"Emma Thompson"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast: "Emma Thompson"

Release Date: June 29, 2026

Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Emma Thompson

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Episode Overview

This episode features the legendary Emma Thompson, celebrated actor, screenwriter, and general force of nature. The hosts delight in an improvised, hilarious, and insightful conversation that spans Emma’s career, her British upbringing, her comedic roots, thoughts on fame, acting methods, writing, parenting, climate change, and food traditions. Emma’s candor, humor, and warmth shine through, delivering equal parts wisdom and laughter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emma’s Surroundings & British Humility

[02:15-10:12]

• Emma tunes in from her North London office, playfully describing her surroundings, including posh cards and a stack of thought-provoking books.
• She jokes about her awards being kept in the bathroom or on a "very high shelf"—the quintessentially British way of not making a fuss over accolades.
  • "The Oscars are in the lavatory." – Emma Thompson [09:05]
• Discussion about the merits (or embarrassment) of displaying awards in the house.
• Anecdotes about keeping famous awards in bathrooms, poking fun at celebrity habits.

2. British Weather & Climate Change

[10:21-13:21]

• Emma laments the rare and oppressive London heatwave, blaming climate change ("it's 35 degrees in London and things are just dying in front of you").
• The group discusses the British aversion to air conditioning and ice, with Emma noting,
  • "Americans have always been obsessed with ice… chicken parmesan came with ice." – Emma [11:50]
• Emma humorously describes British coping mechanisms: "You just lie face down on the pavement, panting..."

3. Fame, Recognition, and Fans

[14:01-19:17]

• Emma shares that people rarely bother her in public; often, they engage politely or not at all due to people being glued to their phones.
• The hosts swap stories about celebrity encounters, with Emma explaining how sometimes she is mistaken for other actresses, to which she responds with wit ("No, she’s dead, actually" [18:03]).
• Jason Bateman shares a story about a fan both politely “not wanting to bother him” but sitting down next to him anyway.

4. Memories of Barney’s & Retail Nostalgia

[20:42-22:21]

• Everyone reminisces about the now-closed Barney’s department store, admitting the shallowness and nostalgia, cementing the camaraderie with Emma.

5. Comedy, Sketch, and Early Career

[24:48-26:28]

• Emma reveals her roots in comedy, being part of the iconic Cambridge Footlights with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, which she likens to an English "SNL."
• "I was going to be a comedian. That was what I wanted to be because I admired Lily Tomlin so greatly." – Emma [26:19]

6. On Big Characters and Harry Potter

[26:49-29:05]

• Sean, an enthusiastic Harry Potter fan, gushes over Emma’s performance as Professor Trelawney.
• Emma discusses swinging big with characters, taking risks on set, and trusting her instincts, despite only spending about "30 days on Harry Potter in my whole life."
• She explains the importance and strange responsibility of embodying such widely loved characters.

7. Acting Choices and Rehearsal Differences

[29:05-31:51]

• The crew discusses the challenge of joining established film sets and calibrating performances.
• Emma praises rehearsal in theatre, laments its rarity in film, and describes film as a “mysterious business.”
• Will asks if Emma has directed; she clarifies she hasn’t but is "an interferer" if anything—especially protective over projects aimed at young audiences.

8. Selecting Roles: The Art and Intuition

[31:51-35:49]

• Jason brings up "Alone in Berlin," a WWII adaptation that deeply inspired him; Emma is stunned anyone saw it, highlighting its impact on her as an exploration of historic trauma.
• Emma describes the selection process for roles as intuitively driven, likening it to finding the right story at the right time.

9. Characters as Self-Exploration

[35:49-38:44]

• Will asks if Emma ever chooses roles to try out aspects of personality she wants to develop herself.
• Emma agrees, citing her recent TV work, “Down Cemetery Road”: "This character, Zoe, is not a good girl… she’s unapologetic, and certainly not polite." – Emma [36:38]
• Discussions around societal expectations of women and the freeing nature of playing unfiltered characters.

10. Family, Upbringing, and Theatrical Legacy

[38:44-41:38]

• Emma describes coming from a theatrical household—her father from humble beginnings and her Scottish, Presbyterian mother—cementing her love for storytelling and the arts.
• She contrasts the pre-television world with today’s constant content and distraction.

11. Parenting, Boredom & Imagination

[41:38-44:42]

• Emma on setting parenting boundaries—telling her daughter the TV was “broken” for most of her childhood.
• The group discusses the value of boredom for imagination and reflection in today’s always-on world.

12. Theatre, Sondheim, and The Magic of Live Performance

[49:03-51:53]

• Emma recounts playing Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd" with Bryn Terfel and the NY Philharmonic—a highlight of her career where "every single cell of you" is put to use.
• She discusses the challenge of Sondheim, finding it "harder than Shakespeare" for performers.

13. Screenwriting & Adaptation

[52:16-56:27]

• Jason notes Emma's rare achievement of Oscars for both acting and writing (for "Sense and Sensibility").
• Emma humorously credits Jane Austen: "I wrote it. Jane Austen wrote it. I plagiarized mercilessly." [52:28]
• She details how an offbeat sketch about Victorian sexual ignorance (!) prompted a producer to ask her to adapt Austen.
• Also discusses writing "Nanny McPhee" and ongoing work adapting it as a West End musical, inspired musically by Tom Waits and Tiger Lillies.

14. Current projects & The Sheep Detective

[56:33-58:38]

• Emma stars in “The Sheep Detective,” adapted by Craig Mazin, where sheep solve a murder—"I'll play anything. I’ll play a broom. It’s such a good premise." [56:54]
• Mentions co-star Hugh Jackman and describes the idyllic English filming location.

15. British Food Traditions

[58:40-60:11]

• A lively discussion about the “English breakfast,” black pudding (congealed pig's blood), and haggis (sheep’s stomach), with Emma educating the hosts on traditional foods.
• Fun explanation of food history and thrift in British and Scottish culture.

16. England & Scotland: Love and Landscape

[60:21-62:34]

• Emma expresses renewed appreciation for the English and especially Scottish countryside, calling London a “precious place” and waxing poetic about Cornwall’s beauty.
• Jokes about developing a non-scripted TV show traveling through England, à la Stanley Tucci’s culinary travels.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You just lie face down on the pavement, panting, hoping that some dog will come and whittle on you and cool you down.” – Emma Thompson, on UK heatwaves [12:34]
• "The Oscars are in the lavatory." – Emma Thompson [09:05]
• "I'm 20 years younger, or I say, 'No, she's dead, actually.' But then I just move gently on through." – Emma Thompson, on being mistaken for other actresses [18:03]
• "Sometimes if I'm with the family, I'll say, would you mind awfully? I just. I'm with my family." – Emma, on declining fan selfies [17:11]
• "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? That's what we put people through anyway.” – Emma, on the inspiration for her feminist comedy sketch that led to adapting "Sense and Sensibility" [54:15]
• "If you had an animal and you killed it... the only thing you didn't eat was its hair." – Emma, on traditional British cuisine [59:58]
• "I would watch the hell yeah. I would watch that of Emma going through England and discovering villages like Stanley Tucci in Italy." – Will Arnett [62:49]

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Important Timestamps

02:15 – Emma’s introduction, British office scene, and award placement
09:05 – "Oscars are in the lavatory"
10:21–12:34 – UK heatwave, lack of air conditioning/ice, climate change
14:16–19:17 – Fame in public, fan encounters, mistaken identity stories
24:48 – Comedy and Footlights origins
26:59–29:05 – Harry Potter, acting instincts
31:51 – Choices in taking roles and WWII stories
35:49–38:44 – Picking characters to try on new personality traits
41:38 – Parenting, boredom, and the value of daydreaming
49:03 – "Sweeney Todd" performance, challenges of Sondheim
52:16–56:27 – Oscars for writing, adapting Jane Austen, "Nanny McPhee" musical
56:33 – "Sheep Detective" and filming in English countryside
58:40–60:11 – Black pudding, haggis, British food culture
60:41–62:34 – Love of England, non-scripted travel show pitch
63:15 – "You want some gain," British-isms, fond farewells

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Summary Tone & Language

Emma and the hosts maintain a tone that balances irreverence, warmth, and deep respect. The conversation is witty, deeply British at times, and full of mutual admiration, with frequent playful ribbing and self-deprecating humor.

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For listeners and fans:
This episode is a masterclass in both banter and substance. Emma Thompson brings infectious charm, and the conversation, drenched in personal anecdotes and laughter, is equally rewarding whether you love her for Shakespeare, sketch comedy, or Harry Potter. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a blend of showbiz insight, British wit, and heartfelt reflection.

Transcript

[Emma Thompson]

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[Sean]

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[Emma Thompson]

So 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 had 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.

[Jason Bateman]

Smart less. Smart less. Smart less.

[Sean]

I'm an actor and I have to be on camera today.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, here. Have you been. Have you been working on your faces in the mirror all morning?

[Sean]

Yes.

[Jason Bateman]

Let's see. Surprise, Surprise. Let's see. Surprise.

[Will]

Whoa.

[Jason Bateman]

God, that's so good. That's.

[Will]

Now one with the mouth closed. One with the mouth closed. Still rolling. So, Sean, you shoot.

[Jason Bateman]

That's how JB directs?

[Sean]

Yeah, I do. Right after this, actually.

[Jason Bateman]

Jb, Is that how you direct actors?

[Will]

Still rolling, still rolling. And one with the mouth closed. Okay, good, good, good. Don't look right at the camera. Don't look right at the camera. Still Ro.

[Sean]

By the way, I just got that note. I'm not even kidding. Sean, can you close your mouth in this scene?

[Jason Bateman]

No, I swear to God, no.

[Will]

Was it a dialogue scene? Did they just want you to stop?

[Sean]

Yeah, no, I was just like. No, it was just like. My character was like, I can't believe what you're saying. Like, I was just like, are you serious? Like, kind of. Are you serious? I was like. And she's like, can you do it with your mouth closed?

[Jason Bateman]

Could you? Could you do it with your mouth closed?

[Sean]

I tried. I tried. Really?

[Jason Bateman]

But you're like, I have dialogue. They're like, yeah, we know. Just mouth closed.

[Sean]

Yeah, I'm just prepping my mouth. Prepping my mouth to talk.

[Jason Bateman]

And you're gonna go on Backgr. That's gonna be your cue.

[Will]

And just try thinking your lines on this take.

[Jason Bateman]

Here we go, everybody. Wait. You know, I was doing this scene once years ago, and Eli was there. We were in France, and I had to. 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. Your gait's really wide. I go, oh, okay. And then. And I had to do it like five more times. The whole time, I'm just thinking about how I was walking.

[Sean]

Close your legs.

[Jason Bateman]

Which is worse. No, that's the way.

[Will]

That's the way you walk. I could do your walk in two seconds.

[Jason Bateman]

I know, I know. I walk.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah, you're a little bow legged. Yeah, like you just got off a horse.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, hang on. This is not an excuse to just pile On. I'm very vulnerable this morning.

[Will]

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.

[Jason Bateman]

It's good. I have long legs.

[Will]

You do have long legs. I was thinking about you watching all the. All the hockey this weekend with you filling up that goal crease.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will]

You know, you need a tall guy in there, right? Get that shoulder up into the. Into the high corners.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, back in the day when. When I played, it was much more about getting on the ground, stacking the pads.

[Will]

Oh, sure.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, instead of a butterfly.

[Will]

So, Will, with you being a Toronto fan, are you keeping it with Canada and rooting for Montreal?

[Jason Bateman]

I sure am. Yeah. I'm all the way. Yeah.

[Will]

And, Sean, who's your pick to win this?

[Sean]

Between the two. Between Canada and over there at the.

[Will]

Well, it looks like it's going to be Vegas.

[Jason Bateman]

Of course

[Will]

we'll air afterwards, but it's pretty exciting.

[Sean]

Will used to. A couple of years ago or three years ago, Will had me record my picks. Do you remember that?

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, yeah. For the Stanley Cup.

[Sean]

Yeah. And so every week, I would record the picks and why they would win.

[Will]

Sean, I'm gonna give you three guesses what the name of the team in Las Vegas is called. The hockey team.

[Sean]

Is it? Okay, let me ask you this. Does it have something to do with the city itself?

[Will]

It does not.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, it really doesn't.

[Will]

Yeah. They're not called the chips or the double downs. Yeah. No. What about Elizabethan? I'll give you a hint. It's Elizabethan. Or it's like.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, I mean, Kings.

[Sean]

The Kings.

[Jason Bateman]

Close. That's close. I mean, it could be any of those.

[Will]

The Golden Knights. The Golden Golden Knights.

[Jason Bateman]

All right, I tell you who's golden.

[Will]

Oh, here he comes. Will's got a lunch.

[Jason Bateman]

You guys like a. You like a segue?

[Will]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, I mean, she's golden in that, you know, she's obviously won two Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for like. Like 11 or something. Yeah, yeah. And. And won two Academy Awards of the five that she's been nominated for.

[Will]

Wait a second. Five nominations? That's Emmys.

[Jason Bateman]

And in fact, she's the sole artist thus far to be. To be. To have received an Academy Award for both acting and. And screenwriting. Acting for Howard Zandon. Screenwriting for sense and sensible.

[Will]

Emma Thompson.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, guys, it's just Emma Thompson. I can't even get into her credits. It's Emma Thompson.

[Sean]

Emma Thompson.

[Will]

Incredible. Incredible.

[Sean]

Hello. Hello.

[Emma Thompson]

Nice to see you. I literally didn't understand a word of any of that.

[Sean]

I love the.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, my God. Three guys talking about hockey. It's fascinating.

[Sean]

I love your refugees on the floor in the background.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah. Oh, can you see them?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, sure.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Will]

Why don't you give them a chance?

[Emma Thompson]

They're gonna go and sit outside. I don't think you can. They're going

[Will]

now. Where are you? Are you. Are you at their house or your house?

[Emma Thompson]

No, I'm. I'm in my office, actually. I was looking behind Sean. He's got a very posh kind of. There's awards. There's, like, loads of statues and portraits and photos, and it'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 kind of vampire voice, it also works. You know, it's all making more and more sense.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Will]

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?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, where are they?

[Emma Thompson]

The Oscars are in the lavatory because she 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.

[Will]

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 lids.

[Jason Bateman]

It's a holder.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah. That's taking it even further than me.

[Jason Bateman]

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 and just lean, like, lean into it. You know what I mean?

[Will]

So they know what they're dealing with.

[Emma Thompson]

That's it. Or you just put them in the doorway just so that when people come in, they just trip up over there. Yeah. I'm so sorry. This is my Oscars. Sorry.

[Sean]

I'll just move right this way.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah, yeah, do come through. Do 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.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Until people just go, I need to lean into it. I think that that's a good idea.

[Will]

Where is your office? Are you in England or New York or Los Angeles?

[Emma Thompson]

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 street 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.

[Will]

No, it's all a hoax.

[Emma Thompson]

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 flower. Everything is just wilting. It's like, you know, Dracula's walked into the town.

[Will]

And there's not a lot of air conditioning either. Right?

[Emma Thompson]

We don't know. We don't have air conditioning here. Ridiculous.

[Will]

Or ice.

[Emma Thompson]

We have three hot days a year.

[Sean]

Or ice.

[Emma Thompson]

But they're 36 degrees.

[Will]

Or ice.

[Emma Thompson]

Or ice.

[Will]

Right.

[Emma Thompson]

Although that's coming.

[Will]

Emma. Why is that?

[Sean]

That's coming.

[Will]

Why is it that. Why is it that Europe on the whole, has somehow sort of all made a consensus decision that carbonated drinks don't taste better with ice cubes? I mean, it seems pretty clear that they do that. It's just objectively true. Right. But yet they still. You have to ask for ice with a. So I sound like an ugly American here. I apologize.

[Emma Thompson]

No, you're just obsessed with ice. Americans have always been obsessed with ice.

[Will]

When I used to.

[Emma Thompson]

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 were so excited for. Get in the ice. Get in the ice. You're gonna love it. You're gonna love it. Everything came with ice. You know, chicken parmesan came with ice. I'm like, what's going on here? This is mad.

[Sean]

That's really complicated.

[Emma Thompson]

Obsessed with it. And we don't have that obsession because we don't have probably as much money or. Or. And our refrigerators are not as big and they don't produce ice. We all get fridges that say they produce ice, and then within a week, they've broken down.

[Sean]

So what do you do to beat the heat?

[Emma Thompson]

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

[Jason Bateman]

But here's the thing. You just. You just kind of. You just. We don't need to always be in our perfect comfort zones at all times. That's the whole point of life. There are things that happen. There are days where you're hot and you deal with, and there are days that are cold. But it is true that in this country. I'm Canadian, by the way, Emma, so

[Emma Thompson]

I know you're Canadian, Will, darling. But I think you guys are used to extreme temperatures, and we live in a temperate zone, 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 is tragic, but, you know, it's like we're just not. We're just not used to it. And it's, it's. It's quite. It's really weird.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

Actually, it's because it's happening.

[Will]

It's happened. How was it last summer? Last summer it was super hot there, too. Right. Europe had a huge

[Emma Thompson]

traveling on the tube. Were you there?

[Sean]

I was there last summer.

[Jason Bateman]

He was doing his play. He was doing his play.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, man, it was so hot.

[Sean]

And, and, and like, to everybody's point, there's no air conditioning. We were staying in a place that had air conditioning, but there was. And we were rehearsing in a place that was like a greenhouse with no air.

[Will]

And what about the theater, Sean? Did the theater have air conditioning?

[Sean]

No air conditioning in the theater.

[Emma Thompson]

What? No, there's no air conditioning in our theaters.

[Will]

Come on.

[Emma Thompson]

Because we've never needed it before and we haven't adapted yet to climate change.

[Jason Bateman]

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 no questions and no, no, no, not at all.

[Emma Thompson]

Nobody takes any notice on the tube. They're all looking at their phones.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Will]

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 and stuff. Like, she's a respected actor as opposed to, like a celebrity. Like, you see a celebrity out, it's. It's like. It's like a. A giraffe has escaped the zoo and you got to get a picture of

[Emma Thompson]

it on your phone.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

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 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. Bruce Willis, you know, 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.

[Will]

What's your. What's your. What's your least favorite kind of interaction with a fan? Like, when you're with your family or. I mean, because it's like there's. 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 great when it's just sort of mellow and quiet and passive, right?

[Emma Thompson]

Yes. I mean, it's lovely. And people will just pass you and still keep walking.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

You go, love your work. Bye. It's lovely. But when you're sort of buying sausages with your daughter, right. You don't really want them to come up and go, can I have a selfie? Selfies are interesting, aren't they? How do you guys feel about those?

[Will]

Right? What.

[Emma Thompson]

How do you feel about the. Do you feel that they're intrusive at all? What do you think?

[Will]

Well, no, but what I 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 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, it's. I'm not. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining.

[Emma Thompson]

Do you ever say, no?

[Will]

No, Never. Never. And I. I've been with people.

[Sean]

I don't.

[Will]

I mean, never is probably. I might. I'm sure I have, but I don't.

[Jason Bateman]

I do when I'm with the kids sometimes. When I'm. When I'm. When I'm with. If I'm with the kids or with the little kids. And if. And if it's an adult asking, I'll say no thing. I've never said no to a kid.

[Will]

Said that.

[Jason Bateman]

I have said that.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

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. So 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.

[Will]

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 that's

[Jason Bateman]

because it's such an easy give in a way.

[Emma Thompson]

It's an easy give.

[Sean]

Have you ever gotten, hey, can I get a picture really quick? And then they hand you the camera? Cause that's happened to me.

[Will]

They want you to take a picture

[Sean]

of them, of them and their family.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, it's funny, I had the other day, I had. 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 he said, this woman said, so sorry to bother you, and I know that you're eating. And then proceeded to sit down on the bench next to me.

[Emma Thompson]

No.

[Jason Bateman]

And begin the conversation. At which point I was like, well, you're not that bothered.

[Will]

No, grab a fry.

[Jason Bateman]

Then she laughed. She laughed. 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.

[Will]

Funny.

[Emma Thompson]

I had a really wonderful one. I was in Harry's Bar in Venice, which is. Oh, yeah, 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. And 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? She said, you remember the 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. Cause 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 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.

[Will]

Good for you. All right, now, Emma, do you miss Barney's? Like, I miss Barney's.

[Emma Thompson]

I do.

[Will]

I miss Barney.

[Emma Thompson]

Sorry. I really do.

[Jason Bateman]

We were just talking about it the other day. I miss it so much.

[Emma Thompson]

We're admitting to terrible shallowness, but I do. I really do.

[Will]

But.

[Jason Bateman]

But by the way, both New York and la, sad. I miss both.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah, both places. I loved those place. I love.

[Sean]

What happened to it.

[Emma Thompson]

What happened?

[Will]

Why would it go belly up? It's because people shop online now, right? Is that right?

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah, yeah, everything.

[Sean]

I used to go to the shoe. Right. Direct to the shoe department at the.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, no, just walk in that. Men. You walk in the back way there on, like. What is that? Like, 59th Street? You can walk in that back door.

[Sean]

I was talking about Los Angeles.

[Will]

And there was one downtown, too.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, the original on 17th Street. Yeah.

[Sean]

Oh, guys, keep saying numbers. Same numbers, Mark.

[Will]

And we will be right back.

[Sean]

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[Will]

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[Emma Thompson]

So you're saying with Hilton Honors I can use points for a three night stay anywhere?

[Sean]

Anywhere?

[Emma Thompson]

What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad in Tulum? Hilton Honors baby.

[Sean]

Ooh, what about the five star Waldorf

[Emma Thompson]

Astoria in the Maldives?

[Sean]

Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties?

[Emma Thompson]

When you want points that can take you anywhere? Anytime it matters where you stay Hilton for the stay.

[Sean]

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[Jason Bateman]

Wait, Emma. So listen, let's go back. Let's go back. Let's go back. I love.

[Will]

Let's start the interview. Let's listen to questions for our guest.

[Sean]

Yes, Emma's here.

[Jason Bateman]

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. 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 performers. So you have a history of sketch comedy, which is so amazing.

[Sean]

I didn't know that. That's cool.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I did that for years.

[Will]

Would that be like the British Lampoon type of thing?

[Jason Bateman]

Sort of, yeah. It's an equivalent to sort of the Lampoon in a way. Ish. But it's more of a.

[Emma Thompson]

But, you know, it's like snl. SNL is basically what I would think of as review. Right. So back 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, like 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 music and, you know, it's little bites. And I started doing that. Absolutely. With Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Fry.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Oh, wow.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Sean]

Never knew that.

[Emma Thompson]

So greatly.

[Sean]

She's great.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, my gosh.

[Emma Thompson]

And Jane Wagner, you know, the signs of intelligent life in the universe. All of her beautiful characters.

[Sean]

Yeah. Incredible.

[Emma Thompson]

I love that. That's what I wanted to do for a living.

[Will]

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 to.

[Jason Bateman]

Excellent timing.

[Will]

Beautiful British dryness. It's just.

[Sean]

Well, I mean, I was gonna ask you. I mean, these guys are gonna make fun of me, but I'm A massive Harry Potter fan.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, no kidding.

[Sean]

And you show us the wand. I wish I had it. I really do have wand. But you as Professor Sybil, right?

[Emma Thompson]

Professor Sylvie Sybil Schelone.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah, that was.

[Emma Thompson]

She said, fatigued.

[Sean]

Speaking about, like, characters and like Lily Tomlin and Jane and 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 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 loud on the first day where

[Jason Bateman]

they shoot with a huge swing, which

[Sean]

a huge swing was gonna be. How did you trust that? You know what I mean?

[Emma Thompson]

You don't really do.

[Sean]

How did you come up with the character?

[Emma Thompson]

Well, it was written in the books

[Sean]

that she has those glasses.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah. 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. I'm 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 in my whole life, you know, so it's kind of a strange thing to talk about because it's become such this huge phenomenon. And that's a lot. A lot of the time. That's what people are very sort of drawn to that people stop.

[Sean]

Yeah. I mean, I've also seen saving Mr. Banks like 20 times, and I've seen sens.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, good.

[Sean]

I mean, so good.

[Emma Thompson]

No, no, I wasn't getting at you.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

It's just that. Just make sure 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? Head first and hope that your instincts are right.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, well, there's always that thing we. Cause we talk about that idea. You know, I always 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 everybody else, especially if you come in. In the middle.

[Sean]

That's what I'm saying.

[Jason Bateman]

You know what I Mean.

[Emma Thompson]

And you're like, yeah, yeah, y. Yeah, that's true.

[Jason Bateman]

Is this.

[Emma Thompson]

You know, Am I in a different movie?

[Jason Bateman]

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?

[Emma Thompson]

What was the look?

[Jason Bateman]

He was a sort of. He's sort of like a retired rocker, 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. Same time, I thought like, you know, that first moment, like, here we go, guys, and we're rolling. I'm like, boy, this better work.

[Sean]

You know what I mean? Yeah, it's so sweet.

[Will]

But at least Tony had.

[Jason Bateman]

Had.

[Will]

Had seen it. Yes, he had talked about it and

[Jason Bateman]

talked about it, but still, you hadn't. We hadn't done it. You don't.

[Emma Thompson]

So you don't get to rehearse like us. We. It's quite rare, isn't it, in film that you get to rehearse.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

Whereas in theater, all you do. It's all about rehearsal. Yeah, all about rehearsal.

[Sean]

I love.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Jason Bateman]

It is.

[Emma Thompson]

You never know what's gonna come out. And the camera's so odd, don't you think? Bit of a sort of witchy presence, I find.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, you also have that thing when you say. You know, when you finish something and you go. And people say, how was it? And you're like, I don't know yet. You know, that sort of. In that period of sort of waiting and JB obviously, when you. 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.

[Will]

Yeah. There really is always. Emma. You've. You've done some directing, yes.

[Emma Thompson]

No, no, no, I've never directed.

[Jason Bateman]

Have you not?

[Emma Thompson]

No.

[Will]

Why did I feel like you had a couple of times, but there is.

[Jason Bateman]

Why haven't you. Let's press her.

[Sean]

Can you. Emma, can you check that you haven't.

[Will]

Yeah, check. We'll wait.

[Emma Thompson]

I've interfered. That's not directing, though. That's just Taking part in a slightly upsetting way, 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 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 it's the first time that they see something. It needs to be so.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, so good God, you've done so many things over so many genres. When you're speaking of, like the children's films and stuff, and so many things. And I was just. I watched within the last year a film that you did a few years ago. Oh, God, probably 10 years ago. But it's based on one of my favorite books of all time, which is Alone in Berlin.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, my God. You saw that? You're like one of 50.

[Jason Bateman]

That book was incredible to me. And then I watched.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, I love that book. It's one of. It's just such an amazing book.

[Jason Bateman]

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.

[Will]

Is it a World War II story?

[Jason Bateman]

It is. It's almost a piece of, like, resistance art in a way. The book is. And 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 material based or 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?

[Emma Thompson]

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. 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 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. You don't know why, but I always know if it'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. Literally, something will come across my brows and I go, oh, 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. Been healed or addressed. And so Alone in Berlin for me is just this beautiful. I mean, the book is incredible. If you haven't read it, do. It's Hafner, isn't it? It's his pseudonym, isn't it? Will Sebastian Hafner.

[Jason Bateman]

Hans Falada.

[Emma Thompson]

Hans Falada, yeah. And his actual name is perhaps the other one.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, I get that.

[Will]

That when I. Sean, you can go get a snack.

[Jason Bateman]

Free Stooges, right, Sean, when that came.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Will]

Emma, have you ever taken apart 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 thing. Because I've said that a couple of times.

[Emma Thompson]

That's really interesting.

[Jason Bateman]

Really, like, you're like, I want to be like, I'm going to play this smarty pants.

[Will]

Because, yeah, I'd like to be a little bit more 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 out.

[Jason Bateman]

Dtf. Is that dtf?

[Will]

Yeah, but, yeah, sometimes it's for the director or the story or the other cast, but then sometimes it's, oh, I kind of always wanted to be kind of like that. And maybe I'll try a little bit here. Have you ever done that?

[Emma Thompson]

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 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, I 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.

[Will]

And therefore you're still rebuilding.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah. Oh, gorgeous. 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 Learning 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, 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 releasing sort of character because she's unapologetic and certainly not polite. Right. And whilst she has kindness, certainly an 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.

[Will]

Sure.

[Jason Bateman]

Does she weaponize it?

[Emma Thompson]

What do you mean?

[Jason Bateman]

Like, uses it? Like it's calculated the way it's used, or.

[Emma Thompson]

No, no, it's quite natural. It's quite natural. It's not really. It's just an instinct. She's just like.

[Jason Bateman]

I always feel when Sean's being kind to me, he's just manipulating me, you know what I mean?

[Emma Thompson]

Well, that's true, I think. Yeah. I mean, I think you're right about that, clearly.

[Jason Bateman]

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, were actors, is that right?

[Emma Thompson]

Mm.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. So you grew up, like, this is a sort of a. You grew up in the family biz, in a way, Is that. That right to.

[Emma Thompson]

Yes, I did, but it was the family business of theater.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

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 a Southern town in our Guilford, had not very much education, was very selftaught, decided to become an actor and leave. 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 theater and met my mother, who's from Scotland. Very different culture and background. Presbyterian. Scottish. Presbyterian. So very well puritanical, actually.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

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, 8. And it was black and white, you know, we didn't do that. We didn't have that. And now it's so different.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

It's kind of indescribably strange, actually.

[Will]

You mean the amount of content that's out there to distract you by the

[Jason Bateman]

breadth of it all? Sort of.

[Emma Thompson]

In a way, yeah. And the amount that must be produced.

[Sean]

Right.

[Will]

What was your policy with your kids? Did you. Were you someone that was. Screens are okay, television's okay, iPads are okay. 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. It was kind of a combo.

[Emma Thompson]

It was a good combo. I think we told my daughter the television was broken, which she believed for at least eight years.

[Will]

Still broken.

[Emma Thompson]

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. 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.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

So iPad. Oh, God. Sometimes when we were driving. We live in Scotland as well. We were driving to Scotland and iPad was a wonderful thing. And then they came to film, which actually, I don't feel guilty about if it's a good film. Film is 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.

[Jason Bateman]

But it's good for the imagination, though. It's really good. Think about all those hours.

[Emma Thompson]

And boredom's good for the imagination as well.

[Jason Bateman]

Why am friends with Sean?

[Emma Thompson]

We've lost our relationship.

[Will]

Managing Boredom is a talent, everybody.

[Emma Thompson]

Okay, here's my question to all of you. When was the last time you were actually bored?

[Will]

This weekend.

[Emma Thompson]

Really?

[Will]

Why? How? Well, just. Cause I was inside the whole time. It was raining and I ran out of good tv. I had 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. 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 set at a red light.

[Emma Thompson]

Constant stimulation.

[Jason Bateman]

I've actually said to both my sons at various points, you cannot walk down the stairs looking at your phone. Phone. That has to be something that you. 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. Like, even if I'm just sitting there. I don't know why I never feel bored.

[Will]

Right. I don't mean it as a pejorative. I just feel like it's like, you're not.

[Jason Bateman]

We're all.

[Will]

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 because it's just sort of global productivity. But there is a great.

[Jason Bateman]

God, you're always talking about productivity. It's unbelievable. You never shy. 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.

[Sean]

Thank you so much for having me. This is. I'm such a.

[Jason Bateman]

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?

[Sean]

Yeah, all the time. Well, even Jason, like, growing up. That's occurred to me. Growing up around Hollywood and in it, or Emma growing up in it, you

[Will]

know, like, when did it start for you, Sean? It was high school, right?

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah, high school. Well, junior high. I worked backstage. I worked at the light. Not the light. It was just one light. And it was. Yeah, it was one switch. Seriously, it was on and off, and it was.

[Jason Bateman]

We got our guy. We got our guy.

[Sean]

I was like, I think I can do that. And it was Calamity Jane, the musical. Calamity Jane.

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean]

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 wasn't 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 play football. I have makeup on underneath, underneath my eyes, the black marks underneath my eyes. Just like you wear makeup. I was like, oh, that's really sweet. And then, and then other things happen, but.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, let's not get into that.

[Sean]

No, no. But, yeah, I always, you know, I always. 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. The repetition on your body and your brain is something you kind of, kind of have no choice but to outgrow because of the endurance.

[Will]

We'll be right back.

[Sean]

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[Will]

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[Sean]

And back to the.

[Jason Bateman]

What was the last theater production you were part of, Emma? Because you've done so many.

[Emma Thompson]

Well, I haven't actually. I've mostly done film, but the last thing I did was something I. Again, you 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 Terfel. And I did it. We did it with the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center. We did five performances there and then we did two weeks at the Dominion here. And that.

[Sean]

When was it?

[Jason Bateman]

How cool.

[Emma Thompson]

It was 10 years ago, maybe.

[Sean]

Oh, wow.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah, yeah. And.

[Sean]

And you'd be great. And I'm sure you were phenomenal. It was the perfect part for you.

[Emma Thompson]

Absolutely. You mean the psychotic, like woman who kills people and puts them.

[Will]

Walk it back, Sean, you gotta let Shawn finish. Emma.

[Sean]

No, the comedy of it. I'm sure you nailed it.

[Emma Thompson]

No, I'm sure I 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 timpanist was behind you making these amazing noises. And. 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.

[Will]

Just looking right at you, Sean.

[Emma Thompson]

And then there's then television acting, which is television act. You've got to be really clever with the chemistry. If you're a good actor, you're a good actor, you're a good actor, whatever you're doing, doing. I can't bear all that. All that snobbery, which was very much alive when my parents were coming up. So, yeah, that was the last thing I did. And I. Oh. 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 tin little bit of your palette, and you have to be careful not to overdo it. That's very much to your point, Shaun, 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 was nine months to learn it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

And then I did it for, like, 30 performances. Performances, yeah.

[Will]

I hear Sondheim is almost as difficult as Shakespeare. Right.

[Sean]

Sometimes.

[Will]

I mean, you've got the music part of it as well.

[Sean]

Finding those notes and those chords is

[Emma Thompson]

really hard, I would say Harder. Yeah. Harder 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.

[Jason Bateman]

Really?

[Emma Thompson]

Because he's so reliable.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, speaking of writing, I mentioned that you're the only.

[Sean]

I know.

[Jason Bateman]

I didn't know you wrote Performer to have won for acting and writing. And you wrote Sense and Sensibility. And how did that happen?

[Sean]

I did not know that because I

[Jason Bateman]

didn't know that either. And so it's delightful to me.

[Emma Thompson]

I wrote it. Jane Austen wrote it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

No, I plagiarized mercilessly.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Oh, it's not original. No, no. But how did that happen with the great Ang Lee? Right.

[Emma Thompson]

Directed 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 luck because I worked with a wonderful comedy producer. He produced the first all black comedy series in the uk. Desmond's. And then. And he. He worked with an awful lot of black and Asian and. 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 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 occasions, and that appears to be attached and also changes shape sometimes 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? That's what we put people through anyway, so the sketch was about that, and I think it was. Was quite, 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 favorite films ever.

[Jason Bateman]

Sure.

[Emma Thompson]

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, Interesting segue.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Emma Thompson]

I said, well, I'll give it a go. So I gave it a go.

[Sean]

Amazing.

[Jason Bateman]

Give it a go.

[Sean]

Amazing.

[Will]

Now, what about. What about other. Other screenplays afterwards? Forgive my ignorance. Is that something.

[Emma Thompson]

No, not at all. I wrote. I've written.

[Jason Bateman]

You've been forgiving your ignorance.

[Emma Thompson]

That haven't been made, actually, so. But I wrote. I've written a couple of kids films. One called the nanny McPhee, who's a strange.

[Sean]

That was you.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Sean]

No way. Wow. Who wrote the music for that?

[Emma Thompson]

Gary Clark, who wrote the music for Sing street, which was a lovely sort of beautiful Irish film. So he's. 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 is 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, I mean, so many of the greats. He'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 Waits, swordfish, trombone. And also, do you know a guy, a gang called the Tiger Lilies. They're quite. Yeah, yeah. That was the kind of thing I was like a Victorian steampunk. Slightly dark, you know, a little bit on the circus side, but not, you know, like dark.

[Will]

That sounds great.

[Emma Thompson]

So that's what we've been doing.

[Sean]

That's really cool. I can't wait. Yeah, I can't wait for that.

[Jason Bateman]

I would be remiss if we didn't mention your new project, the Sheep Detective.

[Sean]

The Sheep Detective? What is that about?

[Will]

No, that's Craig Mason wrote that. The great Craig Mason.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will]

I love Craig.

[Jason Bateman]

JB Your old buddy wrote Chernobyl.

[Emma Thompson]

He's such a wonderful, wonderful man. And then he.

[Jason Bateman]

He wrote.

[Emma Thompson]

He adapted a book where. Yeah, it's about a shepherd who gets murdered and he. His sheep solve the crime. I mean, that's it. That's the log line. 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. It's such a good premise.

[Will]

And this is starring Hugh Jack.

[Jason Bateman]

Sounds like a great yarn, guys. Sorry, sorry, sorry. No, it's not good.

[Emma Thompson]

I noticed that. Thank you.

[Will]

I hear this is. I hear this is a really, really good film that parents would like as well, because it is made for the kids. Right?

[Jason Bateman]

It's you and. And the delightful Hugh Jackman. Is that right? Am I right about that?

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Will]

Did you have to work with. You have to work with some photorealistic animals or some. Or is it photorealistic actors?

[Emma Thompson]

No, we actually. I was only on it for about three weeks. I'd just done a thriller in Finland and. And so. And 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.

[Will]

Yeah, it sounds like a gorgeous type of location.

[Jason Bateman]

Right?

[Sean]

Where.

[Will]

Where'd you shoot that?

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, God, now you're asking me. I mean, it was in England. It wasn't actually. We shot the second Nanny McPhee in the same village because it's a kind of picture perfect, right. Village. And I can't remember what it's called. Called Hamilton. Well, most importantly, I think it's called Hambledon, actually. I think I've actually remembered that. Which is a miracle, given that I'm literally 175 degrees here.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

Now my brain's. Boy.

[Will]

Was it close enough to your house where you could sleep in your own bed, or did you have to stay?

[Emma Thompson]

No, so not. So, so not. No.

[Will]

Okay, so you had a little patience.

[Emma Thompson]

That never happened.

[Will]

Never.

[Jason Bateman]

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 breakf.

[Will]

Which is what? Well, there's different kinds. So, Will, what do you get? You like?

[Jason Bateman]

I don't. I, Yeah, I, I, I shy away from the black puddings, but I like black pudding.

[Sean]

I've never had black pudding.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will]

What's in a black pudding?

[Emma Thompson]

Haven't you, Sean?

[Will]

Molasses.

[Emma Thompson]

It's pig's blood.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no, it's congealed.

[Emma Thompson]

It is. It's pig's blood mixed up with various sort of spices and grains.

[Sean]

Oh, my God.

[Emma Thompson]

It's like haggis, because I'm half Scottish and a haggis is a, A sheep's stomach, and the sheep stomach is filled with all the sort of offal which is all chopped up with various bits of. Did somebody just make a sheep noise? Oh, my God.

[Will]

Well, why do we have these kinds of foods over there?

[Sean]

Is it because

[Will]

the country so old that you had to figure out how to make stuff you could eat out of what was available? Right. This is before.

[Emma Thompson]

But also you didn't waste any, Anything.

[Will]

Right.

[Emma Thompson]

So if you killed a cow, you ate its stomach as well, and it's the only thing you didn't eat was its hair.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

You know, and its horns. You, you had to work out how. If you had an animal and you killed it because you don't forget it. It's really quite recent that the countries. I suppose Scotland in particular was poor. Very poor.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

Until. Until recently. And in many areas is still poor.

[Sean]

Yeah. Now, do you pre. The longest time. The longest I've ever spent in England is just recently, last year for like three years or four. Four months.

[Jason Bateman]

What were you doing over there, Sean?

[Sean]

Do you get. Emma, do you get. 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?

[Emma Thompson]

Oh, no, I'm. I'm much more entranced than I was when I was young. I mean, I just adore it. I'm a London 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. Yeah, 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. I'm very, I love, love my city. I'm not as familiar with England, actually, the countryside, but the countryside in England can be quite breathtaking. 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, in Cornwall and I just wanted to go and live there. It was so exquisite and full of. Still full of character and community.

[Jason Bateman]

Actually, you know what, might I suggest a non scripted show, Emma, where you go around and rediscover England.

[Sean]

There you go.

[Jason Bateman]

We're gonna produce it. Listen, we're gonna pitch it to you, we're gonna get in touch with your people.

[Emma Thompson]

I've got to come with me.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes. I'm a devoted Anglophile. These guys knows.

[Sean]

And the, and the sheep go with you and comment on.

[Emma Thompson]

And then at the end of the show, we eat them.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, sure.

[Sean]

Every piece.

[Jason Bateman]

Every piece. Jason takes the stomach.

[Emma Thompson]

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.

[Will]

I'll take the coat.

[Jason Bateman]

Take the coat. By the way. By the way. I'm going to put this out there. If by. 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 gonna, you are gonna get an incoming call.

[Sean]

It is a good idea, right?

[Jason Bateman]

Of. I would watch the hell yeah. I would watch that of Emma going

[Will]

through England and discovering villages like Stanley Tucci in Italy.

[Jason Bateman]

I can't wait. I can't wait. Yeah, I'm an ep.

[Emma Thompson]

I'll just go around saying endlessly, you want some gain. That was my favorite phrase. You want some gain. You want more of Jason as he was. You want some gain. It just sounded so. Oh, yes, I think I do want some gain.

[Will]

That's hot Podcast.

[Emma Thompson]

What are you going to suggest next, Emma?

[Jason Bateman]

We have taken up too much of your time. It's been. Probably been an hour. It. What an absolute delight to have you here.

[Will]

That was real fast.

[Sean]

Yeah, that was fast. I hope you get to cool off and jump in a pool.

[Emma Thompson]

We could have gone on forever. No, I'm literally going to. To go and I put the blooming scooter thing on in the garden. I'm gonna go and stand in it now.

[Will]

Yeah, I don't think we got to any questions even on the next. Next time you come on the show, we're actually going to ask you some

[Jason Bateman]

questions on the next Martless.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Emma Thompson]

That was so lovely, guys. Thank you so much.

[Sean]

Thank you for being here.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you so much for your time and for everything that you do. And we're just such fans. It's just.

[Sean]

Yeah, we are.

[Emma Thompson]

Well, right back at you, every single one of you. I love you deeply.

[Sean]

Likewise. Thank you, my dear. Make sure you pick your kids up off the floor and.

[Emma Thompson]

Yeah, absolutely. No, they've gone. They've long gone. They're lying face down on the wet lawn. All right, honey, Fare thee well.

[Will]

Thanks, Emma.

[Jason Bateman]

Bye Bye, guys.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Emma Thompson.

[Sean]

Have you seen Remains of the Day?

[Jason Bateman]

Yes. Yes.

[Sean]

I mean, I've seen that so many times.

[Emma Thompson]

How many films.

[Will]

How many films do you think she's done? I bet she's done, I don't know, like, 65 movies.

[Sean]

Well, what's better than that out? How many great films has she. I know, like, so many.

[Will]

64.

[Jason Bateman]

So many incredible performances. Just so. And just all and so different in every genre.

[Sean]

It's just effortless.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will]

And I meant it. She's. She is. There's always. There's some sort of cheeky little wink always to. To each one of her characters to

[Jason Bateman]

be a little cheeky.

[Will]

It's a bit cheeky.

[Sean]

She's a bit cheeky. No, she also. She also, like. She's also emanates kind of like she's going to take care of me. Like, she's my mom.

[Will]

Yes.

[Sean]

You know, and I like that. I want her to take care of me. I'm going to send her my number.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, think about it, love, actually.

[Will]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Forgot about that massive hit that everybody's still. It's just.

[Will]

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 and said fucking. Talking about haggis and.

[Jason Bateman]

But there was no time because we were just having A conversation, man.

[Will]

We were just visiting, weren't we?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, we're just. Just having a quick little.

[Will]

We're not journalists.

[Sean]

No.

[Will]

Yeah, we'll have to have her back.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. You know, we're just Love Action.

[Will]

We're just simple guys, you know, we're not very smart. In fact, we're smart less.

[Sean]

Oh. Oh, wow.

[Emma Thompson]

So.

[Sean]

So, so, so.

[Will]

See, so right there that I was just introducing a new sign off instead of buy.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay.

[Will]

We work on some sort of way to just say, yeah, I guess we're just kind of smart less.

[Sean]

And then it says over, but that's the only one you can use. Then you can only say we're right.

[Will]

But you got to somehow work that into.

[Sean]

Yeah, but that's just.

[Jason Bateman]

Could just be like that came out of this process of us doing that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like that's a natural progression in a way. It's almost. You could call it like a by

[Sean]

product

[Jason Bateman]

of the show. Bye. Smart Less. Smart. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant, Terry, Rob Armcharve and Bennett Barbico. Smart.

[Sean]

Less.

[Jason Bateman]

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[Sean]

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