"Emma Thompson"

Blighty, the shores of 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 I have my name and 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 or sort 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. I'm an actor and I have to be on camera today. Oh here have you been working on your faces in the mirror all morning? Yes, that's right. Let's see surprise. Let's see surprise. Wow, that's so good. Now one with the mouth closed one with the mouth closed to rolling.

“So Sean, you shoot. That's how did you do it? Yeah, I do. Right after this. She be, is that how you direct actors?”

Still rolling, still rolling and one with the mouth closed? Okay, good, good. Good, good, good. Don't look right at camera, don't look right at camera, still rolling. Wait, wait, wait, wait. The way I just got that note, I'm not even kidding.

Sean, can you close your mouth in the scene? No.

No, was it a dial or anything? They just want you to stop. Yeah, no, I was just like, no, it's just like my character is like I can't believe what you're saying. Like I was just like, are you serious? Like kind of my serious. I was like, and she's like, can you do with your mouth closed? Do you, could you, could you do with your mouth closed? I tried. I tried. But you're like, I have dialogue, they're like, yeah, we know, just about. Yeah, I'm just

wrapping my mouth. It's just my mouth to talk. And you're going to go on on background. Yeah, that's going to be your cue. And just try thinking your lines on this cake. Can we go everybody? Wait, do you know what I was doing? I was doing this scene once a

years ago. And Eli was there. We were in France. And I had to this long shot. I'm walking

another thing. And I get to the end. And Eli goes, bro, you're legs really wide apart. Okay, you're, you're gates really wide. Okay. And then I had to do like five more times the whole time. I'm just thinking about how I was walking. We're like, 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 full like it. Yeah, like you just got off a heart. Well, hang on, this is not an excuse to just

“go. Yeah, I'm very vulnerable this one. I think I'm actually bow-legged. I don't think will”

your bow-legged. You just happen to swing your legs around one another when you walk. It's good to walk. I have long legs. You do have long legs. How's thinking about you watching all the, 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, uh, into the high corners? Well, back in the day when, when I played, it was much more about getting on the ground

stack in the pads. Oh, sure. It's taken the pads instead of a butterfly. So, with you being a Toronto fan, are you keeping it with Canada and rooting for mantra? I sure am. Yeah. I'm all way. Yeah. And Sean, who's your victim when this gets between the two between Canada and over there at the, well, it looks like it's going to be Vegas. Well, air, so air afterwards, but it's pretty exciting. Well, you think, well, a couple of years ago, three years ago,

“well had me record my picks. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah, for the Stanley Cup. Yeah. Yeah.”

And so every week, I would record the picks and why they would. Sean, I'm going to give you three guesses. What the name of the team in Las Vegas is called the hockey team. Is that okay? Let me ask you this, does it have something to do with the city itself? It does not. Yeah, it really does. Yeah. It's not called the chips or the, or the top of the downs. Yeah. No. What about, uh, or is it a beathen? I'll give you a hand. It's a

lisabethen or it's like, well, I mean, it's the Kings. The Kings. The Kings. There is close. That's close. I mean, it could be any of those, uh, golden night. The golden night. The golden night. All right. I tell you who's golden. Oh, here it comes. We'll just got a lunch. You guys, you guys, like, you like a segue? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, she's golden in that area. She's, I, I would say one two golden global words and been nominated for like, like 11 or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and one two academy

an increase. And in fact, she's the soul, our strength for it to be, to be, uh, to have

received an academy award for both acting and screenwriting, acting for Howard Zayn and screenwriting for sense and sense of love. I'm a Thompson. Well, I'm actually going to get it. Guys, it's just a Thompson. I can't even get it. I can't even get it. Oh, my god. Three guys talking

“about, I love your refugees on the floor in the background. Yeah. Oh, can you see this?”

Yeah. My daughter and her boyfriend. They can't hear you, which is just tragic. It's all like, and who is me and they're used to me. So why? Why don't you give them a chair to go and sit outside? Why don't you can? Hey, they're going. Now, where are you? Are you, uh, are you at

their house or your house? No, I'm, I'm in my office, actually. Yeah. I was looking behind

Sean. He's got a very posh kind of arrangement. He's like, there's a ward. There's like loads of statues and portraits and photos and books and and and Jason's got like some sky, which is good and we'll get in deep darkness, which given the fact that he's giving us this kind of empire voice. It also works, you know. It's all, 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

as I moved to for some weird reason on their, their zoom frame usually includes any awards at

“one may have one. 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 leather tray because that keeps them in their place. The globes and the baffters 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 ones. It's a holder. Yeah. Yeah. That's taking it even further than me. You know what, I think, I think that maybe you ought to

go the other way, which is have a, have a table right in your, right in your foyer as you walk into your place with a spotlight. Yeah, just lean it, like lean into it. You don't even mean so they know what they're dealing with. That's it. Or you just put them in the doorway, like just so that when people come in, they just trip up. Yeah. You got to, sorry, this is my Oscars. Sorry. Careful. I'll just make it the way. Yeah, it's fine. You're not through. You come through. Would you like to freshen up?

Yeah. 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. People just go, lean into it. I think that that's a good idea. Where is your office? Are you in England or New Yorker Los Angeles? I'm so in England. Yeah. But it doesn't feel like it today. But all with, 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. Yeah. Weird. Quite weird. Anyway, suddenly we got a heat wave, which obviously has nothing to do with climate change. I know, that's all I have. Why would we even suggest that? But it's 35 degrees in London. And and you know, things are just dying in front of you, pets, household appliances, flower, everything is just wilting. It's like, you know, Dracula's walked into the town.

There's not a lot of work. We just don't have, we don't know. We don't have air conditioning here. Wow. Or ice. We have three hot days a year. Or ice. But that's 36 degrees. Or ice. Yeah. Although that's coming. Emma, why is that? Now, that's coming. Why is it that to the work? Why is it that you're up on the whole? Somehow sort of all made a consensus to take on Europe on this, that carbonated drinks don't taste better with ice cubes. It seems pretty clear that they do. That is just

“objectively true, right? But yet, you have to ask for ice with a, with a, so I sound like an”

ugly American here in Paul, Paul. No, you're just obsessed with ice. Americans have always been

obsessed with ice. When I used to, when I was obsessed with it, I'm sorry that 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. You were excited. 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. It's going on here. This is mad. This is what I'm obsessed with it. And we don't have that

are not as big. And they don't produce ice. We all get refrigerators that say they produce ice.

“And then within a week, they've broken down. So what do you do to beat the heat?”

You just lie face down on the pavement, pantil, hoping that some dog will come and whittle on you and cool you down. I mean, we don't have. But you just, you just kind of, you just take

it. We, you don't, we don't need to always be in our perfect comfort zones at all times.

No. That's the whole point of it. There are things that happen. There are days where you're hot and you feel in their days that are cold. But it is true that in this country, I'm Canadian, by the way, Emma, so I know you're Canadian world 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, we're just not used to it. And it's, it's quite, it's really weird. Yeah. Actually, it's because of the top. It's happened, what, how was it last summer? Last summer, it was super hot there too, right? Europe had a lot of people. I was having on the tube. Where is that? I was there last summer. He was doing his play. Oh, man. It was so hot. And, and, like, to, everybody's point, there's no air conditioning.

We were staying in a place that I air conditioning. But if there was, and we were rehearsing in a

“place that was like a green house with no air. No, yeah. You know, what about the theatre, Sean?”

What did the theatre have it? No, but now air conditioning in the theatre. No, what? No, that's

really hard. Conditioning in our theatres. Come on. Because we've never needed it before. And we haven't

adapted yet to climate change. I want to, 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, my approach constantly in mob by people asking you, no, questions? No, no, no, no, not all. Nobody takes any notice on the tube. They're all looking at their phones. But my guess is that when they, when they do recognize you, it's something very charming

and respectful and, and they, they say, which movie that they love is of, like, she's a respected actor as opposed to, like, a celebrity. Like, you see a celebrity out. It's like, it's like a giraffe is escape the zoo and you got to get a picture on your phone. Yes, it's a different thing. Yeah, 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. And we've done lots and lots of different things. So, I think, for instance, you're sort of an action hero. I can imagine that for some delight, I don't know, shorts and egg rolls to learn or Bruce Willis, you know, then there's a very specific response every single time. Right. But for me, you know, I can pass, not necessarily unnoticed,

but certainly it's never been an issue, actually. What's your, what's your least favorite kind

of interaction with the fan? Like when you're with your family or, I mean, because it's like, there's some, there's some, 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. You know, like it's, it's, it's great when it's just sort of mellow and quiet and, and pass it, right? Yes, and it's lovely and people will just pass you and still keep walking. Yeah. You do love your work.

Bye. Yeah. You love me. But when you're sort of buying sausages with your daughter, did it really want them to come up and go, can I have a selfie? selfie is that interesting, aren't they? How do you guys feel about those? Right. 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, then it was just

hey, nice, nice to meet you and like your work and it was, it was a night, 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 while I better take this, you know, and so people cut a line up a little bit and anyway, it's not, don't mean to sell like I'm complaining. Do you ever say no? No, never. Never. And I've been with people. I don't. I mean, never is probably, I might, I'm sure I have, but I don't. I do want to

with the kids sometimes, when I'm with, if I'm the kids or with the little kids and if it's an adult, asking, I'll say nothing. I've never said no to a kid. I have said that. Yeah, but I've said sometimes I'm the same. Well, 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, I, I just, I, I'm with my family. And what's so interesting to

because they seem completely to understand. So in a way, I feel like they know what they're asking

“for. The, what they're asking for is a little bit kind of, it's a lot to take a photo”

girl for somebody. I have some famous friends that they say no, all the time, they never say yes,

and it makes me so uncomfortable that they're, like, I just feel like, because it's such an easy given away, because it is easy to give. Have you ever gotten, um, hey, can I get a picture really quick and then they hand you the camera? Does that happen to me? They want you to take a picture of them and they're friends. Yeah, I've also, 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

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, or 20 years older, or I say no, she's dead, actually, but then I just kind of moved gently on through. Uh huh. You know what's funny? I have the other day I had

I was sitting in restaurant, and I, two interactions in a row, back to back, first of all,

I had a woman come over and say when I was sitting with my sister and my brother-in-law and, on our buddy Eli, Canadian Eli, and he said, this woman said, um, so sorry to bother you, and I know that you're eating, and then proceeded to sit down on the bench next to me. No, and begin to come and say, which point I was like, well, you're not that bothered. No, grab a breath, then she left, 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 went to work. Jamie ever, Jamie ever got to tell you that it was so good. Oh, 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 that

me in waving. And I thought, okay, so she was, let my wife have a visit. That seems very enough. I'm in Venice. It's the festival block. Anyway, she came over as she was leaving and said, I'm so happy to see you in here. 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 don't know. I just can't work this one out. I haven't made a film about shoes. Have I? Anyway, she said, you remember the fifth store in Barney's. So she thought that I'd sold her a pair of shoes. She did a department at Barney's, and she was thrilled to see me in Harry's Bar, because clearly, that met I was doing quite well for myself. 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 store 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. Hmm. All right. Now, Emma, do you miss Barney's like, I miss Barney's?”

No, I do. I miss Barney's. I really do. I know. We just talked about the other day. I miss it so much. I mean, we're admitting to terrible shallowness, but I do. But I really do. But by the way, both New York and are like, yeah, both places. I love those places. I love them. What happened to it? What happened? When it go belly up, it's because people shop online now, right? Is that it? Yeah, yeah, everything. It's to go to the shoe, right, direct to the shoe department, right? No, just walking,

then, men, do you walk in the back where they're on, like, what is that, like, 15 nights street? You can walk in that back door. I was talking about Los Angeles. And there was one downtown, too. Well, the original at 17's, yeah. Oh, guys, you guys, the numbers. Same number, Mark. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show. Wait, Emma, so, listen, let's go back. Let's go back. I love. Let's start the interview.

“That was a little bit of a question. This is what you have to start. You guys, Emma's here. We're the worst”

interviews of all time. And you're realizing that in real time. And your regret is, is evident. So, I didn't know that you started, well, I started, but you were in the acclaimed footlight sketch group at Cambridge, which has seen a lot of great performance. 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 you. Would that be like the British Lampoon type of thing? Sort of. Yeah, it's an equivalent to the sort of Lampoon in a way. But it's more of a story. You know,

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, it was just a kind of review. But it's a variety show.

“And I, a variety show, yes. And that's what we did. It's completely dead now. We don't,”

we don't have review anymore. But SNL is a form of review. It really is. It's sketches and songs. And you know, it's little bites. And I started doing that. Absolutely. With Hugh Laurie, and Steven Fry. Fry? Yeah. Oh, I 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've never knew that.

So, greatly. She's growing my God. And Jane Wagner, you know, signs of intelligent life. Yes, sure. All of her beautiful characters. Yeah, incredible. I loved 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 when you have to choose. Excellent time. That's a beautiful British

dryness. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh. Well, I mean, I was going to ask you me. These guys are going to make fun of me. But I'm a massive Harry Potter fan. And you show me. Show me the wand. I don't understand it. I really do have one. But professor, but you as professor, civil, right? Professor, civil. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was, she said, to take speaking about like characters and like, Lily Tomlin and Jane, and those, all those things that Lily Tomlin. 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, they make her eyeballs, this big. Yeah. And, and she's neurotic and, and she gets possessed. And it's, it's such an incredible character. How did you trust that that was, that your choice to come in on the first day we talked about this lot of stuff 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 tell me. How did you come up with a character? Well, it was written in the books that she has those glasses. I think she's books. Yeah. They're cheating. I think that 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 group or not. So, um, I mean, honestly, in my quite long career,

given the fact that I'm good 10 years older than all of you guys, I have done many, many parts. And, and I've spent about 30 days on Harry Potter in my whole life, you know, so it's kind of a strange thing to do with, because it's become such, this is huge phenomenon. And that's a lot of,

“a lot of the time that's what people are very sort of drawn to that. People stop you. I mean,”

I'm, I'm also, I've also seen saving Mr. Banks like 20 times and I've seen. Oh, you know, it wasn't getting out of you. Yeah. Yeah. It's just the, uh, you know what it's like, guys, when you, when you decide to play someone, you just have to fling yourself into it. Don't you have your first and hope that you're instincts are right? Yeah. Well,

there's always that thing we, because we talk about that idea, you know, I would say it's like,

when you, 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 anybody else, especially if you were in the middle. That's right. You know, yeah. I mean, and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Is this, you know? I'm I in a different movie. Yeah, I'm I in a different movie. I came in, I did something this winter and I sort of came in. They've been working for a while,

and I'm thought like, oh boy, and I had a, I had a, I had a real look going, and I thought, and a real look, what was the look, what was the look? I mean, he was sort of he sort of like a retired rocker and he, and he sort of down on his luck. And, uh, and Pedro Pascal comes in and he's my brother and, and I just like, and I sort of worked on it with 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 on my boy, this better work. Yeah, it's so cool. This Tony had had had seen it. Yeah, we talked about it. We talked about it, but still, you hadn't, we hadn't done it. You don't get to rehearse like us. It's quite rare, isn't it, in film that you get to rehearse? Yeah. Or as in theatre? All you do? It's all about rehearsal.

“Yeah. All about rehearsal. I love it. So, Shia, sometimes I think is the shame we don't get in,”

and we don't get enough rehearsal and stuff. But, you know, again, it's a very mysterious business

filming. It is. You never know what's going to come out, and the cameras so odd, don't you think?

Bit of a sort of witchy presence, I find. Well, you also have that thing when you, so, you 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 within 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.

“Yeah, the really is always, and you've, you've done some directing?”

Right, yes? No? No? No? Never's alright, Shia's.

Have you not? No. I, I, what do I feel like you had a couple of times? But, there is? Why, why have it, you, let's press it. Can you, Emma, can you check that you haven't? Yeah, Shia. I, well, wait, well, wait. I've interfered a massive, that's not directing, though. That's just taking part in a slightly upsetting way. I, especially with, I suppose, with the films, with children, and I've spent a lot of time with the children, because that's important.

The films I've made for young people, I was considered children to be the sacred audience. There are the people we need to make the best of our work for, because they don't like it. It's the first time that they see something. It needs to be so good. Can you, you've done so many things over so many genres, when you, when you're speaking of, like, the children's film and stuff, and I, so many things, and I was just, I was just, I,

what, within the last year, a film that you did a few years ago, 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 were like, one of course, I, that book was incredible to me, and then I love that book. It's one of, it's just such an amazing thing. 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. So I just, I didn't know that you would make that film. And I watched it as

“beautiful. It was lovely. It's such a great story. Is it a World War II story?”

Mm-hmm. It is. It's almost a piece of like resistance art in no way. The book is in the film. And how do 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 a 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 passes by and we think, oh, I wish I could have, I will actually know that was wrong. And then someone comes, something comes in and hits us right in the center of us and you go, I really want to tell that story now. And sometimes you don't know

why, but I always know if there's something I want to do. I always know, and it's not even,

it's not something I could quantify, quantify in any useful way. It's literally something will come across my bad 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 haven't never really been healed or addressed. And so we're learning Berlin for me is just this beautiful, I mean, the book is incredible. If you haven't read it, do. It's half in a reason. It's his, it's his huge in him, isn't it? Well, Sebastian Haffner. Hans Flaude. Hans Flaude, yeah, and his actual name is perhaps the other way. I get that, that when I show you, you can go get a big shot. Three stuages, right, Sean, when that came. Yeah. Alma, have you ever taken a part

a character, said 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 I've thought 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 for any pants because I'd like to be

a little bit more like, like, like, like, like how I'm kind of reading this character in this script. And this would be a kind of an easy little cheat to try to get. Yeah. Is that DTS? But like, yeah, sometimes it's for the for the director or the story or the other castle,

try a little bit here. Have you ever done that? I think I did that with Dan Cemetery Road. I did a telly recently. It's a series called Dan Cemetery Road, which is a quote from a Philip Locke

“in poem. And it's a Mick Karen book. It's the Slow Horses book and dumb. 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 semi-60s. I mean, as a child in the 60s, you know, I think about my childhood in London, how really close to the end of the war that was. 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 story building. 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 I learned who 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

while there is a place for that in both sexes, it is not appropriate for it to be just women who do that and 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, um, releasing sort of character because she's unapologetic and certainly not polite. Right. And whilst she has kindness, certainly an empathy insider, 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? What do you mean? Like, it's calculated the way it's used or not. No, it's quite natural. It's not

really, it's just an instinct. She's just, like, I always feel that chance being kind of me is just

“manipulating me. You know what I mean? Well, that's true. I think, yeah. I mean, I think you're right about”

wait, I mean, you grew up in, I was just thinking, so both you're, as you talked about this and both your parents have, um, it correct me if I'm wrong, or uh, were, were actors? Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So, you grew up, like, this is a sort of, uh, you're in, you grew up in the family business in a way. Is that right? Yes, I did, but it was the family business of theatre. 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, uh, southern town in our, at Guilford. Um, had not very much education was very self-talked, 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 and my grandmother was a servant. She went to service when she was 16 years old and, 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, um, quite dramatic and dad got out and, and went into the theatre and met my mother, who's from Scotland, very different culture and background, um, Presbyterian Scottish Presbyterian. So very, um, well, puritanical, actually, um, I can't really avoid that even though she was

never been, uh, able to resist good wine, um, which is excellent. Uh, but you know, there was

writing graph and this, this very interesting sort of combination, but they did this 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,

Yes. 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. Yeah. And the amount that must be produced. Right. What was your policy with your kids? Did you, um, were you, were you someone that was, um, screens are okay, televisions okay, iPads are okay, um, uh, or were you like, no, you know, it's, it's reading, um, or it's piano lessons, or it's, because I grew up with one of those households, very, very disciplined. Although there

“was plenty of TV too. It was kind of a combo. We, it was a good combo, I think. We told my daughter”

the television was broken, which she believed at least eight years, um, and it's still broken. And then she didn't dance in, but the age of about nine is that I've mended it, um, she just found the sorting remote. Anyway, um, and we didn't allow her to have a phone until she

was, uh, secondary school at the age of 13. Yeah. Um, so iPads got sometimes when we were driving,

we live in Scotland as well. We were driving just Scotland, and iPads was a wonderful thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an org, and then they're still guilty to film, which actually, I don't feel guilty about it. If it's a good film, it's a lovely way to spend two hours at, 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 lamp post going by and do terrible stuff. But it's good for the imagination,

though, it's really good to think about all those hours. It's good and boredom's good for the imagination as well. I know, we're, we're just our relationship, we're being bored. Managing boredom is a talent everybody. Okay, here's my question. To all of you, when was the last time you were actually bored this weekend? Really? Yeah, yeah, I was, just because I was inside the whole time, it was raining and ran at a good TV. I'd done all my homework, and I, 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 that's happened, and clarity of mind and all your priorities get in the right order, and you can think about what's kind of like, it's a great managing boredom in bracing boredom, seeing the virtues of boredom is something that I just don't think. My, my kids, their generation is, is, understandsers is friends with, they can't even write an elevator without looking at

their phone. Yeah, I said it the red light. Constance stimulation. Yeah, I've actually, 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 you, that is independent of your phone. This is, this is absurd, but I will say, I'm, you know what, I was talking about this with a friend recently.

I'm never bored. Like, 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 don't feel like it. It's like, there's, you're not,

“we're all so, I think, most people in the world today are, are highly functioning, like,”

we're just like trained to manage 50 different things at the same time. Just be just sort of global productivity. But there is a great, you're always talking about productivity. It's unbelievable. So, you never, you want to have a shy, never shy away from productivity. I was just thinking, Sean, I wonder. When you hear Emma talk about growing a shy theater in her parents, hi, Sean, by the way, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. This is

I'm such a big fan. Do you wish, in a way, when you hear about people who grew up in, like, in the theater and stuff, do you feel, knowing your, you know, 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. Like, well, even Jason, like, talking up, growing up around Hollywood and in it, or Emma growing up in it, you know, like, what, when did it start for you, Sean? It was high school, right? Yeah, yeah, high school,

junior high. I was, I, I was, I worked backstage. I worked at the light, not the light. It was just one light. And it was, yeah, was one switch. Seriously, it was on and off. And it was, you got to land.

“You 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, I was in theater because it was in a associated with sports. And I thought, what were they going to think? And so my oldest brother was like, hey, dude, it's okay, bro. Like, I, I, 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, um, and then another thing's happened. But, uh, well, let's not get into that. And then, um, but yeah, I was, you know, I was, I don't know that I love to do it anymore. I mean, the grind of theater is something, right? I'm not that you just have to, the, the repetition

the endurance. Hmm. We'll be right back. And back to the show.

What was the last theater production you were part of? I'm, uh, because you've done so many. Well, I haven't actually, I've mostly done film, but um, 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 Swiny Todd, um, Steve Sontimes, Swiny Todd, with Brin Turfelon. I did it. We did it with the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center. Wow.

We did five performances there. And then we did two weeks of the dominion here. And then when was this? How cool. It was 10 years ago, maybe? Yeah. Yeah. And, and you'd be great. And I'm sure you were, um, a perfect partner. You mean the psychotic, like woman who kills people and wants to walk at that show. No, but the family. Oh, you got to let Sean finish up. No, the comedy a bit. I'm sure you nailed it. No, I, I'm sure I was, did way too, 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

temponist 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. And then there's the then television acting, which is television acting. You've got to be really careful with the comedy. Very good actor, you're a good actor, whatever you're doing. Right, well, I can't bear all that all that snobbery, which was very much alive when my parents were coming up. So,

yeah, that's 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 Celoni. 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 was, it was nine months to learn it. And then I did it for like 30 performances. Yeah, your Sean Hind is, is almost as difficult to Shakespeare, right?

So I'm telling you, you've got the music part of it as well. Finding those notes and those chords is really hard. Oh, it's so hard, yeah, harder than Shakespeare. Shakespeare makes it easy for her. She's like a wonderful old sailing boat. You can get into and just sail into the sun. Really? Because he's so reliable. Well, speaking of writing, I mentioned that you, that you're the only I know I don't know your role. Performer to have one for acting and writing and you wrote sense and sense of

stability and how did that happen? Because I didn't know that either. And so it's the life of both of it.

I've never seen it. Jane Austen, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I've laterized it. No, no, I'm sorry.

Yeah. Oh, it's not really cool. No, no. But how did that happen with, with, with, with Angle, with the great Angle right, directed. With the great Angle. Actually, it happened kind of interestingly because

“like us, 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 or black comedy series in the UK, Desmond. And then he worked with an awful lot of black and Asian and female comedians. She 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 a bit with something on her mind. And 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 locations, that it appears to be attached and also changes shapes sometimes that she just doesn't want to touch or have anything to do with. And so the sketches about sexual ignorance, so it's a feminist sketch about the fact that women weren't allowed to know about sex, but then they

And can you imagine coming across a penis for the first time? And then seeing it become erect in front

“of your fairy 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, quite funny. And the reproducer Lindsay Durran, the extraordinary Hollywood producer who actually started her work with spinal tapping, excuse me, literally one of my favorite 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 I'm just staying." Interesting segue. Wow. I said, "Well, I'll give it a go."

I gave it a go. Amazing. But I go. Amazing. What about other other screen plays afterwards

forgive my ignorance? Is that something new? No, not at all. I've been forgiving your ignorance from the book that haven't been made, actually. But I've written a couple of kids films. One called the Nanimate Fee, who's a strange sort of sort of watery 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 musical? 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. He'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. He's just a wonderful songwriter.

And we have written about a billion songs, cut a billion songs. He'd been writing it for so long.

I gave him a couple of touchstones. I said, think, think Tom Wait's sort of fish trombone. Also, do you know a guy who got a gang called the Tiger Lillies? They're quite beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the kind of thing. I was like a Victorian steam punk slightly dark, you know, a little bit on the circus side but not, you know, not dark. That sounds great.

“So that's what we've been doing. That's really cool. I think, 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 that Craig Mason with that. Craig with the great Craig Mason. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love Craig. You're old buddy. The Roach and Noble. He's such a wonderful wonderful man. And then he he's he wrote. He adapted a book where yeah, it's about a shepherd who gets murdered and his Sheep solved the crime. I mean, that's the log line. You just go, yes, I'll be in it.

I'll pay a sheep. I'll pay anything. I'll play a broom. I'll pay anything. Yeah. It's such a good premise. And this is, it's starting huge. Yeah, it's a great yearn. Guys, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. No, no. I noticed that. No, 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? Yeah. Did you have to work with, you have to”

work with some photo realistic animals or some, or is it, sort of realistic actin? No, no, no. I know we actually, I was only on it for about three weeks. I'd just done a thriller in Finland. And then then I was going on to the telly. So I sort of kind of dropped in for three weeks with this lovely bunch of folk and that it was gorgeous. Yeah, it sounds like a gorgeous type of location, right? Where do you shoot that? Oh, God. Now you're asking me, I mean, it was in England.

It was an actually we shot the second nine-minute fee in the same village because it's this kind of picture perfect. Right. Village. And I can't remember what it's called. Well, most importantly, what's called hamble done, actually. I think I've actually remembered that, which is a fucking miracle. Was it given that I'm literally 175 degrees here? Yeah. Now my brain was it close enough to your house where you could sleep in your own bed or did you

have to stay? No, it's so not, so it's not. Okay, that never happened. Never. You know what I love

about, about England singing an English hotel, especially a small English hotel, is an English breakfast. I adorning this breakfast, which is what? Well, there's different kinds. So what do you get?

what they say. I've never had black pottings. Yeah, what's in a black potting? Have a new Sean?

My last one? It's pig's blood. No, no, it's that. It's pig's blood mixed up with various sort of spices and grain. Oh my god. It's like haggard. Because I'm half Scottish and the haggard is a sheep's stomach and the sheep's stomach is filled with all the sort of awful, which is your chopped up with various bits. Did somebody just make a sheep noise? Oh my god. And why do we have these kinds of foods over there? Is it pig's blood? Is it pig's blood?

Is it pig's blood? Is it pig's blood? The country's so old that you had to figure out how to make stuff you could eat out of what was available, right? This was before. But also, you didn't waste

“anything. Right. So if you killed a cow, you ate its fucking stomach as well. And it's not. The only thing”

you didn't eat was its hair. Yeah. And it's horns. You had to work out 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. And it took until recently as under many areas is a still poor. Now, do you predict 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 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? Or are you just kind of like, it is what it is. And yeah, there's big band, there's the thing. 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 much more entranced than I was when I was young.”

Yeah. I mean, I just adore it. I'm a Londoner, but I'm also a scotch. I'm on the Scottish. So, for me, the most beautiful countryside is in Scotland. And Scotland is wild and it's very, you know, it's unheld, it's unbound and it's full of the most extraordinary energies. And London is also, you know, a very precious place because everyone, this great teaming bowl of people living in this massive city, generally speaking quite peacefully. Yeah. I'm very, I love love, I say,

I'm not as familiar with England, actually, the countryside, but the countryside in England can be quite breathtaking, you know, to your shirt in the north or Northumberland or, you know, 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 and full of, I've still full of”

character and community, actually. We know what, my, my, my, my, they suggested non-scripted show Emma, where you go around and discover, rediscover England. There you go. We're going to produce it. Listen, we're going to pitch it to you. I'm going to get in touch with your people. We're going to come with me. Yes. I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a devoted Angle file. These guys knows. And the, and the sheep go with you and come with you and come with. Oh, yeah. And then at the end of the show, we eat them.

Yeah, sure. All right. Every, every piece of Jason, Jason takes the stomach. Yes. Yes. We get, you all have to take one particular, really, and sort of unpleasant part like the pancreas and then you invent a really good little recipe just for the color. Yeah. But by the way, by the way, I'm going to put this out there. If I, I'm going to put this out there, there are, there is somebody listening right now, maybe over in the UK, who's going to say, like, this is a great idea. And you're going to, you

are going to get an incoming call. It is a good idea. Right? I would watch that. Yeah, I would watch that. Emma going through England and discovering religious different ways, like Stanley Tucci and Emily, I can't wait. I can't wait. We're I'm an EP. I'll just go around saying endlessly. You want some game That was that was Jason Nick Emma, we have taken up too much of your time. It's been it's probably been an hour. It's what an absolute delight to have you here I was real fast. Yeah, that was fast. I hope I get the cool off and jump off all because I could have gone on forever

No, I'm a list you get to go and I put the blooming scutcha thing on in the garden. I'm gonna get you and standard it now Yeah, I don't think we got any questions even on the next next time you come on the show We're actually gonna ask you some questions on the next marlus Yeah, yeah, that was so lovely you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here Thank you so much for your time and for everything that you do and we're just such fans

It's just yeah, we are right back at you every single one of you. I love you. Do you like it like what?

They're lying face down on the wet lawn

All righty, fair the well. Thanks, Alma. Bye. Bye Um

“Guys, yeah, that's awesome. Have you seen remains of the day?”

Yes, yes, I may have seen that so many times. Oh, it's me thumbs up. How many thumbs do you think she's done? I bet she's done. I don't know like 65 movies. Well, what's better than that? How many great films as you know like so many? 64 That's only a incredible performance as yeah, yeah, just so And just all and so different in every genre just for less yeah, and I meant it

She's she is there's always there's some sort of cheeky little wink always to each one of her characters

She also she also like she's also emanates kind of like she's gonna take care of me like I know she's my mom Yes, you know, and I like that. I wanted to take care of me. I'm gonna say my number. I mean think about love actually

“Forgot about that massive hit that everybody's still I just I think you squandered an opportunity there well”

You really could have gone down an incredible memory lane of parts and movies and stuff and said

It's fucking talking about haggies and but there's no jam because we're just having a conversation, man We're just here just visiting weren't we? Yeah, we're just having a quick look. We're not sure unless no. Yeah, we'll have to have her back Yeah, you know we're just uh

“Love that we're just simple guys, you know, we're not very smart. In fact we're smart less”

So so so so see so right there. I was just introducing a new sign off instead of by Okay, we work on some sort of way to just say yeah, I guess we're just kind of smart Yes, and then it's over, but that's the only one you can use then you can only say we're Work that into the sentence, but that just could just be like that that came out of this process If I was doing that you don't know me like that's a natural progression if you in a way

It's almost you call it like a Smartness is 100% organic in our tiznly handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Arnjarv and Bennett barbaco Smart less