'Potter' star takes next step in 'Wallflower' trailer

By Cody Delistraty

While the role of Hermione Granger remains boldly emblazoned on the acting career of Emma Watson, she has made it clear that she doesn?t plan to rest on her ?Potter? laurels.

Although it was only this past Sunday that Watson accepted the award for best cast for ?Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II? at the MTV Movie Awards, it was on that same day that Watson, alongside costars Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, presented the trailer for their upcoming film, ?The Perks of Being a Wallflower.?

Emma Watson at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday.

The film, which is based on Stephen Chbosky?s 1999 cult novel that has sold over a million copies, will be Watson?s first leading role outside of the "Harry Potter" mega-franchise. Her only non-?Potter? role is 2011?s micro-biopic ?My Week with Marilyn,? but her screen time was minimal (she was on set for only a few days) and the film didn?t see the commercial success that ?Perks? is expected to attain.

Taking it upon herself to break how she's been?typecast, Watson has lined up three diverse, promising films for next year, including both serious and comedic turns alongside Stanley Tucci and Jonah Hill and under the direction of Sophia Coppola.

But ?Perks? seems immensely promising in its own right with a tinge of "Potter" similarity. Playing an American high school senior named Sam, Watson?s character welcomes introverted and emotionally-embattled freshman Charlie into a group that, in the trailer, she dubs, ?the island of misfit toys.?

?I never thought I?d make another high school-esque movie,? Watson told MTV. ?And here I am as this coming-of-age, American, teen (film). But it?s very witty, it?s very funny, and it?s very moving.?

For ?Perks,? which takes place in Pittsburgh suburbia, Watson had to adopt an American accent, and she told The New York Times?that she sent out a flurry of emails to American friends in an effort to better understand high school in the States. (She attended the prestigious Headington School and The Dragon School -- both in Oxford, England).

From the looks of the?trailer, she has certainly turned on the American high school charm. In a scene that holds massive gravitas in the novel, her character Sam stands up in the car and spreads her arms like wings as they whiz through a tunnel, giving a smile to Charlie sitting below. It?s an "epic" moment, as her costar Ezra Miller told MTV.

It's also a moment that?shows exactly why?Charlie finds her irresistible.

Watson?is?looking to spread her own?wings after "Potter," and, from the emotionally-charged trailer and her ambitious upcoming?filming schedule, she's doing just that.

Check it out:

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