Shadowing Practice: Emma Watson Reveals the Dark Truth Behind Red Carpets & Hollywood Pressure - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I've worked with so many young people, musicians, who've all been told, like, "All right, if you don't do this over the next 12 months, you're not going to make it." Yeah.
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Or like, "If you don't do this right now, if you don't say yes to this song or this movie, it's like, you might as well wave it goodbye.
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You're never going to get the Oscar or the whatever it may be
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or the Grammy or whatever it is." And I can't imagine being a young person, like I'm 37 now and it's,
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you process, ideas like that differently.
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Yeah.
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If you're in your teens or...
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even 20s, and maybe even 30s, but you process those statements with so much gravitas,
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especially when it's someone of influence and power saying it to you.
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Yeah.
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It feels like being surrounded by people who really believe in you, and your longevity and your art verses, but that's hard to find.
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It is.
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It's hard to find...
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And You know, I...
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I had a wonderful team.
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Like I really did.
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I think it's just like, understanding that no one at the end of the day is going to be in the room, like when you're actually doing the thing,
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you have to carry that moment and you have to carry that pressure.
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Also, making films, the hours on them are so demanding that to have...
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your own life alongside that, to have that balance.
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is almost impossible.
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It's so all or nothing, it's so all -encompassing, especially if you're in a lead role.
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you kind of go through these you know, working six days a week, 14 to 16 hour days, and then you're just kind of dropped off at the end of it
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and maybe you'll have a two or three month gap and then there's just kind of like, nothing.
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And so you're like riding this like incredible peak of like adrenaline and cortisol, and then you just get like dropped off the edge.
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And then you're like, "Okay, wait, now I have to be a functioning human again.
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And I have to like figure out how to be a person in the real world." And
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I think some of those extremes...
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then force an actor to either decide, "Well, I'm going to back -to -back it, so I'm going to basically go from one movie to the next,
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and that's going to be my full life." Or you have to navigate these huge impacts on your nervous system
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that you need a system and a support system to help you navigate and I think it's why addiction and
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mental illness in my profession and in a lot of high -stress, high -profile professions is so commonplace.
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Because you're trying to balance out these enormous chemical,
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ups and downs yeah talk to people about why
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because i think from the outside yeah when someone sees a red carpet yeah
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or when someone sees an event it looks really glamorous like until i ever attended anything
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and yeah you know i i always looked at it as like oh my gosh it's
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so glamorous and everyone's there and everyone must be friends
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and everyone must know each other because they all you know
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but but then you're not saying that and neither is and and anytime i've ever been on a red carpet
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experience and people are almost waiting to leave yes
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and some people do the red carpet and leave immediately
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but what's going on there like walk us through like i
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mean for people who may not i think the first step is to just understand
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and even though you're wearing an incredibly glamorous dress, and you're there to do something exciting,
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I don't think there's anything that can make it not weird that people are...
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screaming at the top of their lungs.
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Like it just, everything in your body says something's wrong.
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Like people are screaming, something's wrong.
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But then you have to try to pretend as though this is all normal and you're unfazed.
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So you have like two things going on.
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One, you're like navigating this like...
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sensory overload that's like telling you, "Oh my God, something is really wrong." - You had a pose telling you where it's a look, telling you.
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- Yeah, yeah.
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So you're trying to navigate, "Okay, something feels wrong, but I need to also simultaneously make it seem as though I am the most graceful
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and the most calm I've ever been in my whole life.
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And I need to like pose for this person
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and there's 50 different cameras and I need to make sure that I look perfectly into each and every one.
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different notes from the stylist about how I'm supposed to stand and what I need to do for the dress.
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And then I've got like, 25 different talking points from the movie of like what I need to get across and also avoid saying or talking about.
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And so you're like, you need to be thinking about that.
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And the juggle is crazy. And then...
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I think...
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Everyone is in this like kind of
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jumped upstate and so like trying to have a normal conversation with anyone is basically impossible
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because you feel like an insane person and so these are not environments in which you like
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have a nice chat with someone really I mean maybe
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if you're really lucky and you've worked with someone for a long time
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and you've established some trust but I think that was the other thing
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that was like really difficult about movies and what like I kind of laugh at well not in a mean
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when you're like promoting these big films like
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so do you guys hang out on set
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and like do you guys hang out and like are you all friends
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and everyone sort of like nods enthusiastically
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but the truth is no one has seen each other outside of work like very very very rarely mostly
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because the schedule is insane everyone's so tired that
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when they get any time off you're going straight back to
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your hotel room to try to like claw in any piece of rest that you possibly can and you Like,
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I don't know, like it friendships require time and trust and presence and.
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those things like very rarely come about.
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They can and they like do occasionally but it's more of a more of a you know, solar eclipse than an everyday situation.
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So yeah, but you have to pretend.
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I think that's the part that starts to feel.
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icky after a while is like you have to pretend that you're all best friends.
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And what's so sad, and I know this isn't just the case for me, but like, I think people wish they were.
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I think we wish we did have those real connections and we did have that real support.
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And so having to pretend that something exists that you actually really want, but don't have is like,
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it's like pretty grainy in the wound, you know, it's like, it's pretty like tough pill to swallow to have to act you wish were real but isn't real.
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Yeah.
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And I think that's the part that starts to kind of...
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yeah i can only speak for myself but those are definitely the moments where i've been like
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this feels dark like anyone else like this feels dark um - Yeah.
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- Yeah.
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- And there's such a real reminder that, it's still work and it's almost like asking anyone who works at any company and saying,
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"Hey, do you hang out with your team after work every night?" And the answer is, probably no. Yeah, no, everyone's going home to their family.
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And maybe you've got a couple of, of course, you've got a couple of friends at work
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and it's wonderful if you have a friend at work that you work out with or see after hours, but you're not hanging out as the whole crew.
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It's very unlikely.
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100%.
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And it is that reality check of, no, but this is also just work.
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And their character stories and not their personal stories.
Why practice speaking with this video?
Emma Watson's discussion about the pressures of Hollywood and the reality behind red carpets offers a unique opportunity for English learners to practice speaking in a context that reflects real-life experiences. By engaging with this video, learners can enhance their ability to articulate complex thoughts and emotions surrounding high-pressure environments. This content not only helps with vocabulary acquisition but also aids in developing critical listening skills, as Watson navigates themes of mental health and societal expectations. Practicing speaking with this video allows you to expand your English proficiency while gaining insights into the challenges faced by many in the entertainment industry.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
In the transcript, several key grammatical structures and expressions stand out:
- Conditional Sentences: Watson states, "If you don't do this right now, you're never going to make it." This conditional structure is essential for expressing hypothetical situations, common in spoken English.
- Present Perfect Tense: She remarks, "I've worked with so many young people," emphasizing experiences that have relevance to the present. This tense is crucial in conversations about past experiences and their current impact.
- Future Predictions: Phrases like "you might as well wave it goodbye" illustrate how to express future possibilities or probabilities. Understanding such expressions can enrich your conversational skills.
- Colloquial Expressions: Watson uses terms like "ride the peak of adrenaline," which are often used in everyday conversation. Learning expressions like these enhances fluency and comfort in speaking.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While practicing the transcript, pay attention to the following pronunciation challenges:
- Adrenaline: The word "adrenaline" can be tricky. Ensure that you emphasize the second syllable "dren" and try not to rush through the latter part of the word.
- Hypothetical Terms: Phrases like “if you don’t” can often be slurred in fast speech. Practice saying them clearly to avoid blending the sounds, which can blur meaning.
- Colloquial Speech: Expressions like "you might as well" often lead to reduced pronunciation. Practicing this can help you speak more naturally, which is vital for IELTS speaking practice.
For learners aiming to improve their speaking skills, using the shadowing technique with this video can be particularly effective. By listening to Watson and repeating her words, you can enhance your fluency and intonation in English conversations, helping you master the art of effective expression in high-pressure situations. Visit a shadowing site for additional resources to practice your shadow speak! With disciplined practice, such content will prepare you for advanced speaking scenarios, including IELTS speaking assessments.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.