Will Emma Watson be replacing Alicia Vikander in Tom Hanks' tech thriller The Circle?
Since Vikander has been snapped up to co-star in the next Bourne film as well as in the game adaptation Assassin's Creed with Michael Fassbender, the actress' schedule is now jam-packed, and producers are reportedly eyeing Harry Potter alum Emma Watson, who played bookish Hermione Granger in the series to replace Vikander, according to Empire Online.
Watson is no stranger to thrillers, since she already appeared in Regression alongside Ethan Hawke and Colonia Dignidad with Daniel Bruhl.
Regression will be released on August 28 this year and tells the story of a father who is accused of a crime he has no memory of committing, and Hawke's character Detective Bruce Kenner is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The American-Spanish thriller film is both written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar.
Meanwhile, Colonia Dignidad is another thriller written and directed by Oscar winner Florian Gallenberger, also co-written by Torsten Wenzel. It follows the story of true events in 1973 Chile, where a German woman searches desperately for her husband who was kidnapped by General Augusto Pinochet's secret police called the DINA (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional).
On the other hand, should Watson indeed be selected and confirm with The Circle, she will be playing Mae Holland, a tech worker who joins a powerful online company that links users' personal emails, social media accounts, banking and purchasing to their universal operating system. Things go well for the company at first, but eventually things start to unravel and those in the company begin struggling to keep things intact. It is based on Dave Eggers' 2013 novel.
The movie will be produced by Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone, Anthony Bregman's Likely Story, Ponsoldt, Walter Parkes and Laurie Macdonald. It will be fully financed by Image Nation Abu while CAA and UTA are handling U.S. rights.
For the meantime, Watson is busy working on Disney's latest live action fairy tale movie Beauty and the Beast, where she will once again portray another bookish character - Belle. Unlike Cinderella, there will be singing and some dancing involved in the film and that is why Watson said that she needed to brush up on her singing lessons.
Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens will be taking on the role of Beast, while The Hobbit actor Luke Evans will be the villain Gaston. Frozen's Josh Gad will be his lovable sidekick Le Fou.
