LEAR FACTOR
Emma Thompson returns to Shakespeare – alongside longtime co-star Sir Anthony Hopkins – for the latest adaptation of King Lear. Blown away by the acting legend’s performance, she tells GEMMA DUNN more about the ‘incredible’ experience
EMMA THOMPSON has form when it comes to sharing the screen with Sir Anthony Hopkins – but it’s their forthcoming third reunion that has proved the game-changer, says the actress.
For in joining forces for the much-anticipated BBC adaptation of King Lear, the Oscar-winning co-stars – who shone in early Nineties films Howards End and The Remains Of The Day – have embraced a newfound freedom.
“We did Howards End when we were both quite young,” begins Emma, 59. “So we said to each other this time – the third time – him nearly 80, me nearly 60, we said: ‘Isn’t it great? Because we’re free now in the way that we work’.
“When we first worked together we were still bound by all sorts of things,” she elaborates. “(So) we acknowledged the fact that now we feel as though we could do anything; it doesn’t matter if we get it wrong, if we fail.
“We could be stupid, we could be useless – but we were fearless,” she says of filming. “And it’s a very good creative place to be. It was joyful.”
Set in the fictional present, the small-screen reworking of the William Shakespeare play, adapted and directed by Richard Eyre, will see Sir Anthony as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England.
Emma, meanwhile, plays Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, alongside Emily Watson and Florence Pugh in the roles of sisters Regan and Cordelia, respectively.
Fellow cast members include Jim Broadbent, Andrew Scott, Christopher Eccleston, Tobias Menzies, Anthony Calf and Karl Johnson, to name but a few – all of whom will attest that watching Sir Anthony at work was enough to inject joy into one of the greatest literary tragedies.
“I will never see a better Lear, I know that. I will die not having seen anyone do it better,” declares London-born Emma.
“We even had a two-week rehearsal, which is an absolute miracle on a film!” she remembers with glee. “We had the best time. We stood around watching each other – and we all had this incredible experience of watching Anthony Hopkins play King Lear.
“Every time he did his speeches on set and during rehearsals, he gave it full blast even if he wasn’t on camera. He was miraculous,” she recalls fondly.
“We kept all meeting behind pillars and going, ‘I can’t believe it... Have you seen what he’s doing?’ It was like that.
“He also said that he’s never been so happy,” she says of Sir Anthony, who first took on the ageing king in a 1986 adaptation directed by David Hare at the National Theatre.
“He was working with proper theatre actors as well, so he was completely at ease and he loved it.”
How does Emma see the film, billed as a powerful and timely exploration of greed, love, power and mortality, in comparison with previous editions?
“This is the only production of Lear I’ve ever seen in which you actually sympathise, sometimes more, with the children than you do with (Lear),” she notes.
“And I think that’s an amazing insight into the play; it’s my favourite play, but I’ve never been able to see it like that so I am very grateful.”
For those unfamiliar with the plot, Goneril and Regan are both victims of their father’s tyrannical streak, whereas their much younger
This is the only production of Lear I’ve ever seen in which you actually sympathise, sometimes more, with the children than you do with (Lear) Actress Emma Thompson on the BBC adaptation of King Lear
sister Cordelia – the clear favourite – has managed to escape the majority of emotional abuse they shoulder.
“Goneril and Regan have always been in competition for their father’s affections, as people who have been abused often crave the love and approval of their abusers, especially when that person is a parent,” Emma muses.
“Lear is an appalling man. And he’s abused his children to such a degree that they are also appalling,” she says.
Whether it’s 17th century or present day, the play deals with a dysfunctional family in plain terms.
“If you’ve got family who’ve got that kind of power and there’s that kind of power play at work, then things are going to go very badly wrong,” Emma sympathises.
“It starts in that fairy tale way, ‘Once upon a time, there was an old king and he had three daughters and he decided to divide up the kingdom’ – but you know that things are going to go wrong right from the start, but God knows they go more wrong than anyone could possibly imagine.
“It’s great to play all that rage,” she quips. “Really, really fun!”
This of course isn’t the first time the actress has tackled Shakespeare. She starred in the 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by her then-husband Kenneth Branagh.
And Emma – who is now married to actor and producer Greg Wise, with whom she shares two children – was only too happy to return to the playwright, as it meant teaming up with both Richard Eyre and Sir Anthony.
“It was a no-brainer, as they say,” she reveals with a smile. “Stupid phrase, but I was absolutely made up. It was an amazing experience.”