"Emma Thompson"

0:00So hello everyone, darling listeners. It is Emma Thompson here calling you from Blighty, the shores of Great Britain. My microphone is propped up on, well actually one of the boxes has got my quite posh cards in that I recently invested in, which have my name in tiny little really sort of delicate letters. And I felt it was sort of quite, I just thought it was classy. Anyway, I may be wrong, of course. I often am. So the books are Truth and Repair by a woman called Judith L. Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery. You may be getting a sense here. Then there's Getting Over Your Parents, which is a very important book for anyone who is human. And then there's On Being Nice, which of course is a very important thing, but don't take it too far. That's what I always say. Oh, there was one other thing. Welcome to Smartless. Ha ha ha ha! Smart. Less. Smart.

1:16Less. Smart. Less. I'm an actor and I have to be on camera today. Here, have you been working on your faces in the mirror all morning? Yes. Let's see. Surprise. Surprise. Let's see. Surprise. God, that's so good. Now, one with the mouth closed. One with the mouth closed. Still rolling? So, Sean, you shoot today, huh? That's how JB directs. Yeah, I do. Right after this, actually. JB, is that how you direct actors? Still rolling, still rolling. And one with the mouth closed? Okay, good, good, good. By the way, Ben. Don't look right at the camera. Don't look right at the camera. Still rolling. By the way, I just got that note. I'm not even kidding. Sean, can you close your mouth in this scene? No. I swear to God. No. Was it a dialogue scene? Did they just want you to stop talking? No, it was just like my character was like, I can't believe what you're saying. I was just like, are you serious? Like kind of serious. So I was like, and she's like, can you do it with your mouth closed? Could you do it with your mouth closed? I tried. I tried really hard. But you're like, I have dialogue. They're like, yeah, we know. Just mouth closed. Yeah, I'm just prepping my mouth to talk. And you're going to go on background. That's going to be your cue. And just try thinking

2:31your lines on this take. Here we go, everybody. Wait, do you know what? I was doing this scene once years ago and Eli was there. We were in France and I had this long shot. I'm walking down the thing and I get to the end and Eli goes, bro, your legs are really wide apart. Okay, your gait's really wide. And I go, do this long shot. I'm walking down the thing and I get to the end. And Eli goes, bro, your legs are really wide apart. Okay, your gait's really wide. And I go, oh, okay. And I had to do it like five more times. The whole time I'm just thinking about how I was walking. Close your legs. Which is the worst. That's the way you walk. I could do your walk in two seconds. I know, I know I walk. Oh, yeah, you're a little bow-legged. Yeah, like you just got off a horse. Well, hang on. This is not an excuse to just pile on. I'm very vulnerable this morning. I think I'm actually bow-legged. I don't think, Will, you're bow-legged. You just happen to swing your legs around one another when you walk forward. It's because of the hips. I have long legs. You do have long legs. I was thinking about you watching all the hockey this weekend with you filling up that goal crease. Yeah. You know, you need a tall guy in there, right? Get that shoulder up into the high corners. Well, back in the day when I played, it was much more about getting on the ground, stacking the pads. Oh, sure. Stacking the pads. Instead of a butterfly. So, Will, with you being a Toronto fan, are you keeping it with Canada and rooting for Montreal? Montreal. I sure am. Yeah. I'm all the way. And Sean, who's your pick to win this cup? Between the two, between Canada and...

3:48Over there at the... Well, it looks like it's going to be Vegas. Which will air afterwards. But it's pretty exciting. Will used to... A couple of years ago or three years ago, Will had me record my picks. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah. For the Stanley Cup. Yeah. Yeah. And so every week I would record my picks. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah, for the Stanley Cup. Yeah. And so every week I would record the picks and why they would win. Sean, I'm going to give you three guesses what the name of the team in Las Vegas is called. The hockey team. Okay, let me ask you this. Does it have something to do with the city itself? It does not. Yeah, it really doesn't. Yeah, they're not called the Chips or the Cards. Or the Double Down not. Yeah, it really doesn't. Yeah, they're not called the chips or the cards. Double downs? Yeah, no. What about... It's Elizabethan. I'll give you a hint. It's Elizabethan or it's like... Well, I mean... The kings. That's close. I mean, it could be any of those eras. The golden knights. The golden knights. I tell you who's golden. Oh, here he comes. Will's got a lunch take-off. You guys like a segue? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, she's golden in that. I mean, you know, she's obviously won two Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for like 11 or something. Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. And won two Academy Awards of the five that she's been nominated for.

5:03Oh, no. Wait a second. Five nominations? That's... And Emmys. And in fact, she's the sole artist thus far to be... to have received an Academy Award for both acting and screenwriting. Acting for Howard Zinn. Wait a minute. Screenwriting for Sense and Sensibility. Emma Thompson. Well, I bet she has. Guys, it's just Emma Thompson. I can't even get into her credits. It's Emma Thompson. Emma Thompson. Well, Emma, bring her out. Guys, it's just Emma Thompson. I can't even get into her credits. It's Emma Thompson. Emma Thompson, no way. Dane, Emma Thompson. Hello. Incredible. Incredible. Hello. Nice to see you. I literally didn't understand a word of any of that. Yeah. Oh, my God. Three guys talking about hockey. It's fascinating. I love your refugees on the floor in the background. Yeah. Oh, can you see them? Yeah, sure. That's my daughter and her boyfriend. They can't hear you, which is just tragic because all they can hear is me and they're used to me. So why? Why don't you give them a chair to sit on? They're going to go and sit outside. Why don't you? You can. They're going. Now, where are you? Are you at their house or your house? No, I'm in my office, actually. I was looking behind Sean. He's got a very posh kind of array. You should see it when it's actually awards back there. There's awards. There's like loads of statues and portraits and photos and books.

6:20It's a mess. And Jason's got like some sky, which is good. And Will is in deep darkness, which given the fact that he's giving us this kind of vampire voice, it also works, you know? It's all making more and more sense. Yeah. Now, we were making fun of Sean the other day because he had one of his awards behind him. As people do, for some weird reason, on their Zoom frame, usually includes any awards that one may have won. You don't have any awards behind you, and you've won tons. Where are they all? Yeah, where are they? The Oscars are in the lavatory because that just keeps them in their place. The Globes and the BAFTAs and all that are on a very high shelf somewhere where I can't see them. I don't know. I think that's very British. We have a friend that has an award and she keeps it in the bathroom as well and puts the toilet roll on one of the extended limbs. It's a holder. Yeah. That's taking it even further than me. You know what? I think that maybe you ought to go the other way, which is have a table right in your foyer as you walk into your place with a spotlight. Yeah. And just lean into it.

7:36You know what I mean? So they know what they're dealing with. That's it. Or you just put them in the doorway, just so that when people come in, they just trip up over them. Yeah. I'm so sorry, this is my Oscars. Sorry. I'll just move them. Right this way. Yeah, it's fine. Do come through. Would you like to freshen up? Yeah. And then have copies of them in the toilet so they can't get away, ever. And then another, you know, just have them everywhere until people just go, I need to leave. Lean into it. I think that that's a good idea. Where is your office? Are you in England or New York or Los Angeles? I'm so in England, but it doesn't feel like it today. Actually, everyone is experiencing a trauma, a London trauma. So I'm in London, North London, where I've lived all my life. I've lived on the streets since I was six years old. So that's six years and one year. Yeah, weird, quite weird. Anyway, suddenly we got a heat wave, which obviously has nothing to do with climate change. Right, no, it's all a hoax. Why would we even suggest that? But it's 35 degrees in London. And, you know, things are just dying in front of you. Pets, household, appliances, flour, everything is just wilting.

8:52It's like, you know, Dracula's walked into the town. And there's not a lot of air conditioning either, right? We don't have air conditioning here. It's ridiculous. Or ice. We have three hot days a year. Or ice. But they're 36 degrees. Or ice. Yeah, although that's a year, but they're 36 degrees. Or ice. Yeah, although that's coming. Emma, why is that? That's coming. Why is it that Europe on the whole somehow sort of all made a consensus decision that carbonated drinks don't taste better with ice cubes? It seems pretty clear that they do. That's just objectively true, right? But yet you have to ask for ice with a soda. I sound like an ugly American here. I apologize. No, you're just obsessed with ice. Americans have always been obsessed with ice. You're obsessed with it. I'm sorry, but you are. When I first arrived in America and ice was just... It was just brought... You were practically put in a fucking ice bath when you arrived. We were so excited about it. Get in the ice. Get in the ice. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. Everything came with ice. You know, chicken parmesan came with ice. What's going on here? This is mad. You're obsessed with it. And we don't have that obsession because we don't have probably as much money

10:11and our refrigerators are not as big and they don't produce ice. We all get fridges that say they produce ice and within a week they've broken down. So what do you do to beat the heat? You just lie face down on the pavement, panting. Stay still. Hoping that some dog will come and whittle on you and cool you down. I mean, we don't have methods. But here's the thing. You just kind of, you just take it. We don't need to always be in our perfect comfort zones at all times. No. That's the whole point of life. There are things that happen. There are days where you're hot and you deal with it. There are days that are cold. But it is true that in this country, I'm Canadian, by the way, Emma, so I'm with you. I know you're Canadian, Will, darling. But I think you guys are used to extreme temperatures and we live in a temperate zone. Yes. And we're really not used to it. And now because of climate change, look at my face. I mean, I'm the same color as one of the stripes in my shirt. It's tragic. But, you know, it's like, we're just not used to it. And it's quite it's really weird. Yeah. Actually. It's so hot. How was it last summer? Last summer it was super hot there too, right? Europe had a huge heat wave. Yes, super hot. And I was traveling on the tube. Were you there? I was there last summer. He was doing his play. Oh last summer. It was so hot. He was doing his play. Oh, man. It was so hot.

11:28And like to everybody's point, there's no air conditioning. We were staying in a place that had air conditioning. And we were rehearsing in a place that was like a greenhouse with no air. And what about the theater, Sean? Did the theater have air conditioning? No air conditioning in the theater. What? No, there's no air conditioning in our theaters. Come on. Because we've never needed it before and we haven't adapted yet to climate change. I want to, Emma, you're talking about taking the tube. What's your experience like when you take the tube? Are you, as in London, are you approached constantly and mobbed by people asking you questions? No. No, not at all. Nobody takes any notice on the tube. They're all looking at their phones. But my guess is that when they do recognize you, it's something very charming and respectful and they say which movie that they love. She's a respected actor as opposed to a celebrity. You see a celebrity out, it's like a giraffe has escaped the zoo and you've got to get a picture of it on your phone. Yes, it's a different thing. Yeah. You're right. I'm very lucky, I think, because it's the same in Europe. People have a relationship with, I don't know what it's like for you guys, but you know, you must have this, Jason, that people have a relationship with a particular role that you might have played or maybe a couple.

12:48And we've done lots and lots of different things. I think if, for instance, you're sort of an action hero, I can imagine that for somebody like, I don't know, Schwarzenegger or Stallone or Bruce Willis, then there's a very specific response every single time. But for me, you know, I can pass, not necessarily unnoticed, but certainly it's never been an issue, actually. What's your least favorite kind of interaction with a fan? Like when you're with your family or or i mean because it's like there's some there's something i always get embarrassed if it ever causes like a scene in other words grabs the attention of others that might not otherwise know who i am or notice it you know like it's it's great when it's just sort of mellow and quiet and passing, right? Yes, I mean, it's lovely and people will just pass you and still keep walking. Yeah. They go, love your work, bye. Yeah. It's lovely. But when you're sort of buying sausages with your daughter, you don't really want them to come up and go, can I have a selfie?

14:06Selfies are interesting, aren't they they how do you guys feel about those right well how do you feel about the do you feel that they're intrusive at all what do you think well no but i would have noticed is that in the old days it used to be autographs and if you didn't have a piece of paper or a pen uh then it was just hey nice nice to meet you and like your work. And it was a nice, but now everybody's got a phone. So even if you don't want an autograph, right, slash picture, you still sort of feel obligated. Well, I better take this, you know. And so people kind of line up a little bit. And anyway, I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. Do you ever say no? No, never. Never? And I've been with people. I don't either. I mean, never is probably, I'm sure I have, but I don't. I do when I'm with the kids sometimes. When I'm with, if I'm with the kids or with the little kids. And if it's an adult asking, I'll say no. I've never said no to a kid. I have said that. I have said that. Yeah, but I've said sometimes. I'm the same, Will. I wouldn't ever say no to a child, but sometimes if I'm with the family, I'll say, would you mind awfully? I just... I'm with my family. And what's so interesting to me is that every time I have said no, and it's quite rare, people have taken it so well because they seem completely to understand.

15:24So in a way, I feel like they know what they're asking for, that what they're asking for is a little bit kind of, it's a lot to take a photograph with somebody. I have some famous friends that they say no all the time. They never say yes. And it makes me so uncomfortable. I just feel like that's so nasty. Because it's such an easy give in a way. It's an easy give. Have you ever gotten, hey, can I get a picture really quick? And then they hand you the camera? Because that's happened to me. Right. They want you to take a picture of them with their friends. Yeah. Many times. I've also many times got, oh my God, you're... And then they say the name of a completely different actress. So I have the choice. I either say, yes, I am so-and-so. I would love to give you a photograph. Or I say, I'm 20 years younger. Or I say, oh, I'm 20 years older. Or I say, no, she's dead, actually. But then I just kind of move gently on through. You know what's funny? The other day I was sitting in a restaurant and I had two interactions in a row, back to back. First of all, I had a woman come over and say, and I was sitting with my sister and my brother-in-law and our buddy Eli, Canadian Eli. And this woman said,

16:40so sorry to bother you and I know that you're eating and then proceeded to sit down on the bench next to me and begin a conversation at which point I was like well you're not that bothered did you grab a fry? then she left and then this other woman came over and she said my friend is a fan but I'm sorry what's your name and Eli goes Jason Bateman she said thank you so much she walked away JB I forgot to tell you that it was so good it was so good I had a really wonderful one I was in Harry's Bar in Venice which is you know the original Harry's Bar and it was very nice it was years and years ago and a woman came up she was in the other room and she kept on peeling off these massive smiles and grins at me and waving and I thought okay so she must know my work. That seems fair enough. I'm in Venice. It's the festival, blah. Anyway, she came over as she was leaving and said, I'm so happy to see you in here. I said, oh, thank you. Thinking, why? And then she said, you know, I still wear those shoes. I wear them all the time. I love them. You were so right. I was wrong and you were right i'm thinking shoes and then she said you remember i'm staring at her thinking i just i can't work this one out i haven't made a film about shoes have i anyway she said you remember

18:00the fifth floor in barney's so she thought that I'd sold her a pair of shoes in the shoe department at Barney's. And she was thrilled to see me in Harry's bar because clearly that meant I was doing quite well for myself. Do you know what I mean? That I was like in the same, I was in the same arena as a woman who buys shoes on the fifth floor at Barney's. And that gave her pleasure. And she needed to convey that to me, which was very kind, I thought, actually. And I said, I'm so glad they still fit. Good for you. Now, Emma, do you miss Barney's like I miss Barney's? I do. I miss Barney's a lot. Sorry, I really do. We were just talking about it the other day. I miss it so much. We're admitting to terrible shallowness, but I do. I really do. By the way, both New York and LA. I other day. I miss it so much. We're admitting to terrible shallowness, but I do. I really do. By the way, both New York and L.A. I'm sad. I miss them both. Yeah, both places. I love those places. I love them. Me too. What happened to it? What happened? How would it go belly up? It's because people shop online now, right? Is that right? I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything, yeah. It has to go to the shoe, right? Direct to the shoe department. Right. Just walk in that men's. You walk in the back way there on, like, what is that SHU department. Oh, no, just walk in that men's, so you walk in the back way there on like, what is that, like 59th Street? You can walk in that back door. Oh, I was talking about Los Angeles. And there was one downtown, too. Well, the original on 17th Street. Oh, God. Oh, guys, keep saying numbers. Say numbers, Mark.

19:17And we will be right back. And now, back to the show. Wait, Emma. So listen, let's go back. Let's go back. Let's go back. I love... Let's start the interview. Let's listen to the questions. You guys, Emma's here. Emma, we're the worst interviewers of all time. I'm so sorry. And you're realizing that in real time. And your regret is evident. We, so I didn't know that you were, that you started, well, started, but you were in the acclaimed Footlight Sketch Group at Cambridge, which has seen a lot of great performers. So you have a history of sketch comedy, which is so amazing. I didn't know that. That's cool. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I did that for years. Would that be like the British lampoon type of thing? Sort of, yeah. It's an equivalent to sort of the lampoon in a way-ish, but it's more of a sketch comedy. But, you know, it's like SNL. SNL is basically what I would think of as review. So back in the day, in the early part of the 20th century, review was huge in the day, in the early part of the 20th century, review was huge in our country. And it was basically a collection of sketches, songs, you know, just a kind of review.

20:34Like a variety show. A variety show, yes. And that's what we did. It's completely dead now. We don't have review anymore. But SNL is a form of review. It really is. It's sketches and songs and music. It's in England now. You know, it's little bites. And I started doing that, absolutely, with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Yeah. Did it for years. In fact, I was going to be a comedian. That was what I wanted to be because I admired Lily Tomlin. I never knew that. So greatly. She's great. And Jane Wagner, you know, the signs of intelligent life in the universe. All of her beautiful characters. Yeah, incredible. I love that. That's what I wanted to do for a living. But you are still doing it because anytime there's a character that lends itself even slightly to comedy, you take that and you expand that and you're always freaking hilarious whenever you choose excellent timing that beautiful british dryness yeah it's just oh well i mean i was gonna ask you me these guys gonna make fun of me but i'm a massive harry potter fan and i'm not kidding and you show us show us the wand I don't I really do have one but you as Professor Sybil right

21:49Sybil Shaloni that was speaking about like characters and like Lily Tomlin and all those things when I saw that it was such a and this is a compliment such a big character in a world that has big characters with the, you guys, if you haven't seen it, she has like Coke bottle glasses, like literally this thick that make her eyeballs this big. And she's neurotic and she gets possessed. And it's such an incredible character. How did you trust that that was, that your choice to come in on the first day we talk about this a lot with a huge swing which a huge swing was going to be how did you trust that you know what i mean you don't really do how did you come up with the character well it was written in the books that she has those glasses books yeah that i think she's definitely nearly blind can't see anything and obviously deeply neurotic because she can see sometimes whether people are, you know, have the grim or not. So, I mean, honestly, in my quite long career, given the fact that I'm a good 10 years older than all of you guys, I have done many, many parts. And I've spent about 30 days on Harry Potter

23:07in my whole life. So it's kind of a strange thing to talk about because it's become such this huge phenomenon. And that's a lot of the time that's what people are very sort of drawn to that. People stop, yeah. I mean, I've also seen Saving Mr. Banks like 20 times, and I've seen Sensibility and Remains of the Day. No, no, I wasn't getting at you. Yeah, yeah. It's just that... Just to make sure. You know what it's like, guys, when you decide to play someone. You just have to fling yourself into it, don't you? Yeah. You go first and hope that your instincts are right. Yeah. Well, there's always that thing, because we talk about that idea, you know, I always say it's like when you first arrive and you're doing something, you've made a sort of a choice and you want to make sure that you're not at a different volume than everybody else. Especially if you come in in the middle. That's what I'm saying. You know what I mean? And you're like... Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Is this, you know... Am I in a different movie? Yeah? Am I in a different movie? Yeah, am I in a different movie? I came in, I did something this winter and I sort of came in, they'd been working for a while and I thought like, oh boy, and I had a real look going. And I thought, What was the look, Will? What was the look? He was sort of like a retired rocker and he's sort of down on his luck.

24:24And Pedro Pascal comes in and he's sort of down on his luck and Pedro Pascal comes in and he's my brother and I just like, and I sort of worked on it with the director, with Tony Gilroy and I thought, okay, this is it. But at the same time, I thought like, you know, that first moment, like, here we go guys and we're rolling. I'm like, boy, there's better work. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's so scary. But at least Tony had seen it. Yes, he had. We had talked about it, but still, we hadn't done it. Do you know what I mean? So you don't get to rehearse like us. It's quite rare, isn't it, in film that you get to rehearse. Yeah. Whereas in theater, it's all about rehearsal. Yeah. All about rehearsal. I love it. So sometimes I think it's a shame we don't get enough rehearsal in film. But, you know, again, it's a very mysterious business, filming. It is. You never know what's going to come out. And the camera's so odd, don't you think? Bit of a sort of witchy presence, I find. Well, you also have that thing when you finish something and you go, and people say, how was it? And you're like, I don't know. Yeah, you know, that's sort of in that period of sort of waiting and jb obviously when you're in post and you're putting a film together you're living with it it's breathing with you all the time and so like you have a sense of it but everybody else kind of goes away um yeah there really is always emma you've you've done some directing right you

25:41yes no no no never directed have you not no i i feel like you had a couple of times but there is why haven't you let's let's press her can you emma can you check that you haven't yeah we'll wait we'll wait um i've interfered a massive amount that's not directing though that's just taking part in a slightly upsetting way um i especially with i suppose with the films with children in i've spent a lot of time with the children because that's important and um the films i've made for young people i always consider children to be the sacred audience they're the people we need to make the best of our work for because they don't lie it's the first time that they see something it needs to be so so good you've done so many things over so many genres when i when you when you're speaking of like the children's films and stuff and i so many things and i was just i was just i watched within the last year uh a film that you did a few years ago uh god probably 10 years ago but it's based on one of my favorite books of all time which is alone in berlin oh my god you saw that you're like one of course i love that book was incredible to

26:59me and then i love that book it's one of it's just such an amazing it's one of the best second halves of a book I've ever read. It's just mesmerizing. And so then, and then I realized I made a film. And so I just, I didn't know that you had made that film. And I watched it. It was beautiful. It was lovely. It's such a great story. Is it a World War II story? It is. It's almost a piece of like resistance art in a way, the book is and the film. And how do you you because you do these things across so many different genres like how do you decide to do like a film like alone in berlin let's say but just for instance is it always just uh material based or where you're how you're feeling like at a certain time in your life and you're like i want to do something that's kind of moody or how do you go about that process? I think you're right. I think it's a little bit like meeting the right person at the right time or reading the right book at the right time. Things come to you at moments when perhaps you need them. I think as artists, sometimes we need to play certain things. It's just coming at us. I mean, I think it's all sort of out there, moving around us all the time. And then things pass us by and we think, oh, I wish I could have, oh, well, actually, no, that was wrong. And then something comes in and hits us right in the centre of us.

28:17And you go, I really want to tell that story now. And sometimes you don't know why, but I always know if it's something I want to do. I always know. And it's not something I could quantify, quantify in any useful way. It's literally something will come across my back and I go, oh, that's a wonderful story. I mean, Alone in Berlin is, I mean, I'm kind of slightly obsessed with both wars, actually, because I think they left traumas in our country, in the UK, that have never really been healed or addressed. addressed and um and so alone in berlin for me is just this beautiful i mean the book is incredible if you haven't read it do um it's hafner isn't it it's his it's his pseudonym isn't it will um sebastian hafner hans falada hans hans fal yeah. And his actual name is perhaps the other one. Yeah, I get that. Sean, you can go get a snack. Three Stooges, right, Sean? When that came. Yeah. Alma, have you ever taken apart a character,

29:35said yes to it, because that character has sort of a personality trait that you are thinking seriously about expanding in your own life and this might be a fun way to kind of play a little bit with that and try it on and maybe incorporate some of it at the end if it goes well kind of because because i've done that a couple of times that's really interesting really like you're like i want to be like i'm going to play this smarty pants because i'd like to be a little bit more like like like like how i'm kind of reading this character in this in this script and this would be a kind of an easy little cheat to try it off is that dtf yeah um but um but like yeah sometimes it's for the for the director the story or the other cast or whatever but then sometimes it's it's it's oh i kind of always wanted to be kind of like that and maybe i'll try a little bit here you ever done that i think i did that with down cemetery road i did a telly recently it's a series called down cemetery road which is a quote from a philip larkin poem and it's a mick heron book it's the slow horses group and um i think i i mean not only do i love the author but the character she's sort of my age probably grew up in london during the slightly seamy 60s i mean as a child in the 60s you know

30:59i think about my childhood in london how really close to the end of the war that was. I mean, I was born in 1959, so it's 14 years after the end of the Second World War. It's nothing really. It's like a blink of an eye. And therefore... You're still rebuilding. Yeah. Oh, God, yes, absolutely. And still to a certain extent, a little bit of, you know, not having quite enough to eat. And it was, I think, quite dark probably, which is, you know, one of the reasons why Alone in Berlin was interesting for me as well. But I think that this character, Zoe, is not a good girl. I was brought up to be very good, very obedient, very, not in a bad way, but in a way that I think that many, many girls in my culture are brought up to be always lovely and kind and loving and emollient and accepting and tolerant. And I think that whilst there is a place for that in both sexes, it is not appropriate for it to be just women who do that,

32:15and nor is it sometimes appropriate for them to do it at all. So, you know, actually, this woman doesn't do it in any way. She just, she's a very releasing sort of character because she's unapologetic and certainly not polite. Right. And whilst she has kindness, certainly, and empathy inside her, she uses it very judiciously and not, as it were, just as a kind of scattergun technique to avoid conflict or being judged for not being, you know, a nice woman. Sure. Does she weaponize it? Um, what do you mean? Like uses it, like it's calculated the way it's it's used or no no it's quite natural it's quite natural it's not really uh it's just an instinct she's she's just like i always feel when sean's being kind to me he's just manipulating me you know what i mean well that's true i think yeah i mean i think you're right about that clearly wait emma you grew up, I was just thinking, so both your, as you talk about this, and both your parents, correct me if I'm wrong,

33:31were actors, is that right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so you grew up, like, this is a sort of a, you grew up in the family biz in a way, is that right? Yes, I did, but it was the family business of theater yeah so my parents grew up at a time when there really was no television so they expected naturally as actors my father was working class from um a southern town in our gilford um had not very much education, was very self-taught, decided to become an actor and leave that patch. I mean, he was a proper lever of everything that he came from. You know, his mother, my grandmother, was a servant. She went into service when she was 16 years old and indeed one of her children was born out of wedlock because she was raped by one of her employers. So her journey as a mother with these four children was really quite dramatic. And Dad got out and went into the theatre and met my mother who's from Scotland, very different culture and background, Presbyterian, Scottish Presbyterian, so very, well, puritanical actually.

34:51Yeah. One can't really avoid that, even though she's never been able to resist good wine, which is excellent. But, you know there was I did grow up in this very interesting sort of combination but they did theatre and they expected to do Shakespeare in the provinces and just and then radio and then television arrived we didn't have a television until I was I don't know eight and it was black and white you know we didn't do that. We didn't have that. And now it's so different. Yeah. It's kind of indescribably strange, actually. You mean the amount of content that's out there to distract you by? The breadth of it all, sort of, in a way. Yeah, and the amount that must be produced. Right. What was your policy with your kids? Did you, were you someone that was, screens are okay, television's okay, iPads are okay? No. Or were you like, no, it's reading or it's piano lessons or it's, because I grew up in one of those households, very, very disciplined. Although there was plenty of TV too.

36:07It was kind of a combo. It was a good combo, I think. We told my daughter the television was broken, which she believed for at least eight years. Still broken. It's still broken. And then she danced in at the age of about nine and said, I've mended it. She just found the sodding remote. Anyway, and we didn't allow her to have a phone until she was at secondary school at the age of 13. Yeah, smart. So iPads, oh, God, sometimes when we were driving, we live in Scotland as well, we were driving to Scotland and an iPad was a wonderful thing and you could do a film on. And then they could watch a film, which actually I don't feel guilty about. If it's a good film, it's a lovely way to spend two hours. Because I used to be stuck in the car for eight hours as we were driving to Scotland with nothing to do but stare at the lamppost going by and do terrible sort of... But it's good for the imagination, though. It's really good. Think about all those hours. And boredom's good for the imagination as well, Will. I know. Why I'm friends with Sean. We've lost our relationship with being bored. Managing boredom is a talent everybody needs. Okay, here's my question to all of you. When was the last time you were actually bored? This weekend. Really? Why?

37:23How? Well, just because I was inside the whole time it was raining and I ran out of good TV. I'd done all my homework. But then guess what happens? You get truly relaxed. I really feel like true relaxation lives somewhere next door to boredom. And that's when naps happen. and clarity of mind and all your priorities get in the right order and you can think about what's, like, it's a great, managing boredom, embracing boredom, seeing the virtues of boredom is something that I just don't think my kids, their generation, understands or is friends with. They can't even ride an elevator without looking at their phone or sit at a red light. Constant stimulation. I've actually said to my both my sons at various points you cannot walk down the stairs looking at your phone. That has to be something that is independent of your phone. This is absurd. But I will say you know what I was talking about this with a friend recently. I'm never bored. Even if I'm just sitting there, I don't know why. I never feel bored. Right. I don't mean it as a pejorative. I just feel like it's like you're not, we're all so,

38:39I think most people in the world today are highly functioning. Like we're just like trained to manage 50 different things at the same time just because it's just sort of global productivity. But there is a great – God, you're always talking about productivity. It's unbelievable. You never shy away from productivity. Sean, I was just thinking, Sean, I wonder when you hear Emma talk about growing up in the theater and her parents. Hi, Sean, by the way, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm such big fans. Do you wish, in a way, when you hear about people who grew up in the theater and stuff, do you feel, knowing how much you enjoy that, do you ever feel like, oh, I wish I'd grown up in that kind of environment? Yeah, all the time. Do you? Well, even Jason. It just occurred to me. Growing up around Hollywood and in it, or Emma growing up in that kind of environment? Yeah, all the time. Do you? Well, even Jason, like, growing up around Hollywood and in it, or Emma growing up in it, you know, like... When did it start for you, Sean? It was high school, right? Yeah, yeah, high school. Well, junior high. I worked backstage. I worked the light, not the light. It was just one light. One switch. Yeah, it was one switch. Seriously, it was on and off. We got our guy. We got our guy. We got our guy. I was like, I think I can do that. And it was Calamity Jane, the musical Calamity Jane. Oh, yeah. And yeah, that was junior high and then high school. And then I was nervous about telling my family

39:57I was in theater because it wasn't associated with sports. And I thought, what were they gonna think? And so my oldest brother was like, hey, dude, it's okay, bro. Like I play football. I have makeup on underneath my eyes, was like, hey, dude, it's okay, bro. Like, I play football. I have makeup on underneath my eyes, the black marks underneath my eyes, just like you wear makeup. And I was like, oh, that's really sweet. And then other things happened. But... Well, let's not get into that. But yeah, I always, you know, I don't know that I love to do it anymore. I mean, the grind of theater is something, right, Emma? That you just have to, that the repetition on your body and your brain is something you kind of have no choice but to outgrow because of the endurance. We'll be right back. And back to the show. What was the last theater production you were a part of, Emma? Because you've done so many. Well, I haven't actually. I've mostly done film. But the last thing I did was something I, again, you know, we were talking earlier about things that you just can't say no to. They asked me to do Sweeney Todd. Steve Sondheim's Sweeney Todd with Bryn Turfell. And we did it with the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center. We did five performances there

41:13and then we did two weeks at the Dominion here. When was this? How cool. It was 10 years ago, maybe. Oh, wow. Yeah. You'd be great. I'm sure you were phenomenal. Oh, my God. It was just absolutely, you mean the psychotic-like woman who kills people and puts them into pies. Walk it back, Sean. Quick, quick, quick. Sean, Sean, Sean. You've got to let Sean finish, Emma. No, the comedy of it. I'm sure you nailed it. No, I'm sure I went way too far. But anyway, the point was we were on stage with the New York Philharmonic and one of the things that really I loved about it was the sort of cross-pollination of different art forms, that you had a whole orchestra on stage that you could act with. So, you know, you were acting while the timpanist was behind you making these amazing noises and they loved it as well. The orchestra adored it because you were acting while the timpanist was behind you making these amazing noises. And they loved it as well. The orchestra adored it because you were in amongst them. And I think that we silo music, classical music in particular, and acting in the theatre, you know, which sometimes can just make people feel a little bit superior, which is not the case. It's just acting in the theatre. She's looking right at you, Sean. And then there's television acting, which is television act you've got to be really careful clever with the

42:29chemistry very good actor you're a good actor you're a good actor whatever you're doing i can't bear all that all that snobbery which was very much alive when my parents um were coming up so yeah i i that was the last thing i did and i oh it i mean it was an amazing feeling like i don't know whether you guys have ever had this but when you do something that uses every single cell of you nothing is left behind you know how you can come on particularly to do a job that's a short job and you're doing a small part or a cameo role and you're using a tiny little bit of your palette and you have to be careful not to overdo it that's very much to your point sean about professor trelawney it had to be a very specific small thing and it had to be right but it had to be big as well but this had to be right it had to be enormous and it used absolutely everything I had. And I had such a wonderful time doing it, but my God, it took me nine months to learn it. And then I did it for like 30 performances. Yeah, I hear Sondheim is almost as difficult as Shakespeare, right? Sometimes. I mean, you've got the music part of it as well. Yeah, finding those notes and those chords is really hard. I would say harder, yeah, harder than Shakespeare. music part of it as well. Yeah, finding those notes and those chords is really hard. I would say harder, yeah.

43:46Harder than Shakespeare. Shakespeare makes it easy for us. He's like a wonderful old sailing boat you can get into and just sail into the sunset. Really? Because he's so reliable. Well, speaking of writing, I mentioned that you're the only performer to have won for acting and writing, and you wrote Sense and Sensibility, and how did that happen? I did not know that. Because I didn't know that either, and so it's delightful to know that. I adapted it. Jane Austen wrote it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I plagiarized mercilessly. Yeah. Oh, it's not in radio. No, no. But how did that happen with The Great Ang Lee, right? Directed Sense and Sensibility. With The Great Ang Lee. Actually, it happened kind of interestingly because, like I used to do comedy, that was my thing. That's what I wanted to do. And I was very lucky because I worked with a wonderful comedy producer. He produced the first all-black comedy series in the UK, Desmond's. And then he worked with an awful lot of black and Asian and female comedians. He was, I suppose, quite revolutionary in that sense. And I made a comedy series with him. And one of the sketches I wrote was about a young woman coming back from her honeymoon to see her mother with something on her mind.

45:05And she starts to talk to her mother about a small, little woodland hairy creature that lives in her husband's lap that he's drawn attention to on several occasions and that appears to be attached and also changes shape sometimes so that she just doesn't want to touch or have anything to do with. And so the sketch is about sexual ignorance so it's a feminist sketch about the fact that women weren't allowed to know about sex but then they were just sent off into the wild they were married off without any kind of help whatsoever and can you imagine coming across a penis for the first time and then seeing it become erect in front of your very eyes and not know what it was. Right. That's what we put people through. Anyway, so the sketch was about that. And I think it was quite funny. And our producer, Lindsay Duran, the extraordinary Hollywood producer who actually started her work with Spinal Tap, excuse me, literally one of my favourite films ever. Sure. So she wrote to me and said, I've seen your sketch about the Victorian penis. I wonder if you would fancy adapting a Jane Austen novel. I thought, interesting.

46:23Interesting segue. Yeah. Wow. I said, well, I'll give it a go so i gave it a go amazing give it a go amazing now what about what about other other screenplays afterwards forgive my ignorance is that something no not at all i wrote i've written forgiving your ignorance loads that haven't been made actually so but i I've written a couple of kids' films, one called Nanny McPhee, who's a strange sort of warty, witchy woman. And actually, we've spent 10 years writing the musical of that, which is coming into the West End next year. No way! Wow. Who wrote the music for that? Gary Clark, who wrote the music for Sing Street, which was a lovely, sort of beautiful Irish film. So he's one of those people who just can write songs. He spent years and years in Nashville. And you just think about the music industry. It's just amazingly full of these people who... He was in a band and it was kind of going, but he didn't like the fame, he didn't like the glare. So he retreated and started to write songs. And he's written songs with so many of the greats.

47:39He's just a wonderful songwriter. And we have written about a billion songs, cut a billion songs. We've been writing it for so long i gave him i gave him a couple of touchstones i said think think tom waites swordfish trombone and also do you know a guy a gang called the tiger lilies they're quite yeah yeah yeah that was the kind of thing i I was like a Victorian steampunk, slightly dark, you know, a little bit on the circus side, but not, you know, like dark. That sounds great. So that's what we've been doing. That's really cool. I can't wait. Yeah, I can't wait for that. I would be remiss if we didn't mention your new project, The Sheep Detective. The Sheep Detective. What is that about? No, that's Craig Mason wrote that. The great Craig Mason. What is that about? No, that's, Craig Mazin wrote that. Craig Mazin, you know? The great Craig Mazin. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love Craig. JB, your old buddy. He wrote Chernobyl. Yeah. He's such a wonderful, wonderful man. And then he wrote, he adapted a book where, yeah, it's about a shepherd who gets murdered and his sheep solve the crime. I mean, that's it. That's the logline. You just go, yes, I'll be in it. I'll play a sheep. I'll play anything. I'll play a broom. I'll play anything. Because it's such a good premise. And this is starring Hugh Jackman.

48:55Sounds like a great yarn. Guys, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Nice. Good. I noticed that. Thank you. I hear this is a really, really good film that parents would like as well. Because it is made for the kids, right? It's you and the delightful Hugh Jackman. Is that right? Am I right about that? Did you have to work with some photorealistic animals? Or is it... Photorealistic actors uh no i i i no we actually i was only on it for about three weeks i'd just done a thriller in finland and um so i was and then i was going on to the telly so i sort of kind of dropped in for three weeks with these lovely bunch of folk and that it was gorgeous yeah it sounds like a gorgeous type of location right where did where did you shoot that oh god now you're asking me i mean it was in england it was and actually we shot the second nanny mcphee in the same village because it's a kind of picture perfect right village um and i can't remember what it's called well most importantly i think it's called Hambledon, actually. I think I've actually remembered that, which is a fucking miracle. Was it? Given that I'm literally 175 degrees here.

50:14Yeah. My brain's boiling. Was it close enough to your house where you could sleep in your own bed or did you have to stay... No, so not. So, so not. No. Okay. That never happens. Never. You know what I love about England staying in an English hotel, especially a small English hotel, is an English breakfast. I adore an English breakfast. Who doesn't? Well, there's different kinds. So, Will, what do you get? You like the little sausages? Yeah, I shy away from the black puddings, but I like egg sausage. What's black pudding? I've never had black pudding. Yeah, what's in a black pudding? Haven't you, Sean? Molasses? It's pig's blood. No. No, it's not. What's black pudding? I've never had black pudding. Yeah, what's in a black pudding? Haven't you, Sean? Molasses? It's pig's blood. No. No, it's not. It's congenial. It is. It's pig's blood mixed up with various sort of spices and grains. Oh, my God. It's like haggis because I'm half Scottish and a haggis is a sheep's stomach and the sheep's stomach is filled with all the sort of offal, which is all chopped up with various bits. Did somebody just make a sheep noise? Oh, my God. Well, why do we have these kinds of foods over there? Is it because we were poor? The country's so old that you had to figure out how to make stuff you could eat out of what was available, right?

51:29This was before. But also you didn't waste anything. Right. So if you killed a cow, you ate its fucking stomach as well. And its tongue and the whole. The only thing you didn't eat was its hair. Yeah. And its horns. You had to work out how how if you had an animal and you killed it because you don't forget it's really quite recent that the country's I suppose Scotland in particular was poor very poor yeah until recently and in many areas it's still poor yeah now do you the longest time the longest I've ever spent in England is just recently last year for like three or four months what were you doing over there Sean? do you get Emma do you get um are you as entranced still by the charm of the country and everything around it in the history are you just kind of like it is what it is and yep there's Big Ben there's the thing I'm I'm I'm so used to it that it's hard to appreciate it anymore or do you still feel like wow oh no i'm i'm much more in trance than i was when i was young yeah i mean i just adore it i'm a londoner but i'm also a scotch my mother's scottish so for me the most beautiful countryside is is in scotland and scotland is wild and it's very um yeah you know it's unheld, it's unbound

52:46and it's full of the most extraordinary energies. And London is also, you know, a very precious place because everyone, this great teeming bowl of people living in this massive city, generally speaking, quite peacefully. Yeah, I love it. I'm very, I love, love love my city i'm not as familiar with england actually the countryside but the countryside in england can be quite breathtaking yeah to yorkshire in the north or northumberland or you know we we were shooting all over those we shot in cornwall last year and i'd never really spent any time in Cornwall. And I just wanted to go and live there. It was so exquisite. Yeah, yeah. And full of, still full of character and community, actually. Really beautiful. You know what? Might I suggest a non-scripted show, Emma, where you go around and rediscover England? There you go. We're going to produce it. Listen, we're going to pitch it to you. We're going to get in touch with your people. You all have to come with me. Yes. I'm a devoted Anglophile. These guys know. And the sheep go with you. The sheep come with. And then at the end of the show, we eat them? Yes, of course.

54:02Every piece. Jason takes the stomach. Jason takes the stomach. Jason takes the stomach. You all have to take one particular really sort of unpleasant part like the pancreas and then you invent a really good little recipe just for that part. I'll take the coat. By the way, I'm going to put this out there. I'm going to put this out there. There is somebody listening right now, maybe over in the UK, who's going to say, like, this is a great idea. And you'm going to put this out there. There is somebody listening right now, maybe over in the UK, who's going to say, like, this is a great idea. And you are going to get an incoming call. It is a good idea, actually. Right? I would watch the hell out of that. Yeah, I would watch that, too. Emma going through England and discovering villages in different places. Oh, look at this. Like Stanley Tucci in Italy. I can't wait. I love it. I can't wait. I'm an EP on it already. I'll just go around saying, endlessly, you want some gain? That was my favorite phrase. in Italy. I can't wait. I love it. I can't wait. I'm an EP on it already. I'll just go around saying endlessly you want some gain. That was my favorite phrase. You want some gain. You want more of me? You want more gain. That was Jason. As he was saying you want some gain, it just sounded so, ooh, yes, I think I do want some gain. That's hot podcast talk. What are you going to suggest next? Emma, we have taken up too much of your time. It's been, it's probably been an hour. What an absolute delight to have you here. That was real fast. Yeah, we have taken up too much of your time. It's been probably been an hour. What an absolute delight to have you here. That was real fast. Yeah, that was fast. I hope you get to cool off and jump in a pool. We could have gone on forever. I'm literally going to go and I put the blooming scooter thing on

55:17in the garden. I'm going to go and stand in it now. I don't think we got to any questions even. Next time you come on the show, we're actually going to ask you some questions. On the next Smart List. That was so lovely, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing so much for your time and for everything that you do. And we're just such fans. It's just amazing. Yeah, we are. Well, right back at you. Every single one of you, I love you deeply. Likewise. Thank you, my dear. Make sure you pick your kids up off the floor. Yeah, absolutely. No, they've gone. They've long gone. They're lying face down on the wet lawn. All right, Annie. Fare thee well. Thanks, Emma. Bye. Guys, Emma Thompson. Have you seen Remains of the Day? Yes. I mean, I've seen that so many times. How many films do you seen Remains of the Day? Yes. Yes. I mean, I've seen that so many times. How many films do you think she's done? I bet she's done like 65 movies. Well, what's better than that? How many great films has she done? I know. Like so many. 64. So many incredible performances. Yeah. And just so different in every genre. It's just amazing. Effortless. Yeah. And I meant it. There's always some sort of cheeky little wink always to each one of her characters. Oh, do you find her to be a little cheeky, do you?

56:33She's a bit cheeky. She's a bit cheeky. She also emanates kind of like she's going to take care of me. She's my mom. Yes. And I like that. I want her to take care of me. I'm going to send her. And I like that. I want her to take care of me. I'm going to send her my number. I mean, think about it. Love Actually? Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. Massive hit that everybody still... It's just... Oh, God. I think you squandered an opportunity there, Will. You really could have gone down an incredible memory lane of parts and movies and stuff. But instead, you're fucking talking about Haggis. But there's no time. Because we're just having a conversation, man. We're just visiting, weren't we? Yeah, we're fucking talking about haggis and goddamn... But there's no time because we're just having a conversation, man. We're just visiting, weren't we? Yeah, we're just having a quick little visit. We're not journalists. No. Yeah, we'll have to have her back. Yeah, you know, we're just... Love action. We're just simple guys, you know? We're not very smart. In fact, we're smart less. Oh. Oh, wow. So, see, so right there, I was just introducing a new sign off instead of buy okay we work on some sort of way to just say yeah i guess we're just kind of kind of smart less yeah and then it's over but that's the only one you can use then you can only say we're right but you gotta somehow work that into the sentence yeah but that's just could just be like that that came out of this process of us doing that. Do you know what I mean? Like that's a natural progression. In a way, it's almost, you could call it

57:49like a bye product. A bye product of the show. Bye. Bye. Smart. Blast. Smart. Less. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarv, and Bennett Barbico. Smart. Less.