Who’s to judge
Emma Thompson’s emotional journey
Emma Thompson admits guilt has forced her to turn down acting opportunities. The 59-year-old, much-loved British actor and new Dame says there have been times during her stellar career when she decided to put her family first.
‘‘People married to actors have to be very forbearing,’’ Thompson, a mother-of-two tells Stuff, referring not only to long absences, but also the emotional investment required to play a particular part. Likewise, feeling guilty is absolutely one of the hazards of the job. So sometimes I’ll look at something and go, ‘you know what, I don’t think this is the right timing’.
‘‘And, if you’re a mother in particular, you’re thinking ‘OK, is that in term time? What is that going to come up against?’ However, sometimes I think I just need to earn some money. So I’ll say to the family, ‘sorry guys’. Sometimes it is just as simple as that and I quite like it when it is as simple as that because then there’s no argument.’’
An economic imperative though doesn’t appear to be the main reason Thompson chose her latest project, The Children Act. Instead, speaking after the movie’s world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year, she said it was Ian McEwan’s book and the complicated character of High Court judge Fiona Maye that proved irresistible.
‘‘Everything about it was interesting. I thought it was very fine work and that I’m old enough and experienced enough to do it.’’
It’s certainly a story that puts Thompson and the audience through the emotional wringer. Not only is she having to decide whether to force a young, leukaemia-stricken Jehovah’s Witness teenager (Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead) to have a blood transfusion, but also attempting to resolve a growing relationship impasse with her husband Jack (Stanley Tucci).
Having seen Britain’s Family Court in action as a part of her preparation, Thompson can understand why a judge might struggle to separate home and family life.
‘‘People are sobbing, screaming and in a terrible state there, so you are dealing with elemental emotions every single day. That means you have to develop some way of resisting the entrance of those emotions into your own system. Of course, then it’s possible that it makes you too boundaried and that’s something where, if I were Fiona’s friend, I’d say, ‘I think you need to go and talk to somebody’.’’
For her own part, Thompson says she has ‘‘done therapy’’ for years, taking the time to ‘‘undo’’ characters and scenarios she might have ‘‘absorbed’’ too much of.
‘‘As an actor, you can’t not get involved in emotions, otherwise you’re not doing your job, but you have to find a way of wiping your emotions clean and rebalancing yourself. I love being my age now because I know what to do.’’
When asked which of her previous roles she found the hardest to let go, Thompson cites Dora Carrington (in 1995’s Carrington) and crusading Buenos Aires journalist Cecilia Rueda in 2003’s Imagining Argentina.
‘‘That last one required absolute immersion. I didn’t even want to be English any more. I wanted to be Argentinian. It was awful having to come back and be English again.’’
Thompson says she has learned that returning home from an overseas job also requires careful reintegration into the family unit. ‘‘Everyone has dealt with life without you, because nobody is indispensable. You have to recognise the inevitable wounds that your departure has left behind and realise that you’re coming back into a space their might not be room for you in initially.
‘‘I’ve learned just to be very quiet. And If someone else has gone away [for example, her husband, fellow actor Greg Wise] – just don’t say anything, make a cup of tea instead.
‘‘Re-entry is a delicate time and you just don’t want to get into anything that might lead to having a row, because you know it won’t be about anything except that you’ve been away.’’
As for dealing with the inevitable tiredness, frustration and emotional exhaustion that can occur during a shoot, Thompson says she does ‘‘active things’’ to help take her mind off her work.
‘‘I hoover and I cook a lot, read or maybe write something just for me. I often find that very helpful and healthy.
‘‘When we were shooting this movie, I played the piano all the time because I had to practise all the pieces that my character plays because I wanted to play them live.’’
However, despite immersing herself in the world of courtrooms and judgments, Thompson believes that certainly isn’t a job she could contemplate fulltime.
‘‘I don’t think that my mind is organised enough, to be honest. The study of the law is very specific and the amount of information you have to cram into your brain is absolutely massive, which is not me. However, the actual process of knowing all that and balancing it with your capacity for compassion and common sense, which let’s face it is not always written into the law, that I think I would be quite good at.’’
The Children Act (M) opens in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday.
‘‘As an actor, you can’t not get involved in emotions, otherwise you’re not doing your job, but you have to find a way of wiping your emotions clean and rebalancing yourself.’’ Emma Thompson