Emma Watson ‘Regression’ Role Features ‘Top Feminist’ Going Topless, Report Says
Emma Watson stars in the upcoming film Regression, and to play the emotionally wrenching role, the 24-year-old English actress has made a choice that could prove controversial for the star who was recently named The Ms. Foundation’s Top Feminist Celebrity of 2014. According to reports from early screenings of Regression, Watson has chosen to appear topless in at least one scene.
Whether the single scene in which the former Harry Potter starlet appears with her breasts exposed will survive until the film’s actual release date, on August 28, 2015, is uncertain. According to reports from those preview screenings, audience members judged the potentially controversial scene “useless and ineffective.”
One of the preview screenings attendees said that it appears Emma Watson, while she may have made a courageous choice to go topless while playing a woman who claims she was sexually abused by her father, may have played the scene only halfway.
“You can see her breasts but they are partially obscured,” the preview attendee said. “I think she may have been wearing pasties to cover her nipples.”
This year, Watson was appointed a United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador, and was named top Feminist Celebrity of 2014 by the Ms. Foundation For Women.
“We celebrate all feminists every day, but today we’re giving a hat tip to celebrities who are helping to promote women’s equality,” said foundation CEO Teresa Younger, introducing the list topped by Watson. “Every celebrity on the list has either embraced the term ‘feminist’, spoken out for women’s equal rights or battled against sexist oppression.”
Also appearing on the list were Laverne Cox, Rachel Maddow, Beyonce, Cher, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Meryl Streep, Mindy Kaling, and Ann Curry.
Given the nature of her role in Regression, it appears highly unlikely that Emma Watson will be accused of playing her partially nude scene — if indeed it makes the final cut of the film — for sexually titillating purposes.
According to summaries of the film’s plot appearing on the Internet Movie Database and elsewhere online, Watson plays a young woman who accuses her father of sexually abusing her, but the father has no memory of committing the crime.
A detective (Ethan Hawke) and a psychologist (David Thewlis) then help the man uncover his suppressed memories, which in turn expose a terrifying nationwide conspiracy.
Emma Watson recently finished filming Regression, which is helmed by 42-year-old Alejandro Amenábar. The Spanish director also made the 2001 ghost story thriller The Others, which starred Nicole Kidman.
