It was nice to dream about! After being in early talks a couple weeks ago to take on a live action Cinderella role with Kenneth Branagh helming, the actress has now decided against the project.
The news was revealed via one of Variety’s writers on Twitter last night:
Emma Watson has decided NOT to star in Disney’s CINDERELLA.
— Marc Graser (@marcgraser) March 12, 2013
In January, Kenneth Branagh replaced Mark Romanek as director. The film’s script is by Chris Weitz (who directed The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Golden Compass). Cinderella has already cast Cate Blanchett in the role of the Evil Stepmother.
Disney wants to begin shooting this fall and next year. It’s the latest in a line of live action fairytales from Walt Disney Studios thanks to a slew of highly publicized successes: Alice in Wonderland, Oz the Great and Powerful (which opened to $80 million this past weekend), and Maleficent (out March 2014 starring Angelina Jolie).
Earlier this morning we told you that Emma Watson left Your Voice in My Head, a film she had attached herself to alongside Harry Potter director David Yates. Both have now left the project, and Watson’s future film work is unclear right now. The only thing she appears to be preparing for is Guillermo Del Toro’s Beauty and the Beast. That film may be one reason why she turned down Cinderella; two Disney princesses, as noted by one of our commenters last month, would be a bit much for one actress so close together.
UPDATE: Variety reports now that Beauty and the Beast will not film this year. The hope is to shoot next year.