Image Credit: MARTIN SCHOELLER FOR EW Images of Harry Potter star Emma Watson’s new pixie haircut hit the web Thursday — see an exclusive image from EW’s upcoming Fall Movie Preview photo shoot here — and millions of fans seemed to have strong opinions. Most loved it, but a few didn’t. Why all the fuss? The actress, 20, had been required to keep essentially the same long, blonde hairstyle for ten years while she played Harry Potter’s bookish pal, Hermione Granger, in the $5.4 billion-grossing Potter franchise. But Watson, who’s about to enter her second year at Brown University, finished shooting the final two films earlier this summer. (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, will be released this Nov. 19. Part 2 will be released next summer, on July 15).
When filming ended, Watson’s hair was finally her own. She could have cut her hair immediately, but she decided to wait a bit. “It didn’t feel right then; I needed a break,” she tells EW.com exclusively. During the cut, designed by New York stylist Rodney Cutler of Cutler Salon, Watson never had a moment of panic or remorse. “It was weird. My hairdresser was like, ‘When are you going to freak out?’ Most people cry or go into shock,’” she says. “But I was very calm. I knew it was the right thing.” It helped, she said, that she didn’t tell anyone she was getting the drastic ‘do. “I went to the salon alone and I left alone,” she says. “I knew everyone was going to have an opinion, and I couldn’t deal with it. I have to get myself into a good place to deal with people saying things like, ‘It’s terrible! She looks like a boy!’” Says the actress, laughing, “My dad already said that to me, actually. He said, ‘You’re not Audrey Hepburn yet, darling.’”
Ouch. Thanks, Dad? “He’s like that. I think the best I’ve ever had out of him was before a premiere when he said I ‘scrub up alright.’ When people ask me how I keep myself grounded, there’s the answer.” So what do you think, PopWatchers? Do you approve of Emma’s new look? And are you excited for Deathly Hallows?
Yuck.
She had potential…
Lose the Freddie Kruger sweater maybe?
Oh shut up! All she did was cut her freaking hair. I dont see what the big deal is. She still looks gorgeous. And her dad is hilarious. I can’t wait to read the rest of the interview.
Haha, UGH! That comment made my day.
Ah,err, soon she’ll be dating Lilo. What the $*?@? I had a crush now I’m crushed.
That’s one way to lose her male admirers.
Does she care what you think–probably not. Does she make way more money then you do–probably so!!!
dude she had potential she still does just because she got her haircut doesnt mean she lost everything
I’m more concerned by the fact that she seems to have lost 50 lbs.
Wow… I can’t believe how harsh most of you are being!! It’s just a haircut, calm down! She’s just as pretty as she always is. It’s really not that big a deal. When you go to get a haircut do you consult everyone to make sure they’ll like it? No, you get whatever hair cut you want. So why shouldn’t she? She has every right to cut her hair the way she wants and she’s happy with it so what is the big deal? Some fans you are. You all turn on her just because she’s being herself.
I’m sorry, but I’ve just never understood why women get short boyish haircuts. 99% of the time they don’t look good. Mariska Hargitay and Halle Berry are the only women that have been able to pull that look off. And, yeah, this just officially bumped Emma of the top of my list and put Yvonne Strahovski firmly at the top. Now THAT’s a gorgeous hairstyle!
HOT:
Why don’t you find a street corner and peddle your sagging flesh there!
Why is it NEWSWORTHY when someone gets a haircut? If she needs to play a part with long hair, aren’t there wigs available? Or CGI her hair or something. Please stop reporting on people having new hairstyles. It’s annoying as crap. Unfortunately I read it because I thought there would be some Harry Potter dish on the subject.
I totally agree. Why is a haircut newsworthy?
Yes, I ALWAYS click on headlines with the word “haircut” in them for my Harry Potter dish.
you are reading a blog about pop culture… i wouldn’t expect to find “news” here.
It is news worthy because you’re reading Entertainment Weekly…not the freaking New York Times! Good for you Emma. That girl is naturally beautiful!
You’re perpetuating this type of story by both reading and commenting on it. If you don’t want to read stories of this nature, try reading news sites… not Entertainment Weekly!
Agreed. Why is this news? That said, she is adorable and so’s the cut.
It’s “newsworthy” because it was one of the lead headlines on the CNN.com homepage. I’d assume that’s where people go to get their news.
Why is a haircut newsworthy? Yeesh, this is EW, not the Wall Street Journal. It’s no less “newsworthy” than any of the other celebrity gossip around here.
It’s only newsworthy because everyone made such a big deal out of it. I mean if you’re in the spotlight for ten years with a look that you HAD TO KEEP for over a decade and you cut it, changing a decade long look, it makes an impression. personally I think she’s adorable either way. Yay for her. And get over yourself if you don’t find it newsworthy, just don’t read this part of the news.
its news worthy because you and what appears about 1,000 other people clicked on the link and left a comment.
I couldn’t agree more. Tom boy haircut and Freddie Kruger sweater! Priceless!!!
It is “newsworthy” because she is part of a fantastic movie franchise and a star. When you reach that status then your haricuts will be newsworthy – duh.
What I want to know is why you think after 10 years that Harry Potter is newsworthy.
Real women know short hair is much easier to keep, they cease to become sex objects, and have the emotional security to not care what you think. Emma is cute no matter what, so good for her.
Why are we commenting on this?
Gorgeous! She is so beautiful she can wear her hair anyway she likes. She looks like Jean Seberg in “Breathless.” A gamine. Adorable.
I totally disagree. I think she’s a cute girl, but she doesn’t have a strong enough face to pull off such a drastic pzie cut. Comparing her to Jean Seberg in “Breathless” is just completely off base.
Oops. Pixie*.
Watson is not the world’s greatest actress, IMO, but I just saw “Breathless,” and Jean Seberg was totally gorgeous and totally vapid. Seberg was a haircut, Watson is only wearing one.
I love this cut and dcan’t wait to see how she matches her clothing to the new hair style.
I thought of Edie Sedgwick
I agree with Lily, she is gorgeous and she ABSOLUTELY can carry this style.
I looove her hair.
More hair or less hair, no matter. She’s on fire!
Samantha Ronson? LOL. Emma is attractive and knows how to smile. Ronson is merely gloomy.
Yikes!
Extra yuck! She looks sickly!
I agree, I thought she looked awful. It makes her look skeletal and her face looks sunken in like she has an awful disease.
SAMANTHA RONSON???
Samantha Ronson? LOL. Emma is attractive and knows how to smile. Ronson is merely gloomy. (sorry, misplaced)
I LOVE IT!
She’s a beautiful young woman and I LOVE the cut!
Wow…. That’s a shame. So she wanted to be original and her own person… and decided to do exactly what Natalie Portman did after Star Wars by hacking her hair (same style)…. hmmmm.
Actually, this cut goes much further back than Natalie Portman. This is the Mia Farrow cut from Rosemary’s Baby. It is very mod. I don’t blame Emma for wanting to do this. It is a great symbolic break from the past ten years, and makes her more adult. Not everyone can pull off this mod cut, but she can.
Emma, you look fabulous!
Hey, genius, Natalie Portman had her head shaved DURING a scene in V for Vendetta. Apparently you missed that and caught up with her photos as she was growing it out.
Oh yes, what a shame. Someone you don’t know cut her hair in a manner SHE likes. Shame on her for not consulting you first, eh? Grow up.
Tracey, she’s the one that made a point of showing it in a big media splash and now we aren’t supposed to discuss it? What’s wrong with you?
mia farrow…YES! google the pic – she is adorable and this is the time in her life to do things like this…the cut is sweet – she is young and happy and excited…way to go emma…
there goes the magic.
Rember she is Emma Watson not Hermione Granger.
Joel, you probably require big boobs too. Long hair, big boobs, otherwise it’s not a woman to you. Forget intellect–you can only talk sports with your man pals. . . .
Double yuck.
I agree. She does not look healthy.
She looks like the girl Lindsay Lohan was dating. Yeah, that bad =(
rumour has it she did it to audition for millenium series -the girl with the dragon tatoo movie!
Why does this have so many comments. Way to photo shop her to death EW. I think they made her look bad on purpose. You know how much they hate the Harry Potter stars. Did you see what they had Daniel Radcliffe wearing on that last HP cover?
She looks like she could star in Schindler’s List II now. :/
that’s neither clever nor funny. but thanks for playing.
Lol yes it is funny and therefore clever
Something could be funny and not clever. Therefore you are wrong.
hahaha that’s hillarious
It does have the virtue of being accurate.
I agree. She may be beautiful on the inside, but from the outside she looks to me like a meth addict or a victim of Anorexia or Bulemia. It breaks my heart to see kids starving themselves to achieve some patently unhealthy ideal of attractiveness. As to the hair, I think it would look fine on her if she didn’t have sunken eyes and a skeletal appearance.
Hey, I love it! And for people who don’t, it’s her hair. Let her do what she wants. Don’t hate on Hermione.
See, there’s the whole point. Personally, I don’t like it. But you know what? I don’t have to wear my hair that way. She likes it … good for her.
Emma’s happy, that’s all that matters. Hair grows back. Just ask my daughter–she grows her hair long, cuts it, donates it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths for cancer patients, and starts growing it again. She’s about to make her third donation. Different things are important to different people.
I agree, I think it’s cute on her.
Absolutely! Who cares what we think I think it’s awesome that she has the balls to cut it how SHE wants and not freak out
I agree! She took a risk and I applaud her for it. I think it payed off.
Agreed! i think she looks fabulous! im not a fan of that picture. They should have chosen a more girly wardrobe since her hair is so short. Emmas still the same fashionable young woman we all love. EW could have done a better job with the photoshoot.
i hate that this article points out that she kept her long BLONDE hair to play hermione even though her hair is brown. i do like the haircut though
Yeah I thought the same thing about the blonde comment.
It makes her look 45 years old.
As someone who’s 45…thank you.
Wow, that comment made me laugh for about 10 minutes jes. Hahaha :]
rofl
Hah well I had almost added “Not that there’s anything wrong with 45 if you really are 45″ but figured nah, keep it short. People are smart enough to not need to add disclaimers.
i think she looks gorgeous. any guys who have been turned off by her hairstyle, then obviously you only liked her for her hair. she has the most perfect face ever.
You seem to have confused her age with your IQ.
I think she looks cute!
Love it. The pixie cut looks great on her.
She is absolutely adorable. If only there were a Mia Farrow biopic in the works. I love it.
ITA!! My thoughts exactly! Very sensible for College too!
As a woman who also has a short, pixie-like hair cut, I applaud it and think she looks fabulous.
Ditto!
I don’t have an opinion. It’s just hair. Oooh, and you can sing “No More I Love Yous” next?
Do-do-do-do-dit-dit-dit-dit Ohhh.
Thanks for getting that stuck in my brain!
hahaha, i was totally thinking that she could either be annie lennox or sinead o’connor
Wow! Does she sing also? I was thinking more along the lines of demi moore, jada pinket-Smith, WINONA RYDER…the list goes on and so shall she. YEAH Hermione.
ha ha!
Not my cup of tea, but it’s just hair. It’ll grow back.
Girls will think it’s cute and she’s brave for doing it, majority of guys will think she looks like a 12 year old boy. That’s how these things go.
I always assume that guys who freak out about short hair on women are closet cases. I mean, if you think hair is what makes a female female, you’re clearly not thinking much about the right areas, are you?
Sure. Giver yourself a receding hairline and see how many straight guys you attract that way… it’s just a haircut, right?
Noelle, I have to laugh about your assumption. By your logic then, girls that don’t like when Brad Pitt grows his hair long must be closet lesbians, right? Idiot.
Noelle, I can honestly say that you couldn’t be further off the mark in your assumption.
Noelle is actually quite right. Halle Berry has short hair, but does she look any less of a woman then say, Jessica Biel? No, so guys who say they don’t like women with short because it makes them look like men are being stupid. It’s one thing to have a preference for long-haired women, it’s another to shun an attractive, feminine lady JUST because she has short hair. That does spell closet-case. Women won’t shun a man with long hair because he might look feminine. Fact is, most women actually prefer long hair on a guy because it reminds them of rock stars and bad boys. We don’t mind androgyny on a man, we find it sexy. Men don’t feel that way about women, though.
I’m a guy, I’m straight, and I think she looks amazing as always. She beats the hell out of Kristen Stewart, who has long hair.
No, you seem to have confused “boys” with “morons”
Something that could be done easily.. Naw, I’m just kidding.
Not a good look. She needs to let it grow back.
I can understand her wanting a change…lots of stars have a similar pixie cut. Can’t wait for the next Harry Potter to come out!
I love it! So cute!
I love it. I think she looks beautiful!