Emma Watson has two reasons to celebrate today.
The actress just completed filming Disney's upcoming live-adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" -- and the date has some major significance to the 25 year old.
"The 21st of August must be an auspicious day for me 15 yrs ago I began my journey as Hermione15 yrs later I wrap on my 1st musical as Belle," Watson tweeted out on Friday.
That's right -- on August 21, 2000, Warner Bros. announced the cast of the first "Harry Potter" film, introducing the world to Watson for the first time as Hermione Granger.
"Director Chris Columbus and producer David Heyman have discovered their Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger from the thousands of children who cast their names into the hat to play the roles," a press release from that day reads.
"I wish Dan [Radcliffe], Emma and Rupert [Grint] the very best of luck and hope that they have as much fun acting the first year at Hogwarts as I had writing it," J.K. Rowling added at the time.
When she was cast, Emma had only appeared in school plays ... and has gone on to become one of the most respected actresses in her age group.
While most fans will have to wait a bit to see her as Belle, a lucky few saw a sneak peek of the "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation at D23 last weekend.
A brief clip was shown to the audience at the bi-annual Disney convention, showing Emma in both her character's famous gold ball gown and her blue and white villager dress. We saw the footage -- and wow, did she look absolutely stunning walking down the stairs to dance with the Beast.
We also got a glimpse of Luke Evans in full Gaston costume, sporting the character's red suit and long ponytail.
That's it for now. We'll see more when the film finally hits theaters March 17, 2017.
