0Emma Thompson thinks women can’t really have it all

Well, I suppose the same goes for men, as well – Emma Thompson seems pretty equal opportunity. In a new interview with the Daily Mail, the actress admitted that she gave up acting for a while to be a full-time mum since she likes raising kids and didn’t want to leave those duties to hired help – and she thinks all parents who can afford to do so, should.

‘I wanted to spend more time with my family. A year off was my birthday present to myself. I didn’t actually act or write. I was just a mum. I taught drama at my daughter’s school, cooked meals and had fun. I highly recommend others to do the same if they can afford it.’

‘Sometimes in life you’ll have some things, at other times you will have other things. Motherhood is a full-time job.  The only way I could have continued working would have been by delegating the running  of the home to other people. I never wanted to do this as I find motherhood profoundly enjoyable.’

Emma’s been getting some shit for this interview, apparently, but I don’t really see why. It’d be great to be able to dedicate all of your time to raising your kids – IF that’s what you want to do. If you want to be a career woman, that’s awesome. It doesn’t mean your kids are going to turn out fucked up, it just means there’ll be some compromises and it might be a bit harder to juggle. Likewise, she recognizes that not everyone has the luxury to take a year off and clearly says that in the interview, so I kinda don’t see the issue.

I love me some Emma Thompson, though, so maybe I’m a bit biased.

May 27, 2014 at 1:00 pm by Jennifer

15Best, Worst, and WTF of SAG Awards Fashion

Jennifer Lawrence with actress Lupita Nyong’o. I really want to know what they were talking about.

The SAG Awards is probably the most “meh” of all awards shows, am I right? Still, that’s no reason to ignore the fashion. Why? Because it’s fun. Here are some looks from the 20th Annual SAG Awards. Let’s go through and pick the looks for BEST, WORST, and WTF.

For more awards show fashion, check out the Golden Globes Awards post.

I don’t think Amanda Peet knows how to dress anymore. This is something I’d expect from Chloë Sevigny, and I don’t even know if she could pull this off. It’s just so…fug. I’m sorry, I know “fug” is played-out, but I cannot summon any other words to accurately describe this dour mess.

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January 19, 2014 at 3:05 pm by Catherine St. Ives

10Best, Worst, And WTF Of Golden Globes Fashion

Jennifer Lawrence at her most Jennifer Lawrenciest.

The Golden Globes happened last night and man, what a trainwreck! People were drunk and cursing all over the place. And Clooney wasn’t even there.

But you know what was there? The best, worst, and most WTF celebrity fashion had to offer. Let’s take a look through all these GG outfits and pick out which ones were deserving of BEST, WORST, and WTF.

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January 13, 2014 at 1:20 pm by Catherine St. Ives

16Meryl Streep: ‘Walt Disney Was a Sexist and Anti-Semite’

I adore Meryl Streep, as I’ve said a million times before. She’s just brilliant. She’s classy, she’s sassy and she doesn’t give a shit if you don’t like what she has to say. That’s why I think it’s hilarious that while presenting an award to the likewise lovely Emma Thompson at the National Board of Review dinner in New York City on Tuesday, Meryl let her know exactly what she thinks of her film Saving Mr. Banks and the man the movie was about.

Here’s a bit of how it went down, according to Entertainment Weekly:

“Emma considers very carefully what the f–k she is putting out in the culture. Emma thinks, ‘Is this helpful?’ Not, ‘Will it build my brand?’ Not, ‘Will it give me billions?’ Not, ‘Does this express me, me, me in my unique and fabulous itself into all eternity in every universe for all time?’ That’s a phrase from my Disney contract in my last movie. I’m serious.”

Streep then couldn’t resist returning to Disney the man: “Disney, who brought joy arguably to billions of people was, perhaps, or had some racist proclivities. He formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group and he was certainly, on the evidence of his company’s policies, a gender bigot,” she said, before reading an actual 1938 letter from Disney rejecting a female applicant to the animation trainee program. “When I saw the film, I could just imagine Walt Disney’s chagrin at having to cultivate P.L. Travers’ favor for the 20 years that it took to secure the rights to her work. It must have killed him to encounter in a woman an equally disdainful and superior creature, a person dismissive of his own considerable gifts and prodigious output and imagination.”

Ugh, are you swooning just reading this? I am. Admittedly I don’t know a lot about Walt Disney, but I do know of his legacy and what a wonderful one it has been. Also, I did watch Saving Mr. Banks and really loved it – and cried my eyes out, incidentally. It was really lovely film, even if it did gloss over some of the more unsavoury bits of Walt Disney’s life. But hey, shitty people make relatively good art all the time. It happens.

January 9, 2014 at 8:30 am by Jennifer

1Here’s Tom Hanks As Walt Disney

Tom Hanks is playing Walt Disney in the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks, which I’m just literally hearing about for the first time while writing this article. The story focuses on Mary Poppins writer PL Travers – played by Emma Thompson, also seen above – when she moves from London to Hollywood to work with Disney on the film adaptation of the book.  I know theoretically that sounds sorta boring, but I actually think it’ll be great!

On the flip side, the script is being written by Kelly Marcel, who’s also doing the 50 Shades of Grey movie. Perhaps that doesn’t bode so well, after all. But I have hope! Tom Hanks is great! Emma Thompson is great! It has to be great, right?  We’ll find out this winter – it’s out December 20.

July 11, 2013 at 10:30 am by Jennifer

29Quotables: Emma Thompson on Audrey Hepburn

“I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee. Twee is whimsy without wit. It is mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that’s not for me. She can’t sing and she can’t really act, I’m afraid. I’m sure she was a delightful woman – and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don’t and I didn’t, so that’s all there is to it really.”

- Emma Thompson gives her opinion on Audrey Hepburn.

From my experience, people generally have two settings in terms of Audrey Hepburn:  fanatical or indifferent.  I fall on the indifferent side, but I know several people who would foam at the mouth and possibly seize after seeing Emma’s quote. What side are you guys on?

And how spectacular is that photo?  Emma Thompson is just the best.  I’d take her over Audrey any day – there, I said it.

August 9, 2010 at 12:07 pm by Emily