of the reasons why Ron and Harry couldn’t stand Hermione initially was because she was always telling them what to do. In the novels, there were hundreds of moments where they simply went along with Hermione’s plans because they didn’t want to argue, and the movie version brought this as well.
We saw this first when she commanded Harry to step away from confronting Malfoy over Neville’s remembrall, even quipping, “what an idiot”, something that had a very Emma Watson touch added to it. Her bossy attitude was mainly limited to earlier movies, the same as it happened with in the books; although bossing Ron was an exception.
Intrusiveness
Emma Watson’s starring moment in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came in the scene where Hermione admonished Ron and Harry. The “...or worse, Expelled!” line delivery has been noted as exceptionally Hermione-like. The funny part is the fact that Hermione butted in the situation herself.
Her nosiness was also evident when she was shown following Harry and Ron around, and listening in on their conversations when not invited it. Due to Emma Watson’s small stature at the time, Hermione’s annoying intrusiveness was more evident as she came off as a little goody-two-shoes.
Hurt Over Ron's Words
Perhaps done even better than shown in the books, Emma conveyed Hermione’s grief at being overlooked by Ron as a love interest spectacularly. In the novel version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hermione’s sadness was shown through Harry’s point of view, which didn’t tell us just how grief-stricken she was.
Emma portrayed Hermione’s true despondency in the film, where we saw her cry herself in a corner. In complete Hermione fashion, she was shown trying to hide herself away in embarrassment due to having been caught in a position that didn’t show her in command.
Bushy Hair
Sure, it’s the make-up department that deserves plaudits for having Emma look the part with her hair, but Emma deserves credit herself for making Hermione’s hair look like a task. While the later movies had her hair different from the book version, Emma played Hermione’s bushy-haired appearance in the first two films.
You can even see that Hermione is having some problems managing her hair, as she sort of slouches while she walks under the weight of her bushy hair falling heavily onto her shoulders. When Hermione looked annoyed, Emma made her hair seem as if it was about to attack the person in front of her.
Excitement Over The Yule Ball
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione played coy when the time for the Yule Ball came up, leading the reader to believe there was something she was hiding that made her very nervous.
All it took in the movie version was for us to see Hermione descend down the steps toward the Great Hall and we saw in her expression all of nervousness, excitement, and a newly found poise. All of this had to be described in great detail in the novel for the reader to understand, but Emma conjured this idea just by showing up for the Yule Ball scene and we saw Hermione in a new light.
Spells With Conviction
Hermione was easily the best one at conjuring spells in Hogwarts, but we had the benefit of JK Rowling’s explanations of these scenes to get the idea. In the films, there needed to be something different to illustrate that the spells by Hermione were indeed more powerful.
In order to make this happen, Emma had a knack for uttering Hermione’s spellwork with conviction. If you listen closely, her manner of playing out a magic scene had Emma add in more emotion. When the time called for aggressive spells, she had the same harsher tone that was shown in books with the use of italics in font.
Obvious Crush Over Ron
It was rather exasperating reading Hermione’s feelings for Ron spilling all over the pages, as she was clearly longing for him to be romantic with her. However, there was no desperation in her disposition (as was the case with Lavender Brown), so Emma had to play it cool yet obvious with this storyline.
She ended up giving it just the right amount of romantic interest coupled with Hermione’s knack of covering it up awkwardly. The best example would be where we saw the trio in Hogsmeade, and Emma added in Hermione’s shifty eyes whenever she wanted Ron to take note of her.
Concern For Harry
There was a fine line between Hermione’s concern for Harry a friend and any potential romantic interest. In books, it was always apparent that the two were only friends, as Harry was never shown to have any romance related encounters with her; the films had Emma go all out in the overtly friendly sequences to illustrate this.
Hermione had a knack of being very affectionate of Harry by either hugging him or being close in general; and we saw both funny and touching moments like this, such as when Hermione threw herself onto Harry out of concern before the First Task, or when she pecked him on the head when he emerged from the lake.
Empathy For Others
This is also something that Emma possibly does better than the character herself, as the film version of Hermione was noticeably nicer to others. In general, Hermione grew to be empathetic of the plight of others, such as house-elves, or understanding Ginny’s problems.
The greatest move Emma had up her sleeve to show Hermione’s empathy was through her understanding smile. This was the perfect way to show off Hermione’s soft side, as Emma’s smile would make the character (and even the viewer) feel as if Hermione would always be there as a helping hand when needed.
Intelligent Moments
Who among us didn’t have the idea that Emma herself was a certified genius like Hermione? The generation that grew up watching the Harry Potter movies were convinced Emma was Hermione in personality, and the idea was that she was incredibly smart in real life.
While Emma is very intelligent, it is due to her playing Hermione that way which makes us believe it to be absolutely true. Hermione’s intelligent moments were always preceded by her going off on her own tangent, leaving Ron and Harry perplexed, and the films had Emma do just the same; this made the eventual unraveling of Hermione’s plans seem all the more genius.