NEW YORK — Emma Watson has starred as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” series of films from a young age. But she says she can bear watching her early performances more than the recent ones.

“Weirdly, I find it easier to watch the earlier films, which might surprise you, because I had the whole bushy hair, chipmunk face, big teeth thing going on,” Watson said at the New York press conference promoting “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth film in the series, which opens at midnight tonight. “I find that easier to watch because I can completely disconnect myself. It feels like such a long time ago,” she said.

Watson, 19, plans to attend a U.S. college in the fall, though she hopes to continue acting.

“I’ve managed to juggle and balance studying and working well enough to this point, so I can’t see why I can’t keep doing that,” she said. “But I am looking forward to being a normal teenager and want a normal experience for a bit. Just a little bit of normality for a while would be nice.”

Watson and co-stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) are adapting the seventh book now, which is scheduled to be released as two films in 2010 and 2011. But Watson doesn’t think Potter-mania will ever completely abate.

“I don’t think Harry Potter’s ever really going to die,” Watson said. “It’s so big and so loved. We have the theme park coming out in 2010. I think kids are going to keep reading the books, and new generations of kids are going to keep watching the films. I don’t feel like it’s ever really going to go away.”

By Matthew Price
From Tuesday’s The Oklahoman

See more Harry Potter coverage at NewsOK’s Harry Potter minisite.

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