Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy new year 2012
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| Happy new year 2012 |
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| Happy new year 2012 |
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| Happy new year 2012 |
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| Happy new year 2012 |
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| Happy new year 2012 |
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| Happy new year 2012 |
Harry Potter's Hermione is voted most popular dream date for teenage readers
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The character of Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books is the most popular fictional dream date for teenage readers, according to a survey.
Date material: Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books is the most popular fictional dream date for teenage readers
Almost a quarter of the teenagers surveyed (23 per cent) nominated her character, played by Emma Watson in the films, ahead of Jacob Black (14 per cent) and Edward Cullen (10 per cent) from the Twilight books.
The survey, carried out to mark World Book Day today, also identified favourite teenage reads past and present.
One in ten adults who took part in the survey said their favourite book when they were a teenager was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.
JK Rowling's stories about the teenage wizard were top of the poll of today's teenagers with 31 per cent naming them as favourites.
JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, George Orwell's 1984 and The Diary of Anne Frank were the only books on both lists.
Almost a third of teenagers (30 per cent) said they only read a couple of books a year, with 19 per cent saying they read a book a week.
Rachel Russell, from World Book Day 2011, said: 'In the year that World Book Day is focusing on helping teenagers celebrate books and reading, it's interesting to see what tastes and traits young readers today share with readers of the past.
Good date: Almost a quarter of the teenagers surveyed nominated Hermione, played by Emma Watson in the films, left, ahead of Jacob Black, right back, and Edward Cullen, right front, from the Twilight books
'It would be interesting to see answers to the same questions from teenagers in another generation's time.'
Opinion Matters surveyed 1,583 adults and 505 teenagers aged 13-18 for the survey.
Borrell and Emma leave the Vanity Fair & Burberry party to attend a party given by designers PPQ at London's Dolce Nightclub
Worse for wear Johnny heads home with with a mystery companion after a heavy night at the Dorchester Hotel..with Ms. Watson nowhere to be seen
Party girls: 
Smile; Lily Allen, right, with Kate Sumner, daughter of rock star Sting, at the National Portrait Gallery for the opening of an exhibition of Vanity Fair photographs
Double digit growth for Burberry in Europe and Asia offset by difficulties in U.S.
Harry Potter actress Emma Watson has cast her spell on Burberry sales in the UK since featuring in an ad campaign for the fashion house.
It posted an 'exceptional' performance in Britain, with sales at stores including key outlets in Regent Street and Knightsbridge up 12per cent in the past three months.
But growth in Europe and Asia was offset by weakness in other markets.
Burberry: An 'exceptional' UK performance - lifted by an ad campaign featuring Harry Potter starlet Emma Watson - was offset by weakness elsewhere
The firm added: 'Europe and Asia both delivered double-digit percentage growth, with exceptional performances again in the UK and Korea (both helped by favourable currency movements).'
Meanwhile Burberry's wholesale business saw sales drop 28per cent as customers face the recession by slashing the amount of stock held, while Burberry is also restructuring its wholesale division and closing some operations.
Angela Ahrendts, the retailer's chief executive, said: 'Burberry has made a solid start to the year in what remains a challenging environment.'
Burberry plans to add between 10 and 15 stores to its portfolio this year.
A new American headquarters and showrooms were opened on Madison Avenue in New York during the quarter, as well as three franchise stores in emerging markets, including the first Burberry store in Bahrain.
The firm said as of the end of June it had 118 retail stores, 253 concessions and 84 franchise outlets in over 25 countries.
Burberry said its cost cutting initiatives were delivering the expected results.
Steps taken by Burberry to tackle the global slowdown have included a £50million inventory reduction and a £50million efficiency programme.
The company endured a 13per cent fall in underlying profits last year, despite annual revenues topping more than £1billion for the first time.
The firm shed around 15per cent of its workforce in the last financial year.
In January, Burberry announced 170 jobs were going as a result of its plan to close a sewing facility at Rotherham, south Yorkshire.
British actresses can't be sexy, they're too inhibited says Hollywood producer
They may be some of the most sought after actresses in Hollwood.
But according to one of Tinseltown's most respected producers British starlets like Gemma Arterton, Emma Watson, Keira Knightley and Rebecca Hall can't do sexy because they're just too inhibited.
Paul Breuls, producer of film the Devil's Double - the recent biopic of Saddam Hussein's sadistic eldest son Uday - reckons when it comes to jaw-dropping sex appeal our girls just don't make the grade.
British actresses like (from left) Gemma Arterton, Kiera Knightley and Emma Watson are too inhibited to be sexy claims Hollywood producer Paul Breuls
But he decided they simply weren't sexy enough and instead plumped for French actress Ludivine Sagnier.
Discussing the controversial choice, he said: 'The role is very demanding sexually and it’s difficult to find actresses who are willing to take that leap into the sexual unknown, especially in the States or in England.
'Ludivine Sagnier is someone who made our first short list because she’s done some of the most sensual work in French film. She’s uninhibited, and she’s an excellent actress to boot.'
Mais oui: French Actress Ludivine Sagnier alongside co-star Dominic Cooper in the Devil's Double
But that hasn't stopped some within the rushing to the defence of Britain's finest.
Director Michael Winner, who has worked with some of the biggest names on both sides of channel includng Joan Collins, hayley Mills, Faye Dunnaway and Lauren Bacall, argues that British starlets are far from coy.
He told the Indendent: 'I've come across some some actresses who are inhibited but I don't think British ones are particularly coy.
'Quite the contrary, I've had to persuade them to keep their clothes on. I had Stephanie Beacham do lover scenes with Marlon Brando and she aquitted herself very well.'
Touched by magic: Harry Potter's Hermione
As Hermione in the Harry Potter films, Emma Watson can smash a boy into a wall with one of her spells, no problem. In real life she travels by bus rather than broomstick, favours hockey over quidditch, and is a regular teenager with an "extravagant" phone bill... There is something disconcerting about coming face to face with 17-year-old Emma Watson.
Because the girl who took on the part of J K Rowling's main female character in the hugely successful films of the Harry Potter books has, in eight years (she was nine when she first auditioned for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), made the role so much her own that it is difficult to tell where Emma stops and Hermione begins (or vice versa).
Not that she minds. In fact she regards it as something of a compliment.
"J K Rowling based the character on herself, so obviously she will have had a very strong idea of how she would develop, but maybe I have played a small part in the way she is growing up. It would be very flattering if I had.
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"But I think that naturally I am so like Hermione anyway.
"J K Rowling has been really lovely and very supportive of the films - she comes on set and she is in e-mail contact with a lot of us. She just said to me, 'You are Hermione, you have completely become her,' which was just so nice and so generous of her."
We meet after she and her family have attended a private screening of the fifth and latest film - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is, Emma thinks, the best film so far - more "psychological" and darker as arch-villain Lord Voldemort attempts to get into Harry's head. Even Emma, who knew exactly what was going to happen, "bawled" her eyes out at the end.
"People always expect me to know what the finished product will be like, but I don't have a clue because it is all shot out of sequence. Before I see every film my nerves are just terrible.
"I remember after the first ten minutes of the first film my dad turning to me and saying, 'Emma darling, I really think you should breathe now'."
What impresses you most about Emma is how unspoilt she is; articulate, opinionated and self-deprecating, she is emerging as a delightful young adult.
Being a part of such an internationally successful phenomenon (three of the films are among the top ten worldwide biggest grossing productions of all time) could have turned her into an arrogant brat or a spoilt It-girl (she is reported to be earning £2 million for each of the final two films).
But Emma and the other two central characters - Daniel Radcliffe's Harry and Rupert Grint's Ron Weasley - have managed to maintain a kind of normality despite their extraordinary celluloid upbringing. The film's producers created a familial atmosphere on set by ensuring continuity of the crew and support staff around the children (Emma's driver, Nigel - her "best friend" - has been collecting her since her first audition).
But there is nothing remotely normal about growing up on a film set of the mammoth proportions of the Harry Potter ones at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire. The scale of the studios (the old Rolls-Royce factory) is such that the cast are ferried between stages on golf buggies. Emma points out that as she was so young when she entered that world she somehow just accepted the strangeness.
"You will be in the canteen and there will be all these witches and wizards and ghosts and ghouls queuing up. I get a reality check whenever my family or friends come and a centaur goes galloping by. They will be sitting there staring but I just don't see it because I have never known anything different."
Looking back, Emma now thinks that her parents - both lawyers - had absolutely no idea just how her casting as Hermione would change all their lives. While Rupert applied to audition for his role and Daniel - who had starred in a BBC production of David Copperfield - was well-known in the film industry, Emma was randomly spotted when casting agents came to her school.
Born in France where her parents were working (she returned to England aged five when they divorced), she now lives with her mother in Oxford and spends every other weekend with her father in London.
Both parents have new partners and in her extended family set-up Emma - who is particularly devoted to her full-brother, Alex, 14 ("the funniest person in the world" - finds herself the eldest of seven children.
"There is Alex and then my mother's partner has two sons younger than me who regularly stay with us, and my father and his new wife have two-year-old identical twin girls and a three-year-old son.
"We all get on really well. My family has exploded in the last two to three years so it's nice ? by contrast ? to be the baby when I am working. I am the youngest (she is nearly a year younger than Daniel and 18 months younger than Rupert) and I am a girl, so Dan and Rupert are really protective of me, they are like my brothers. Although they do tease me a lot," she says with an affectionate smile.
In many ways Emma remains an almost typical teenager. Her iPod, she says with a grin, is "my life", and her music taste ranges from her parents' favourites, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, to hip-hop artists she loves to dance to, such as Missy Elliott, Brandy and Ciara.
Her mobile phone, she reports with another grin, is the means by which she clings on to the "life" that she has to put on hold when she is away working on the film (each movie takes around 11 months to shoot).
Wonderfully polite, she apologises profusely when - several times during our interview - the electric ping of her phone indicates another incoming text.
"I am a mad texter - I can do it with my eyes closed - because I am away so much; it's the way I keep in touch with friends. My one big extravagance is my phone bill. I am always texting Dan and Rupert when we are not working. And we are always swapping girl and boy advice when we're together.
"It's quite funny - I am like, 'Oh, I have got this text from a boy, what on earth do I say? What does this translate to in boy language? I don't understand,' and they will be like, 'Well, this means this.' I have got my own personal on-set boy text translators," she says with a laugh.
Emma is sensibly circumspect about discussing any real-life romance she might be involved in ("I wouldn't tell you if I did have a boyfriend as it would be unfair to the other person," she says, although she was recently escorted to a ball by 21-year-old actor Henry Lloyd-Hughes who had a bit part in the fourth Harry Potter and who plays in the band Adventure Playground with Peaches Geldof's boyfriend).
But she is happy to talk about the slow-burning on-screen chemistry between Hermione and Ron - which falls short of the much anticipated first kiss which Harry shares with fellow pupil Cho Chang in the new film.
"The romance between us is there if you watch carefully, it's all underneath the surface. There are hints of it all the time and at one point Hermione and Ron have a duelling match and she absolutely smashes him into the back wall with this spell. And Ron is pretending, 'Oh yeah, I let her do that, it's manners isn't it?' which is quite funny."
Emma is circumspect, too, about certain aspects of youth culture.
The night before our interview my own teenage children - all fascinated by Emma and the other stars of Harry Potter - had gleefully found an ' Emma Watson' page on Facebook (the latest in a series of youth-focused social networking websites).
"Oh no, that is a fake," she says. "I have got fakes on Facebook, Bebo, MySpace - the lot - and it's quite annoying. I can't understand why people put themselves on there. Some of the pictures that they put up of themselves make them vulnerable because anyone can see. I think the internet is very scary."
It is easy to understand why Emma might be wary of courting publicity - last year it was reported that she was given a bodyguard after a male fan managed to enter her school and approach her. Generally, though, she is pretty relaxed about the way in which her fame sometimes infringes on her private life.
"You wouldn't believe how strongly I fight against not being normal. I take the bus, I take the train and when I go to visit my dad in London I am on the Oxford Tube (coach). Well, either I am going to live a completely shrouded life in which I hide from everyone and am driven around in cars or I attempt to live a normal life.
"Yes, I do get stopped and sometimes it may be difficult to deal with, but I would much prefer to pay that price than not have any freedom. It's normally just tourists who shout 'Hermione!' and chase after me. I have been in town with friends and been chased down the street and have had to hide in shops.
"Dixons is my favourite hiding place. I shouldn't be telling you this because it won't be my hiding place any more, but I go and hide behind the computers because that is the last place they expect you to be."
The other way in which Emma holds on to a normal life is by continuing with her studies.
While the other two stars have put their education on hold (Rupert gave up after his GCSEs and Daniel after his AS-levels), Emma is determined to continue (she gained eight A*s and two As at GCSE and has just finished AS-levels in English literature, art, history of art and geography). When she is working she has a tutor and when she is not she is just a regular pupil at her all-girls day school.
She imagines she will go to university (both her parents went to Oxford; she favours philosophy at Cambridge) but she has no other ambition but to be a proper grown-up actress. Emma laughs out loud when asked if she has any plans to take off her clothes in a London theatre in the manner of Daniel Radcliffe in Equus (when we met she still hadn't seen him in the play).
"The kid has done good," she says.
"It was really brave and I thought he was hilarious in Extras. I would love to do some theatre but it is hard to fit in with Harry Potter and my studies. I am waiting for the right time and I am thinking about next summer after my A-levels. A period drama maybe, and it doesn't have to be a main role, it just has to be something I believe in."
It has, Emma says, been a huge privilege - and a great learning process - to work with the many distinguished actors who have taken roles in the Harry Potter films. She enjoyed working with Helena Bonham Carter, who was "so much fun", and she has great affection and professional admiration for Emma Thompson and Maggie Smith ("who always gives me chocolates at Christmas"). The actors, she says, "are a bit of a family for us as well". Particularly Robbie Coltrane (who plays Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry).
"He is always telling us completely dirty and inappropriate jokes that we are far too young to be hearing, but we love, of course."
Outside her work and her studies Emma likes shopping with friends ("but I am not a fashion victim"), eating out and playing sport. When asked, in jest, if she has a glass of wine with her favourite food (she loves eating at Carluccio's) she points out that having spent the first five years of her life in France she had her first watered-down wine when she was about three. When I suggest that such an idea won't go down well in America - where the alcohol age limit is 21 - she is not afraid to offer a forthright opinion.
"What is that about? You can go to war for your country but you can't have a beer to celebrate? It's mad. I much prefer the European way in which alcohol is naturally introduced into family life."
Nor is Emma afraid to offer opinions on other contentious issues of the day - such as feminism and size zero. Naturally slim, she is aware that in commenting on weight she might be criticised by schoolmates who have more reason to worry.
"I am lucky that I stay the same weight. There are so many girls at my school who suffer from eating disorders. There is so much pressure on girls our age to be smart and pretty and funny and skinny - they have to be everything. I definitely know what that pressure is like but my philosophy is to eat what you like and be healthy and take exercise."
One thing that annoys her about her female contemporaries is their reluctance - from vanity, she thinks - to continue with sport in their late teens.
"I am such a feminist on this. It drives me nuts when friends say, 'We can't continue because sport gives you muscles and it's so unattractive, and you get sweaty.' For some reason girls seem to think it is unfeminine and they worry about being 'pretty'. But I feel the most pretty when I come off the pitch after a hockey game and I have got pink cheeks and bright eyes. Sport really makes me feel good about myself."
Emma gives a good-natured groan when I mention the fact that she came 98th in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women list for 2007.
"That is the weirdest thing ever and they put some kind of crude comment like, 'She is one of those sporty types - you would have to hold her gym shorts for her,' or something. I was like, 'Good God!' But I suppose it is a compliment for me and Hermione."
Emma talks with such conviction about Hermione that - I gently suggest - it will probably be hard for her when the films come to an end (book seven, the final instalment, is scheduled to be shot in 2010).
"Oh my God, when it comes to an end I don't know how I will feel," she says pausing, before adding - with a big smile - "but to be honest I don't think it will end. I think Harry Potter will go on for ever."
Because the girl who took on the part of J K Rowling's main female character in the hugely successful films of the Harry Potter books has, in eight years (she was nine when she first auditioned for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), made the role so much her own that it is difficult to tell where Emma stops and Hermione begins (or vice versa).
Not that she minds. In fact she regards it as something of a compliment.
"J K Rowling based the character on herself, so obviously she will have had a very strong idea of how she would develop, but maybe I have played a small part in the way she is growing up. It would be very flattering if I had.
"J K Rowling has been really lovely and very supportive of the films - she comes on set and she is in e-mail contact with a lot of us. She just said to me, 'You are Hermione, you have completely become her,' which was just so nice and so generous of her."
We meet after she and her family have attended a private screening of the fifth and latest film - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is, Emma thinks, the best film so far - more "psychological" and darker as arch-villain Lord Voldemort attempts to get into Harry's head. Even Emma, who knew exactly what was going to happen, "bawled" her eyes out at the end.
"People always expect me to know what the finished product will be like, but I don't have a clue because it is all shot out of sequence. Before I see every film my nerves are just terrible.
"I remember after the first ten minutes of the first film my dad turning to me and saying, 'Emma darling, I really think you should breathe now'."
What impresses you most about Emma is how unspoilt she is; articulate, opinionated and self-deprecating, she is emerging as a delightful young adult.
Being a part of such an internationally successful phenomenon (three of the films are among the top ten worldwide biggest grossing productions of all time) could have turned her into an arrogant brat or a spoilt It-girl (she is reported to be earning £2 million for each of the final two films).
But Emma and the other two central characters - Daniel Radcliffe's Harry and Rupert Grint's Ron Weasley - have managed to maintain a kind of normality despite their extraordinary celluloid upbringing. The film's producers created a familial atmosphere on set by ensuring continuity of the crew and support staff around the children (Emma's driver, Nigel - her "best friend" - has been collecting her since her first audition).
But there is nothing remotely normal about growing up on a film set of the mammoth proportions of the Harry Potter ones at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire. The scale of the studios (the old Rolls-Royce factory) is such that the cast are ferried between stages on golf buggies. Emma points out that as she was so young when she entered that world she somehow just accepted the strangeness.
"You will be in the canteen and there will be all these witches and wizards and ghosts and ghouls queuing up. I get a reality check whenever my family or friends come and a centaur goes galloping by. They will be sitting there staring but I just don't see it because I have never known anything different."
Looking back, Emma now thinks that her parents - both lawyers - had absolutely no idea just how her casting as Hermione would change all their lives. While Rupert applied to audition for his role and Daniel - who had starred in a BBC production of David Copperfield - was well-known in the film industry, Emma was randomly spotted when casting agents came to her school.
Born in France where her parents were working (she returned to England aged five when they divorced), she now lives with her mother in Oxford and spends every other weekend with her father in London.
Both parents have new partners and in her extended family set-up Emma - who is particularly devoted to her full-brother, Alex, 14 ("the funniest person in the world" - finds herself the eldest of seven children.
"There is Alex and then my mother's partner has two sons younger than me who regularly stay with us, and my father and his new wife have two-year-old identical twin girls and a three-year-old son.
"We all get on really well. My family has exploded in the last two to three years so it's nice ? by contrast ? to be the baby when I am working. I am the youngest (she is nearly a year younger than Daniel and 18 months younger than Rupert) and I am a girl, so Dan and Rupert are really protective of me, they are like my brothers. Although they do tease me a lot," she says with an affectionate smile.
In many ways Emma remains an almost typical teenager. Her iPod, she says with a grin, is "my life", and her music taste ranges from her parents' favourites, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, to hip-hop artists she loves to dance to, such as Missy Elliott, Brandy and Ciara.
Her mobile phone, she reports with another grin, is the means by which she clings on to the "life" that she has to put on hold when she is away working on the film (each movie takes around 11 months to shoot).
Wonderfully polite, she apologises profusely when - several times during our interview - the electric ping of her phone indicates another incoming text.
"I am a mad texter - I can do it with my eyes closed - because I am away so much; it's the way I keep in touch with friends. My one big extravagance is my phone bill. I am always texting Dan and Rupert when we are not working. And we are always swapping girl and boy advice when we're together.
"It's quite funny - I am like, 'Oh, I have got this text from a boy, what on earth do I say? What does this translate to in boy language? I don't understand,' and they will be like, 'Well, this means this.' I have got my own personal on-set boy text translators," she says with a laugh.
Emma is sensibly circumspect about discussing any real-life romance she might be involved in ("I wouldn't tell you if I did have a boyfriend as it would be unfair to the other person," she says, although she was recently escorted to a ball by 21-year-old actor Henry Lloyd-Hughes who had a bit part in the fourth Harry Potter and who plays in the band Adventure Playground with Peaches Geldof's boyfriend).
But she is happy to talk about the slow-burning on-screen chemistry between Hermione and Ron - which falls short of the much anticipated first kiss which Harry shares with fellow pupil Cho Chang in the new film.
"The romance between us is there if you watch carefully, it's all underneath the surface. There are hints of it all the time and at one point Hermione and Ron have a duelling match and she absolutely smashes him into the back wall with this spell. And Ron is pretending, 'Oh yeah, I let her do that, it's manners isn't it?' which is quite funny."
Emma is circumspect, too, about certain aspects of youth culture.
The night before our interview my own teenage children - all fascinated by Emma and the other stars of Harry Potter - had gleefully found an ' Emma Watson' page on Facebook (the latest in a series of youth-focused social networking websites).
"Oh no, that is a fake," she says. "I have got fakes on Facebook, Bebo, MySpace - the lot - and it's quite annoying. I can't understand why people put themselves on there. Some of the pictures that they put up of themselves make them vulnerable because anyone can see. I think the internet is very scary."
It is easy to understand why Emma might be wary of courting publicity - last year it was reported that she was given a bodyguard after a male fan managed to enter her school and approach her. Generally, though, she is pretty relaxed about the way in which her fame sometimes infringes on her private life.
"You wouldn't believe how strongly I fight against not being normal. I take the bus, I take the train and when I go to visit my dad in London I am on the Oxford Tube (coach). Well, either I am going to live a completely shrouded life in which I hide from everyone and am driven around in cars or I attempt to live a normal life.
"Yes, I do get stopped and sometimes it may be difficult to deal with, but I would much prefer to pay that price than not have any freedom. It's normally just tourists who shout 'Hermione!' and chase after me. I have been in town with friends and been chased down the street and have had to hide in shops.
"Dixons is my favourite hiding place. I shouldn't be telling you this because it won't be my hiding place any more, but I go and hide behind the computers because that is the last place they expect you to be."
The other way in which Emma holds on to a normal life is by continuing with her studies.
While the other two stars have put their education on hold (Rupert gave up after his GCSEs and Daniel after his AS-levels), Emma is determined to continue (she gained eight A*s and two As at GCSE and has just finished AS-levels in English literature, art, history of art and geography). When she is working she has a tutor and when she is not she is just a regular pupil at her all-girls day school.
She imagines she will go to university (both her parents went to Oxford; she favours philosophy at Cambridge) but she has no other ambition but to be a proper grown-up actress. Emma laughs out loud when asked if she has any plans to take off her clothes in a London theatre in the manner of Daniel Radcliffe in Equus (when we met she still hadn't seen him in the play).
"The kid has done good," she says.
"It was really brave and I thought he was hilarious in Extras. I would love to do some theatre but it is hard to fit in with Harry Potter and my studies. I am waiting for the right time and I am thinking about next summer after my A-levels. A period drama maybe, and it doesn't have to be a main role, it just has to be something I believe in."
It has, Emma says, been a huge privilege - and a great learning process - to work with the many distinguished actors who have taken roles in the Harry Potter films. She enjoyed working with Helena Bonham Carter, who was "so much fun", and she has great affection and professional admiration for Emma Thompson and Maggie Smith ("who always gives me chocolates at Christmas"). The actors, she says, "are a bit of a family for us as well". Particularly Robbie Coltrane (who plays Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry).
"He is always telling us completely dirty and inappropriate jokes that we are far too young to be hearing, but we love, of course."
Outside her work and her studies Emma likes shopping with friends ("but I am not a fashion victim"), eating out and playing sport. When asked, in jest, if she has a glass of wine with her favourite food (she loves eating at Carluccio's) she points out that having spent the first five years of her life in France she had her first watered-down wine when she was about three. When I suggest that such an idea won't go down well in America - where the alcohol age limit is 21 - she is not afraid to offer a forthright opinion.
"What is that about? You can go to war for your country but you can't have a beer to celebrate? It's mad. I much prefer the European way in which alcohol is naturally introduced into family life."
Nor is Emma afraid to offer opinions on other contentious issues of the day - such as feminism and size zero. Naturally slim, she is aware that in commenting on weight she might be criticised by schoolmates who have more reason to worry.
"I am lucky that I stay the same weight. There are so many girls at my school who suffer from eating disorders. There is so much pressure on girls our age to be smart and pretty and funny and skinny - they have to be everything. I definitely know what that pressure is like but my philosophy is to eat what you like and be healthy and take exercise."
One thing that annoys her about her female contemporaries is their reluctance - from vanity, she thinks - to continue with sport in their late teens.
"I am such a feminist on this. It drives me nuts when friends say, 'We can't continue because sport gives you muscles and it's so unattractive, and you get sweaty.' For some reason girls seem to think it is unfeminine and they worry about being 'pretty'. But I feel the most pretty when I come off the pitch after a hockey game and I have got pink cheeks and bright eyes. Sport really makes me feel good about myself."
Emma gives a good-natured groan when I mention the fact that she came 98th in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women list for 2007.
"That is the weirdest thing ever and they put some kind of crude comment like, 'She is one of those sporty types - you would have to hold her gym shorts for her,' or something. I was like, 'Good God!' But I suppose it is a compliment for me and Hermione."
Emma talks with such conviction about Hermione that - I gently suggest - it will probably be hard for her when the films come to an end (book seven, the final instalment, is scheduled to be shot in 2010).
"Oh my God, when it comes to an end I don't know how I will feel," she says pausing, before adding - with a big smile - "but to be honest I don't think it will end. I think Harry Potter will go on for ever."
I want HER hair!
THE DAVINA MCCALL
Catherine Dogra, 42, a communications consultant for Morrison Supermarkets from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is married to Rahul, a company director; they have two boys, Josh, nine, and Rohan, six.
‘I’m one year younger than Davina and my hair’s a similar colour. But her hair is shiny and bouncy, while looking manageable, too. Could my locks — which are thick, wavy and frizzy — really get the sleekness of Davina’s hair, which I envied so much?’
VERDICT:‘I love it! I won’t have time to straighten it every day, but I can also wear it wavy. I may not look like Davina — but my hair does!’
Hob Salon, Leeds. Hobsalons.com
Delighted: Catherine Dogra loves her new look, far right, modelled on presenter Davina McCall, left
THE KATE MIDDLETON
Natalie Edmonds , 25, is a holistic therapist from Bristol. She is single.
'Like many 20-something women, I have serious Kate Middleton hair envy. Kate's hair is a classic style — glossy, simple and elegant — and I think it epitomises everything she's about. My hair's very thick, like Kate's, but my natural colour is mousey blonde and it's dull, not shiny. I've tried dyeing it shades of lighter blonde before, but I went a shade darker last year and was complimented on it.’
VERDICT: ‘I really like it. It’s a lot like Kate’s. The colour makes my hair look much glossier and it makes my blue eyes stand out. My mum said I look more grown up, too. Now I just need a tiara!’
Hob Salon, Bristol. Hobsalons.com
Pretty as a princess: Natalie Edmonds admires Kate Middleton's, left, style and was delighted her locks could be transformed to look like hers, far right
THE HELEN MIRREN
Sylvia Owen, 62, a sculptor (sylviaowensculpture.com), lives in Bath. She has two children, Dominic, 32, and Polly, 29.
‘I’ve had the same style for more than a decade now and working long hours in my studio means I often leave my hair to its own devices. I’m naturally fair with a few highlights, but recently I’ve noticed some grey.
'I think Helen Mirren looks fabulous — her hair is incredibly chic and I admire the way she’s worked with her natural grey.’
VERDICT: ‘I was nervous about going shorter, but I love it. My daughter even said I look a bit like Helen Mirren — I don’t mind looking like a film star!’
Paul Edmonds, pauledmonds.com
Movie star looks: Sylvia Owen loves her Helen Mirren-style haircut, far right
THE JULIANNE MOORE
Emma Davis, 40, from Baschurch, Shropshire, is a company director for web design company simplycious.co.uk. She is married to Nigel, an operations manager. They have two sons, Josh, 14, and Callum, 12.
'I love Julianne Moore’s hair — the colour is so striking. I’ve tried to dye my hair a similar tone in the past, but the red shades never seemed to take very well. I’ve also been trying to grow my hair for ages, but it never gets below my shoulders. So I was delighted when my hairdresser used clip-on hair
extensions to get Julianne’s look.’
extensions to get Julianne’s look.’
VERDICT: ‘I love that the extensions look natural and were so easy to clip on. I got a long, sexy style instantly — my children didn’t recognise me!
Francesco Salon. Francescogroup.co.uk
Unrecognisable: Emma Davis was transformed with hair extensions, far right, to emulate the sleek look of actress Julianne Moore, left
THE SARAH JESSICA PARKER
Rebecca Cove, 35, an administrator for the Royal College of Psychiatrists from Dulwich, is engaged to business consultant Matthew.
‘My hair is naturally poker-straight, so I’ve always wanted sexy waves, particularly for my wedding this August. But when I curl my hair, the ringlets always drop out. SJP’s waves are smooth and voluminous, and her hair is halfway between blonde and brown, which I thought might suit me.
‘After highlighting my hair, my hairdresser used heated rollers to get the SJP effect. I’m seriously considering investing in some now!’
VERDICT: ‘My new style doesn’t look much like SJP’s, as my hairdresser admitted he adapted it to suit my hair type. However, my fiancé says it’s amazing, so that’s fine by me!’
Karine Jackson, London. KarineJackson.co.uk
Sexy waves: Rebecca Cove ditches her usual straight style, centre, for big curls like Sarah Jessica Parker, left
THE Emma Watson
Michelle Hill, 29, is a single planning assistant who lives in Coventry, Warwickshire.
‘I’ve never had my hair any shorter than a bob, but my hairdresser reassured me I’d be able to pull off an elfin style — and I had total confidence in him.
'I’ve been thinking about doing it since I saw photos of Emma with her great new look and also because I’d fallen into the trap of over-bleaching my hair. Dry, brittle and in desperate need of attention, I thought it would be good to cut everything off and start again!’
VERDICT: ‘Friends say I look sophisticated and I’m being taken more seriously. My hair is a great version of Emma’s crop — I’m delighted!’
Windle and Moodie, London. Windleandmoodie.com
Top crop: Michelle Hill feels more sophisticated, far right, with a haircut like Emma Watson's, left
Words: Laura Stott. Research: Paul Windle at Windleandmoodie.com
No chance of getting this lot Muggled up: Harry Potter and the less than convincing lookalikes
Hopefully some technical wizardry will mean Harry Potter fans don't notice the difference in the film.
But as these three stand-ins for the young stars appeared on an outside set in the early hours of yesterday, it was hard to imagine getting them muggled, er, muddled up with the real thing.
The dismal doppelgangers were shooting in London's Piccadilly Circus for the two-part series finale, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.
Stand-ins: A rotter of a Potter, a stranger Granger and a measly Weasley
Magic: Harry Potter's real stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint
The cast and crew have spent several days on location in Piccadilly Circus late at night filming what fans will recognise as the 'cafe attack' scene.
The scene takes place after the trio of friends flee the wedding of Ron's older brother Bill Weasley to Fleur Delacourt after finding out that Rufus Scrimgeour is dead and the Ministry of Magic is now under Voldemort's control.
They manage to fight off an attack from the two villains, but continue to flee to Harry's London hideout 12 Grimmauld Place.
Watch out for that bus: The trio realise a bus is heading straight for them
Near miss: They manage to jump back on to the kerb just in time
With the boys dressed in suits and Hermione in a stunning red dress, the pair arrive at a Muggle cafe, where they believe they are safe until they spot two Death Eaters.
The scene in the book originally takes place in Tottenham Court Road, but producers may have relocated it to Piccadilly Circus to give it a more scenic backdrop.
In between takes, the three young actors were spotted yawning and sipping on coffee in a bid to stay awake during the late night shoot.
Tiring: The young cast have been putting in long days filming the movie for the last two months
The Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling's last book in her best-selling series, will be split into two parts for the big-screen adaptation.
The cast and crew started filming the first part in February.
Part I is due for release in 2010, with Part II out in 2011. The prequel, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, will be released in the UK on 15 July.
It was originally scheduled for release last November, but was delayed so Warner Bros studio had a guaranteed 'major summer blockbuster' after the Hollywood writers' strike delayed a lot of movies.
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