The 'Beauty and the Beast' star explains that, at that time, she felt like she wouldn't give her best performance by doing both 'La La Land' and Bill Condon's 'Beauty and the Beast' simultaneously.
- Mar 11, 2017
AceShowbiz - Last January, report said that the roles of Mia and Sebastian in Academy Award-nominated "La La Land" were originally offered to Emma Watson and Miles Teller respectively, but both actors lost them because they demanded too much. We know that both roles eventually landed to Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
During a SiriusXM interview on Friday, March 10, Watson finally responded to the rumors and explained about her possible involvement in Damien Chazelle's film. "It's one of these frustrating things where sort of names get attached to projects very early on as a way to kind of build anticipation or excitement for something that's coming before anything is really actually agreed or set in stone," the "Beauty and the Beast (2017)" star told Entertainment Weekly.
The "Harry Potter" alum later explained why she ended up not playing Mia in "La La Land". Watson said that she felt like she wouldn't give her best performance by doing both Chazelle's musical and Bill Condon's fairytale adaptation simultaneously. "I knew I had horse training, I knew I had dancing, I knew I had three months of singing ahead of me, and I knew I had to be in London to really do that," said Watson. "And this wasn't a movie I could just kind of parachute into. I knew I had to do the work, and I had to be where I had to be. So scheduling conflict-wise, it just didn't work out," she added.
As for Teller, back in 2015, he opened up about why he lost the role in "La La Land". The actor said that Chazelle actually dropped him from the movie. "I got a call from my agent, saying, 'Hey, I just got a call from Lionsgate,' " said Teller. " 'Damien told them he no longer thinks you're creatively right for the project. He's moving on without you.' "
Sometime after Teller's interview, Chazelle made a response by saying, "There was a moment where [Watson and Teller] were doing it. And neither of those casting things wound up lasting or working out."
Watson will appear in "Beauty and the Beast" live-action film which will be released on March 17. Teller, meanwhile, is currently filming "The Ark and the Aardvark", which is scheduled to be released sometime this year.
