Emily Watson Quotes
"The first Oscarcast, I was definitely functioning in a surreal mode. It was like I was watching myself watch the ceremony. Yet I had a good time. Hey, wearing a beautiful dress and being surrounded by beautiful people is not a terrible way to spend an evening. And I had a great time at all the parties. The second Oscarcast, I just went and planned on enjoying myself. People think of me as such a serious actress, but I find myself behaving like a gadabout." - On her sudden success and America's award shows.
"I wasn't prepared for the way people responded to 'Breaking the Waves.' Suddenly, I was being interviewed and being asked all sorts of questions. All my life, I've loved movies, but I didn't foresee the glamour of the Academy Awards. In England, the awards are reported as straight news. In America, they're considered the height of glamour." - On her two 1999 roles, "Angela's Ashes" and "Cradle Will Rock", which had Oscar-potential.
"I was a normal, rather dutiful child. I didn't even rebel as a teenager."
On her childhood preparing her for an acting career: "I was taught the value of imagination at an early age. I didn't have a television. I read a lot of books and developed a good sense of storytelling. I was happy as well, and I think that helped. The more secure you feel, the more unbalanced you can let yourself become."
On Hollywood's perception of women as beauty objects: "I'm lucky I don't do the kind of work where the main thing is that you're the girl and you look gorgeous. I don't look like that. I'm a funny-looking bugger. I don't feel that I can compete, and I wouldn't want to. Life's too short to spend seven hours a day in the gym and starving yourself."
On being at the Cannes Film Festival opening of "Breaking the Waves" without the film's director, Lars von Trier: "It was a bit of a baptism of fire, because I had never done any press before. I had never done a single interview in my life. I had never made a film before, I just knew nothing. And I arrived in this maelstrom of publicity with this extraordinary film, and of course Lars von Trier didn't come to Cannes so we - just the actors - were left to explain what on earth he meant by this extraordinary film. The first experience of Cannes, the first time I was here, is like seared in my brain like a firebrand. It was very intense. I remember as the light went down, someone leaned over and said, "Emily your life is about to change forever." You know the official music? Whenever I hear that music that they play when the film starts, my stomach starts to churn. But being with this film is more than great, because it's more about show business. There are ten of us here, and nobody is really carrying the film in that way."
"The challenge in playing Bess [in Breaking the Waves] is that, in physical, psychological, intellectual, moral, ethical and political terms, she's a disaster - part saint, part clown. But she has an infinite capacity to love and believe. I tried to make the logic of that transcend those judgements."
On journalists constantly asking her if she'd like children, especially as she had been married for 10 years: "'Yeah, I was asked that every single time, and it did feel quite personal. Especially if you say that yes, you do want children. You have to say if you're actually trying for them. And you don't always especially want to tell the whole world how that's going.'"
