In the Name of the Emma
JA from MNPP here with a bit of happy news for those of us who bow down before the awesome thespian powers of Emma Thompson (and our knees hurt because we've been bowing for awhile hoping it will make her work more often, to not enough avail) - she's at work on several new projects (that Richard LaGravenese project Beautiful Creatures sounds interesting to me, but then I've been waiting 15 years for him to make something as good as Living Out Loud) and today it's been announced she's actually going to go back and play a character she already has before... and it's not Nanny McPhee! She was nominated for an Oscar for playing the human rights attorney Gareth Pierce in 1993's In the Name of the Father and she's going to play Pierce again, says Screen Daily.
"The Middle East- and London-set drama [called The Secret Evidence] follows a young British couple mistakenly caught up in the war on terror who turn to Thompson’s character to get one of them out of prison. However, in fighting for her boyfriend’s freedom, the film’s young female lead finds herself and her family subject to attack from the UK Government’s secret service."
Sounds like there's a juicy role for a younger actress in here too. Could Emma get another Oscar nomination out of this? It's been far far too long.
Reader Comments (7)
such interesting news. I never expected to hear a reprisal of that part. but she did get a nomination from it.
so glad she's working again. hope she gets a juicy lead role soon
Emma is a goddess. Looking forward to her being back in front of the camera in a role that's worthy of her.
Since she's an Oscar winning screenwriter there's no reason why she can't write herself a quality role.
I love her oscar nominated PERF in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, the trial scene is quite strong...I didn't expected this reprisal but I'm glad about it
Emma, it's been far too long! I don't even remember our last theatrical outing! But god knows you were amazing in your few 00s appearances you did have -- Love Actually, Stranger Than Fiction, Last Chance Harvey, An Education and throw in HBO's Wit and Angels in America for good measure.
Hope this and the high profile attachment to Pixar's Brave and Malick's Voyage of Time means she wants to start aligning herself with better projects again and none of that ugly-as-sin Nanny McPhee kiddy nonsense. My eyes!
When I see Emma Thompson in a movie, I remember how much I like her. As I watch I admire her thoughtful choices and deft and light hand with interpretation, and gradually realize that she's completely drawn me into the story, engaging me on any number of levels, intellectually, emotionally, etc. She puts a heart and soul into movies and makes it look so straightforward.
I hope this is a SUBSTANTIAL supporting role! I remember her amazing run in the late '80's - '90's, and have missed her onscreen.
@3rtful - you're right, she could (and probably should) be writing her own projects, but getting them funded and "greenlit" by studios is another matter. The suits who run the business don't seem to be actressexuals in general.
This is the kind of character reprise I can get behind - if we have to endure endless recycles of superheros and all sorts of fantasy nonsense and literary blockbuster adaptations, why can't any fictional character be brought back too? It's interesting actually that this is too rarely done, come to think of it, outside of the usual "series" of films - whereas playrights and novelists do it all the time of course, and in movies through the 1930's (the thin man series) and in movies Linklater, Delphy, and Hawke did so brilliantly, but other than that why is it so rare in modern cinema, or rather in modern dramatic films?