Emma Watson is officially out of the running to play the submissive Anastasia Steele in Kelly Marcel's adaptation of the S&M novel 'Fifty Shades of Grey.' Watson - who, of course played Hermione Granger in Harry Potter - has long been considered one of the favourites to play the female lead in theUniversal and Focus Pictures movie, though she shot down the rumors in a couple of posts on her Twitter page this week. Watson, who recently turned down the opportunity to play Cinderella in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Disney movie, started off by telling followers, "Who here actually thinks I would do 50 Shades of Grey as a movie? Like really. For real. In real life."
After encouraging her fans to respond, Watson presumably got few affirmative replies, or plenty of tweets warning her off the project, tweeting, "Good. Well that's that sorted then." The nature of her tweets suggest Watson has been approached by Universal about playing Anastasia and it's likely she would have been the studio's first choice. "I haven't read the book, I haven't a read a script, nothing," Watson told EW.com in July 2012, "There are so many movies you become attached to when I've literally never even received a phone call. It was the same way with 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' - I never even saw a script!"
The Fifty Shades movie remains without a lead actor, actress or director, despite Universal's hopes of releasing the film in summer of 2014. Shooting is likely to go ahead within the next couple of months, though Watson ruling herself will have given producers a potential headache. Is she isn't playing Steele, then who is?
Continue reading: If Emma Watson Isn't Doing 'Fifty Shades Of Grey,' Then Who Is?