The British actress Emma Watson — best known for her role as a spell-casting schoolgirl in the “Harry Potter” franchise — has undergone a complete transformation for her part as a bad girl in the Sofia Coppola-directed flick about the group of California teenagers who robbed the homes of a long list of celebrities, including Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox. In new photos taken on the Venice Beach movie set, Watson shows off a whole new side, parading around in Daisy Dukes and a bra — baring her belly — while wearing animal-print heels.
Watson will play one of the celebrity-obsessed teens — also known as the Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch — who used the Internet to track the whereabouts of some of Los Angeles’ most famous residents and then robbed them when they knew they weren’t home. Between October 2008 and August 2009, the group stole more than $3 million dollars in belongings and cash, mostly from Paris Hilton. They were finally busted after someone identified one of the girls on surveillance video captured at Lohan’s home.
Photos by Pacific Coast NewsIn the film, Watson — who bade farewell to Hermione when the final film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2,” hit theaters last summer — will be playing Nicki, a teen with an ex-Playboy model mother who urges her to seek fame. Actress Leslie Mann will portray the mother.
Watson’s character appears to be loosely based on Alexis Neiers, who, after filming a reality TV pilot for E! called “Pretty Wild,” was busted for being a member of the Bling Ring. She later pled no contest to felony theft for the Bloom burglary and spent one month in jail—ironically, the last five days of her sentence she was in a cell next to Lohan, who was there for a probation violation. Neiers’s reality show ultimately made it to the air on E! but only lasted one season.
This is the second time the story of the teen theft ring is being told. Previously, Lifetime did a TV movie on the subject called “Bling Ring,” which starred Austin Butler and Jennifer Grey.
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