If you have seen the 2017 film, Beauty and the Beast, you probably noticed that the vocals for Emma Watson’s character, Belle, sound just like Watson’s voice. So can she actually sing?
Emma Watson can sing and learned how to do so during her time with the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school. During her time with this school, she also learned more about how to act and dance. She never had to use her learned skills in singing for a role until she was offered the part of Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
Scroll down to learn more about Emma Watson’s singing school, her role in Beauty and the Beast, and how singing was done for the movie.
Learning to Sing
When Watson was six years old, she told her parents that she wanted to be an actress. She was then enrolled into the part time theatre school known as Stagecoach Theatre Arts Ltd. It was there that she began to learn how to not only act, but sing and dance as well.
It was through the school that she was able to perform amateurly in productions of The Happy Prince and Arthur: The Younger Years. The Happy Prince is based off of a children’s story by Oscar Wilde and was adapted into a musical for theatre. This means it was possible that Watson may have had to sing in that play all those years ago.
In interviews, Watson has said that she has not had to use her singing talents for a role. That was until she took on the role of Belle in Disney’s live-action remake of the popular children’s film, Beauty and the Beast.
Watson Had the Choice of Disney Princesses
Emma Watson has said that her favorite Disney princess would probably be Belle. In February 2013, rumors started circulating that Watson was in talks with Disney to play Cinderella in the live-action remake.She ultimately turned down the role because she felt like she couldn’t connect with the character.
In the end, Lily James ended up playing Cinderella with Cate Blanchett starring as her “evil” stepmother. Little to Watson’s knowledge, she would be offered the role of a Disney princess that she could get on board with, Belle.
Only a month after rumors said she was going to be playing Cinderella, new rumors arose saying she had turned down the role. The same reports said Emma Watson was now attached to Guillermo Del Toro’s version of Beauty and the Beast. Del Toro was initially set to direct the live-action film of Beauty and the Beast, however, he stepped back to take on the role as producer only. The film was ultimately directed by Bill Codon. It also starred Dan Stevens as the Beast and Luke Evans as the villain, Gaston.
If Watson had decided to take the role of Cinderella over Belle, she would not have had to sing. This is because unlike the original Cinderella film, the live-action film was not made as a musical.
Singing in Beauty and the Beast
As mentioned above, Emma Watson actually sings in Beauty and the Beast. The same goes for all of her co-stars. In an interview with Total Film, Watson said “I sing, so that’s really unexpected. I’ve never had to do that for a film role before, and I think people will be interested to see me do something very different like that . . . It gives me a different challenge, really.”
On top of this, the entire cast apparently went above and beyond with the singing while on set. In an interview with Collider magazine, Watson’s co-star, Luke Evans, shared “We pre-recorded everything, but some of us sang live on set as well, during the takes. We were mic’d and they recorded that and I think afterwards, in sound, they’ll be able to choose whether the live version is better than the pre-recorded version.”
Follow the below YouTube link to watch Emma Watson on Good Morning America discussing what it was like to sing on the set of Beauty and the Beast.