Nothing Like A Dame Emma Makes A Stand

At 60, Emma Knows Who She is – and What She Will and Won’t Put Up With

- Jenny Cooney

Early in her new film Late Night, in which Dame Emma Thompson plays an out-of-touch television talk show host, we see footage of a much younger version of her character, doing a stand-up comedy routine at a club.

“That shot is really me, doing stand-up when I was 23, on a UK show called Friday Night, Saturday Morning,” reveals the two-time Oscar-winning star of films including Howards End, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually and Saving Mr. Banks.

“I worked in comedy until I was 27 before I started acting, so I know all about being in those clubs trying to engage with a room that’s largely masculine and often contemptuous!”

Now one of the biggest stars in the world, it’s been a long time since Emma was the subject of contempt, but she’s not afraid to rile people up or use her voice to support causes close to her heart. For example, she recently backed out of voicing an animated film when the production company hired an executive who’d left his previous company over sexual harassment accusations.

“You see how white men behave with women coming into this workplace, saying, ‘Sorry this isn’t working for me’ and it’s like they’re saying, ‘Okay, have one of these chocolates, but you can’t have the whole box because the box is mine,’” Emma says. “I’m saying, ‘Guys, now you have to share the chocolates. I know centuries of owning the box is very difficult to undo, but get over it!’”