British actor and activist Emma Watson has proven more than willing to challenge her child-star image as Hermione in the Harry Potter movies with her subsequent film roles in This Is The End and The Bling Ring. But never before has she opted to beatbox in public in front of a camera. Until now, that is. As part of a video in support of a video for the He For She initiative of the UN Women Solidarity Movement For Gender Equality, Watson parks herself on a comfortable-looking couch opposite Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who makes the following proposal: He’ll do one of his famous freestyle raps on a topic of her choice, but only if she agrees to beatbox. “I know you’ve seen a lot of beatboxing,” Miranda insists. “I know they were beatboxing on set during those movies!”
At first, Watson demurs and asks for some instruction from the expert, but Miranda wants her to just go for it. The latter’s only stipulation is that the actress cover her mouth, “just for my sake.” The winning performance has Watson providing a steady beat as Miranda rhymes about equal pay. At one particularly inspired point, Watson drops out for a bar and lets Miranda kick it a cappella, only to come back in again, exactly on the beat. This causes Miranda to exclaim, “Look it! You kept going!” Watson jokes that English school kids practice beatboxing all the time, but the video suggests that such a thing may actually have happened in the shadowy corridors of Hogwarts.
[via USA Today]