Look behind the scenes for Emma Watson’s Wonderland magazine photoshoot.

The complete Wonderland interview with JK Rowling is now online. Emma Watson and Rowling discuss script writing for the upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” film, a theatre project, and of course the Hermione/Ron/Harry relationship that has caused such a stir.

Jo Rowling wrote Harry Potter, the best-selling book series in history, yet she still manages to be funny, kind, warm and real. She spends masses of her time supporting charities such as Comic Relief, Multiple Sclerosis Research through the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic and her own children’s charity Lumos… More recently she wrote novels The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo’s Calling (a crime novel under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith).

I wanted to ask you about the script that you are writing for Warner Bros. for Fantastic Beasts…

Warner Bros. came to me ages ago and said they wanted to do something with Fantastic Beasts. I could see the potential in it. I knew something about Newt [Scamander, the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts] having written a little something for Comic Relief. I had imagined a little bit of back story for him…

So when Warner Bros. came to me and said they wanted to make a film out of the book I had this simultaneous feeling of “it has a lot of potential,” and another feeling of slight panic that “I know some things about Newt and I don’t want you to ruin that for me!” because I knew who he was. So then I went away and sort of dwelt on what I knew about Newt, not intending to write a script but just trying to collect my thoughts so that I could at least give them the backstory I’d imagined, so that their vision was true to what I knew.

Then I really did have one of those moments that always make you phenomenally excited as a writer; but also that you know is going to end up being a ton of work. I thought, “Oh my God, a whole plot’s just descended on me!” But I wanted to do it as I was really excited about it. I wasn’t really thinking about writing the script myself, I thought, you know, I’ll give them this plot and then – fatally – I sat down and thought “I just wonder what it would look like…” and wrote a rough draft in twelve days!

Ahhhhh!

It wasn’t a great draft but it did show the shape of how it might look. So that is how it all started.

Wow, Warner Bros. must have been so excited.

I think they were kind of stunned. I didn’t tell them I had written it in twelve days. I’ve never written a script. It truly wasn’t that I thought I’d be good at it, I just wanted to get the outline of the story down, and that’s obviously given me a lot to work with going forward.

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Emma Watson was interviewed by long time friend Derek Blasberg for the cover feature for the latest issue of Wonderland magazine. A preview of the interview is online. Emma is the guest-editor for the February issue and interviewed Sofia Coppola, Lorde, JK Rowling, Darren Aronofsky, Douglas Booth, Ezra Miller, Guillermo del Toro and more. The issue hits stands on Friday or may be ordered online.

Photos from the article and text below

‘THE BLOOM OF THE WALLFLOWER’ BY DEREK BLASBERG

DEREK BLASBERG: My mother is the first person to say I always wanted a little brother or sister. I was the youngest in my entire family, and I always felt like it was a disservice to humanity that there wasn’t someone after me onto whom I could dispel my pearls of wisdom. So, when Emma Watson — then a smiley, sweet, super smart teenager — and I became buddies, I felt like my childhood prayers had been answered. There was only one striking difference: Emma, wise beyond her years, already knew more than I did about just about everything and didn’t need any such advice. Emma is one of those rare breeds of people who have an intuition, a good head on their shoulders, a quick judgment. I can’t be certain that, as her adopted big bro, she’s learned any of that from me, but I will say she’s taught me a thing or two. She is concise, put together, organised, forthright and reliable. (Which are not the sorts of adjectives that apply to most child actors.) Back when I’d visit her on the Harry Potter sets, her dressing areas would be tidy(ish) and her well worn and bookmarked books would be stacked everywhere. She navigated the pressures of filming the world’s most successful cinema franchise with elegance and grace, and she didn’t forget to do the little things, like send funny postcards from vacations and fruit baskets at the holidays. After Potter, I watched her grow into a beautiful young woman who is navigating a career that’s entirely her own. It’s been an interesting transition: As she herself says, she felt she was an adult even when she was in the body a little girl waving a magic wand. Now, it’s as though she has caught up with herself. In the film Perks of Being a Wallflower, she charmingly captured the end of an American innocence. In the upcoming Noah, she tackles the role of a biblical daughter-in-law in an epic adventure. Behold: Emma, a thoroughly modern woman.

DEREK BLASBERG: Where are you right now and what are you doing?

EMMA WATSON: Right now I’m on holiday. I’m stood on the balcony of my hotel room and I’m scratching my feet because I’ve been eaten alive by mosquitos. I look like I have a disease. I’m told I have sweet blood.

D: Well, I’m freezing in New York, so you won’t get much mosquito sympathy from me.

E: Well, I miss New York. I loved living there.
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Emma Watson interviewed Harry Potter author JK Rowling for her section in the upcoming issue of Wonderland magazine. The Sunday Times teased us with a few excerpts of the interview in which JK Rowling discusses the Hermione/Ron relationship. Wonderland confirmed that Emma did all the interviews for her section as guest-editor of this issue. You can pre-order your copy from here.

“In a rare interview Rowling admits that although they ended up together, they are not a credible couple. She said: “I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it Hermione, ended up with Ron.”
 
She added: “I know, I’m sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not.”
 
Emma Watson, who played Hermione, … tends to agree with Rowling.  “I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy.”
 
Hermione’s relationship with Harry was more like brother and sister in the books, but the actress agrees they would have made a better match.  As for Ron and Hermione, Rowling believes they would have ended up needing relationship counseling.”

Emma Watson has tweeted the covers for the February issue of Wonderland magazine. In this issue, Emma is a guest editor of her own section featuring Sofia Coppola, Lorde, JK Rowling, Darren Aronofsky, Douglas Booth, Ezra Miller, Guillermo del Toro and more. She is also featured on the cover and photoshoot promoting her next movie Noah. The February issue is out on the 7th.

Emma revealed there will be a choice of covers, tweeting “@EmWatson: Wonderland. Out February 7th. Afro Prada Bruiser or Elf Alien Queen. Your pick. #NOAH @wonderlandmag“. So, what’s your vote? Bruiser or Queen? In the first, Emma is wearing Prada, photo by Kerry Hallihan. Second cover is by Christian Oita and Emma is in Dolce & Gabbana

It has gone to print!

Another version of the first photo with more coverage and no text. @Wonderland says this is one of Emma’s favorites.