Here are some lovely new photos of Emma Thompson outside of her BAFTA “A Life In Pictures” event last night. I can’t say I love her hair here, but otherwise, she looks awesome. Decent LBD, great coat, great attitude… lord, I just love her so much. She’s riding a particular kind of high these days because of Saving Mr. Banks, the film where she plays PL Travers to Tom Hanks’ Walt Disney. Many say Emma is looking more and more like “the favorite” to get a Best Actress nomination and if nominated, she’ll probably be against Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep for sure. Which should be awesome!!! Also wonderful? The fact that Emma is doing a lot of press for this film, which means so many new quotes. Emma recently spoke to The Telegraph about feminism, body image and motherhood:
Being a 54-year-old actress: “Well, at this stage of life, you’re glad to be working at all. And then the best role I’ve ever played comes along. It was one of those where you read the first page of the script and you think, ‘yes, I’m in. I’ll do it.’ All of us, at my age, are like, ‘there are no roles for us at all’. So I’m happy to be offered acting work.”
Actresses in their 20s: “It seems young actresses are under pressure to look a particular way. They look the same, that’s the thing. And they’re all being photoshopped in adverts for all sorts of (products), so maybe that’s difficult as well — because you’ve got pictures of yourself looking perfect. They have to be this specific model size, and if they get on to the red carpet, they’re all having to walk like models and dress like models. I think the pressure is terrible.”
She blames the handlers for making women conform: “If you’re invited to re-invent yourself, in the language in which that conversation is couched, it’s difficult to resist: ‘You’ve got to be thinner.’ ‘You’ve got to be prettier. Because we need to sell you, and we won’t be able to sell you if you don’t look like this.’ It’s not about acting. They don’t care if you can act or not. I can only imagine what the pressures must be like.”
What would have happened if someone said that to her in her 20s: “I’d have told them where to shove it. I’ve always been a card-carrying feminist. But in those days, I was fierce, fierce, very angry. So I wouldn’t have put up with a single bloody minute of that.”
Social media: “Children, it seems to me, get reviewed every day. Whatever they do, they post something, then people make comments about it, and critique your life. That seems to be enormous pressure to put yourself under.”
Kids’ films: “Kids will think movies are just those things in which things blow up, and they’re loud and relentless and ultimately empty. They’re cynical. They’re all about greed in the film industry. Children really do deserve better.”
I’ve actively ignored the claims by such women as Courtney Stodden and Miley Cyrus that they are somehow “feminists,” not because I think “feminism” has such narrow parameters within which only an elite few can fit. I ignore them because they are idiots. You don’t have to read the complete works of Andrea Dworkin to call yourself a feminist, but you do have to be able to define it beyond “I like taking off my clothes for money, yay feminism!” While I’m happy that there are some idiot celebrities who at least do a better job of paying lip service to feminism than, say, Taylor Swift, I prefer my celebrity feminists to be more like the magnificent Emma Thompson. When she talks about how “fierce” she was in her 20s, you better believe it.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She’s fierce now!
(I love the guy behind her in that first pic, btw)
I agree, she still is 🙂 and she looks like flawless in this outfit, ugh, can she do no wrong??
I. Love. That. Coat.
The coat is fabulous
I could absolutely see you in that coat, Miss E.
I just adore this woman so much. I am really glad that there are some real feminists in popular culture who are as awesome as Emma.
I just go “meh” when established celebrities go “When I was younger, if someone had said that, I would have punched them….blah blah”….Well no they wouldn’t if they wanted a career in Hollywood which she obviously did and does.
It’s so easy to be “I am a champion of justice” when you’re established with fans and with critical acclaim.
Very true. Hindsight allows for a lot. And Hollywood has not been nice to women since…. well since it’s creation.
But perhaps she’s right — who knows? As long as the actress/ actor makes Hollywood money, they’ll put up with quite a bit.
I know what you mean, but I was around when Emma T first came onto the acting scene, and people were very critical of her looks. She was not your typical beauty and people weren’t convinced that she was pretty enough to play the lead. She just held her own in spite of the criticism about her teeth and body, etc. and eventually won everyone over with her talent. She didn’t get plastic surgery to make her face over to what was considered more beautiful. Now I think people truly see her as beautiful, but that wasn’t always so. I sort of believe she would have told them to shove it.
I actually believe it about Emma. I think she’s being completely genuine here: she totally would have told them where to shove it (hum I’m not biased AT ALL). God I’m swooning. She’s so awesome.
Also, I don’t think she actively pursued a career in Hollywood, things just turned out that way, she was in small British movies in the beginning of her career and she probably didn’t think she was going to be a super Hollywood star.
….but in her case she is telling the truth. i remember her in the 80s and early 90s, she was stomping around in doc martens and shapeless clothing not caring at all how she looked and had very strong opinions that she told to any broadcast that would have her. That was her image. If you google a comedien called Jo Brand, it’s the look that Emma had then. Her wedding dress to Ken Branagh was the closest she came to looking put together and even that was wacky, but in line with her style ethos. She was never considered a beauty, not remotely.
The only time she made an effort to look and dress conventionally during that time frame was the oscars, but that was explained away as something everybody does for the oscars and a one time deal.
Her make over in the late 90s after her marriage to Greg Wise was shocking. Not because she wasn’t pretty, but because she had spent decades refusing to be made over and refusing to be a barbie doll or even to dress conventionally. Then suddenly here she was in a pretty dress, sandals, blonde, with conventional make up looking beautiful…..it was a shocking turn. She’s maintained the style make over.
I totally understand what you mean, but she really did hold her own. She never fit the “Hollywood” standard, and she didn’t try to, either. I must admit that I found it a bit painful at times that she wore such dowdy clothing (I may be feminist, but I’m also a fashionista!) and downplayed her looks, but I supported her right to dress how she pleased and not care about fashion. But, to be fair, it was easier back then. Not easy, but easier. With ubiquitous plastic surgery, Photoshop, and online forums to tear people (especially women) down, it’s MUCH harder to buck the system these days, I think.
She was the same when she was making a small British telly series called Tutti Frutti in the mid 80s, though. It was kind of surreal when she hit the big time in the States a few years later – she’d made an (unsuccessful) feminist comedy sketch show in between. She’s not changed.
When I was a student I wrote to a lot of celebrities once for a big charity event for a local homelessness charity. A month or so later she sent the loveliest handwritten letter anyone could ever get, saying what an important and depressingly unpopular area of the charity world helping homeless people get back on the mainstream was, and how sorry she was the letter from us had reached her too late, because she would absolutely have wanted to help. I was pretty gobsmacked, as all the rest had (understandably) got their people to send something for the auction, or a yes/no to turning up, or not bothered replying at all. We were asking for something, after all, and they must get so many requests. And she was HUGE at the time, too. I’ve never forgotten that. I mean she says things you’d love her for anyway, but I can’t imagine most A list stars would have taken the time/trouble.
I was really gutted to hear she’d given her name to that Polanski petition, and then someone apprised of the actual facts of the case instead of the version they were all told (underage but totally consensual blah blah blah) talked to her, and she then publicly withdrew her support and had her name taken off. I thought that took guts as well – can’t have been popular in a lot of Hollywood, and it’s hard to admit that sort of mistake. And her refusal to ever badmouth Helena Bonham-Carter is impressive as well.
I think she walks the talk.
She was the same when she was making a small British telly series called Tutti Frutti in the mid 80s, though. It was kind of surreal when she hit the big time in the States a few years later – she’d made an (unsuccessful) feminist comedy sketch show in between. She’s not changed.
When I was a student I wrote to a lot of celebrities once for a big charity event for a local homelessness charity. A month or so later she sent the loveliest handwritten letter anyone could ever get, saying what an important and depressingly unpopular area of the charity world helping homeless people get back on the mainstream was, and how sorry she was the letter from us had reached her too late, because she would absolutely have wanted to help. I was pretty gobsmacked, as all the rest had (understandably) got their people to send something for the auction, or a yes/no to turning up, or not bothered replying at all. We were asking for something, after all, and they must get so many requests. And she was HUGE at the time, too. I’ve never forgotten that. I mean she says things you’d love her for anyway, but I can’t imagine most A list stars would have taken the time/trouble.
I was really gutted to hear she’d given her name to that Polanski petition, and then someone apprised of the actual facts of the case instead of the version they were all told (underage but totally consensual blah blah blah) talked to her, and she then publicly withdrew her support and had her name taken off. I thought that took guts as well – can’t have been popular in a lot of Hollywood, and it’s hard to admit that sort of mistake. And her refusal to ever badmouth Helena Bonham-Carter is impressive as well.
I think she walks the talk.
Emma is forever fierce.
The quote about actresses now having to be models is so true. There will always be a place in Hollywood for the Jessica Alba/Megan Fox type, but I hate it that oerformers like Michelle Williams and Carey Mulligan are subjected to the same treatment. Not that they’re ugly but they’re actors first and shouldn’t that be enough?
And Emma Thompson is amazing. It’s great to see her back again. And god she looks so fucking happy, I love it.
OMG, what a great interview. I will go and support this movie to support strong roles for women and to support her.
That coat looks SO comfortable!
What’s up with feminism trending these days??? It’s like the new cool thing or…? Anyway, loce me some Emma.
I think what’s trending is people attaching labels to themselves in order to be behind a cause. They want to be able to say F YOU but are trying to make it bigger than themselves — when it’s really not.
Just my take on it.
Emma is a great role model for women today. She can do no wrong in my book. She carries a light that raidiates from within. Gosh, I’m gushing and think I may have a little women hero crush on her.
At least Emma is well worth the crush. 🙂
Very true 😊
Yeah, she’s a feminist, except when she’s signing pro – Polanski petitions. God, she makes my eyes roll so hard.
I don’t care that she later expressed remorse over supporting a brutal rapist. A bunch of her fans told her how disappointed they were that she would do this, and she claimed to just be going with the flow (or something). A feminist would have been suspicious of a guy who pled no contest then ran. I haven’t been able to stomach her since the Polanski thing.
Did she really do that?
There’s a post about it, on this site. Basically one of her friends called her, told her part of the story, she said put her name on the list–then her fans wrote to her about it, telling her the full story. She publicly apologized and had her name taken off the list.
She withdrew her support when she found out what had actually happened. She’d been told the bowdlerised version, (that it was the 1970s and people had different attitudes to age of consent then, and she was “only just underage” and it was consensual… not that he’d drugged and raped a 13 year old virgin as she cried for her mother) and then someone from a sexual violence charity talked to her with those actual facts. She had her name taken off the petition and pulled her support, which can’t have been popular in mainstream Hollywood.
Agree she should have checked what she was told, but tbh it does seem literally incredible that he gets such support, in public, from major figures when he’s a known child rapist. You’d assume the mild version had to be right, given.
Ah, she is certainly wonderful!
My love for Emma Thompson has no limits. Beautiful :’)
She is definately on my goddess list, along with Cate and Helen M .
Where is that coat from? Obsessed!
I love her! That’s all I’ve got, really. She’s amazing.
“I’ve actively ignored the claims by such women as Courtney Stodden and Miley Cyrus that they are somehow “feminists,” not because I think “feminism” has such narrow parameters within which only an elite few can fit. I ignore them because they are idiots. You don’t have to read the complete works of Andrea Dworkin to call yourself a feminist, but you do have to be able to define it beyond “I like taking off my clothes for money, yay feminism!”
Courtney Stodden only spoke about one aspect of feminism: the fact that women and people should be able to wear whatever they want and do whatever they want with their bodies. So I agree that that’s not enough to make her a feminist.
Miley, as immature as she is, could be a feminist because she has always supported marriage equality, has spoken out against body-shaming, and promotes the idea that women should do whatever they want with their physical appearance. I’m not saying she’s a perfect example of a feminist. Those things that I listed aren’t all that feminism is about. But her clothing choices, nudity, and dance moves don’t disqualify her from being a feminist. Ever heard of Mariko Passion? She’s both a sex worker and a feminist.
My prediction about Miley is that she heard Lorde and Selena talking about being a feminist, looked the word up, saw that it’s about equality, and went, “hell yeah, I’m a feminist too.” That’s how a lot of girls find out if they’re feminists.
Emma Thompson probably makes a better feminist than her in most areas, except for the fact that she signed a pro- Roman Polanski petition.
Leila, she took her name off though, when she found out the whole story.
I admit, I am a little less reactive to stories about an underage girl/boy sleeping with an older man/woman because where I live, at least 2-3 people in my grade every year is with someone who is 7, 8 years older–I don’t understand it. Because it’s gross, wrong, and that’s part of the reason why there are so many sex offenders where I live. But when I heard the story about Polanski, I heard that he (a grown man) had consensual sex with an underaged girl (which I heard she was 15–I think she was actually 14, right?). To which I said gross, wtf is wrong with him (I hadn’t even heard about him running off–so I didn’t understand why it was still being brought up), and so on.
It wasn’t until I started reading this site that I read the actual story–which what I thought had happened before was statutory rape, but I didn’t know that it was “actual” rape. To which I still don’t understand why so many celebrities signed that petition. Is it because their agents pressured them, studios pressured them, they know something that we don’t? I don’t understand it at all. It should be a no brainer to me. If someone had asked me to sign that thing, especially if it was a “friend” (like Emma), that person wouldn’t be my friend anymore. I mean, you can get into a debate about Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, but there shouldn’t even be a question about that rapist Polanski.
I always enjoy your comments on feminism 🙂
Thank you 🙂 I didn’t know she signed it without knowing the real story. That changes it.
I have mixed feelings about ‘statutory rape’ too. I would be bothered by a 30-year-old taking advantage of a 13-year-old, but it doesn’t outrage me when I hear stories about 15 and 16-year-olds dating or hooking up with 19 and 20 year olds, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. When I was a teen their were people of both sexes dating people 3 or 4 years older, and when I was in my early/mid teens I saw guys in their late teens and early 20’s as sexier than those my own age. I always feel sorry for people 21 and under who get in trouble for consensual relationships with people just a few years younger.
Preach, emma! She looks so gleeful. Nice to hear both her empathy for younger women in the industry and her views more generally on social pressure. I kinda think Kaiser is missing the message here, but we agree that Thompson is a treasure. 🙂