Emma Thompson Talked About Rigid Beauty Standards For Women's Bodies And How It Felt To Do A Fully Nude Scene At 62: "Nothing Has Changed In The Dreadful Demands"
"I don't think I could've done it before the age that I am."
In all seriousness, the two-time Oscar winner opened up about the preparation that went into the intimate scene, which she shares with costar Daryl McCormack in the upcoming dramedy film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
"[Director] Sophie [Hyde], Daryl, and I rehearsed entirely nude and talked about our bodies, talked about our relationship with our bodies, drew them, discussed the things that we find difficult about, things we like about them, described one another's bodies," Emma said during a Cinema Café panel at the Sundance Film Festival, where the movie premiered.
Despite the careful and considerate approach to filming such a sensitive scene, Emma revealed it was "very challenging" to do so at the age of 62, especially given the "dreadful demands" placed on women to meet a certain body type.
"Nothing has changed in the dreadful demands made upon women in the real-world world but also in acting," she continued. "This thing of having to be thin is still the same as it ever was, and actually in some ways I think it's worse now."
And even though the process was difficult, Emma shared that she might not have been able to do it at an earlier point in her long career: "I don't think I could've done it before the age that I am. And yet, of course, the age that I am makes it extremely challenging because we aren't used to seeing untreated bodies on the screen."
