Before Belle, Emma Watson turned down the chance to be Cinderella

She's a funny girl, that Emma Watson. Most girls would jump at the chance to portray iconic fairy tale heroine Cinderella, but the actress declined to play that particular Disney princess.

In the latest issue of Total Film magazine, Watson discussed why Belle spoke to her when Cinderella didn't.

"I just felt the character resonated with me so much more than Cinderella did," Watson told Total Film, explaining she was offered the role of Cinderella in last year's live-action remake, but turned down the part that eventually went to Lily James. "I don't feel like I particularly fitted in when I was younger. There's this kind of outsider quality that Belle had, and the fact she had this really empowering defiance of what was expected of her. In a strange way, she challenges the status quo of the place she lives in, and I found that really inspiring."

Belle is famously a bookworm and an outsider, like another character Watson spent time familiarizing herself with over her career.

"And also, she manages to keep her integrity and have a completely independent point of view," Watson added. "She's not easily swayed by other people's perspective — not swayed by fear-mongering or scapegoating."

Her costar and beast bae Dan Stevens noted another element Belle brings to the table.

"There needs to be [darkness]," Stevens said in the same cover story. "Belle brings the Beast out of the shadows. She isn't afraid of the darkness."

The Beauty and the Beast issue of Total Film is available in print and on iTunes. The film hits theaters March 17.