Emma Watson has obviously outgrown her magical character of Hermione from Harry Potter as she portrays the role of Nicki in Sofia Coppola's entry in the 66th Cannes Festival entitled, The Bling Ring. Nicki is a playful party goer who also teaches yoga.

Interestingly, the movie is based on actual facts about a group of teenagers who burgled the homes of famous Hollywood celebrities from October 2008 through August 2009. The group dubbed as Bling Ring was able to obtain approximately $3 million worth of cash and belongings from famous celebrities.

Hollywood celebrities who were reportedly victims of this teenage group are Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Rachel Bilson, Orlando bloom and Miranda Kerr, Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox and lastly Lindsay Lohan. Reports say that there were at least 50 homes targeted by the group.

Emma Watson's character Nicki is one of the 7 members of the Bling Ring. Their modus operandi is to intrude the homes while celebrities were busy being celebrities. They call their thieving activities as "shopping" and they are fond of stealing branded items.

In order to give justice to her role, Emma Watson admits drawing inspiration from reality TV icons as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie of The Simple Life. Director Sofia Coppola also made her watch video tapes of Pretty Wild, the reality TV show of Alexis Neiers who was a real member of the Bling Ring.

Real life victims Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan agreed to appear in the movie.

Emma Watson, during the 66th Cannes festival Press Conference said that the transition to the new role was strange for her, "I feel like Harry Potter is in the past. It is still present, it is still in people's minds. I don't try and deny the work I've done in the past three years or four years, my life has been incredible. I love playing these different characters, I'm very lucky."

Emma impresses the press when she expresses smart opinion about women in the film industry. She said that "There are a lot of women playing leading roles in film series, there are young women who make their break in comedies, and there are women script writers... From what I see, it's fantastic being a woman in the film industry. In my opinion, they do very well. Nothing is perfect, there isn't equality in our profession, but we are heading in the right direction."

Director Sofia Coppola tells more about the film she directed. She explains that, "Los Angeles plays a key role in American culture. This is what we see in this film: a world of celebrities and reality TV. This story could not have happened anywhere else. These children lived right next to these stars."

Sofia admits that as much as possible, she wants to protect members of the Bling Ring from publicity stunts that may arise from her film. " I changed the names of the characters so that those young people don't become more well known. I met one or two of them, it was fascinating to hear them tell the details of their story. One girl wanted more than anything to see Paris Hilton's dog. You can't make that up."

"I hope I'm not being too judgmental, but it's true I observe them with a certain distance. I think the film both criticizes and glorifies them."

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