Emma Watson felt a "different level of vulnerability" singing in 'Beauty and the Beast'

She said: "It was something I talked about a lot when I got cast as Hermione, that I really wanted to sing. But I had kind of put it to bed because the acting thing had gone quite well ...

"Singing makes you much more vulnerable than speaking. In acting, you can hide behind a character, whereas, when you start singing, it's your own voice. For me, there's definitely a different level of vulnerability."

Emma is a huge supporter of equal rights for women and men and hopes she brought these issues through to the forefront with her portrayal of protagonist Belle.

She added: "It is hard for me not to bring the consciousness that I have of issues to a part like Belle. I didn't feel that I was changing the character because, if you listen to the lyrics of songs like Belle (Reprise), it's all there. She's a woman saying, 'I want more than is expected for me to want, and I want to do more than people expect me to do.' But I definitely felt a responsibility to bring those elements out. And I expressed my point of view as strongly as I could without getting fired."

And the role of Belle is no doubt a dream one for Emma as she is a "huge, huge fan" of the original.

She told the Radio Times: "I knew all of the lyrics to all of the songs and most of the lines of the characters. I was a huge, huge fan of the original!"