Hermione Granger has been researching pregnancy and labour. Not words you expect to hear…
Actress Emma Watson didn’t skip the character research for her new film role – which included learning about pregnancy and birth.
The 23-year-old star of The Bling Ring (not to mention the Harry Potter series, of course) is in the new biblical epic Noah.
She plays Ila, the wife of Noah’s eldest son Shem, and wanted to portray her role as a mum as realistically as possible.
‘I did a lot of research because I become a mother in the story, and obviously have never given birth myself,’ she tells Reuters.
‘That required quite a lot of careful thinking. Darren [Aronofsky – the film’s director] and I had this conversation where we both agreed that in so many films, women give birth and it looks like they’re barely breaking a sweat. We wanted it to feel very raw, very real and so I took it pretty seriously.’
'I become a mother in the story, and obviously have never given birth myself'
And who better to help her get in the mum-to-be zone than pregnant women.
‘Any pregnant woman anywhere, I’d be like, “Can I talk to you? Can I talk to you about your experience?”’ Emma continues.
‘I spoke to my own mother a lot, obviously, and then I watched a lot of YouTube videos of natural births, lots of documentaries, spoke to midwives, just any information I could get my hands on, really.’
Must make a change from Quidditch talk…
What’s the best piece of pregnancy or birth advice you were given? Let us know on the comments board below.