PIERCE BROSNAN ? You expect him to whip out some knitting
What would you do if your retirement nest egg was stolen from right under your nose? Well, if Joel Hopkins’s latest film starring Emma Thompson, Celia Imrie, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Spall is anything to go by, you wouldn’t just sit back and wait for a miracle. You’d plan a heist and steal a diamond worth £10m from the person who wronged you.
It’s not the sort of thing that happens every day, but the foursome’s adventures will have you snorting with laughter. ‘It was as much fun as it looked,’ says Emma Thompson, who counts two Oscars and three Baftas among her awards. ‘What’s lovely is everyone says, “Oh, you look like you’re having such a good time”.’
Not that bringing a comedy to life is a walk in the park. ‘We have a lot of experience,’ she adds. ‘Between us it’s 100 years of experience. We should be good at it by now. In a way you need it to do that very light, quick, caper comedy. That’s one of the things I enjoyed about it so much, having to speak very quickly and be funny.’
‘That’s what they used to do in the old days, the caper films,’ adds Celia Imrie, who I meet at the same time. ‘They used to speak at 100 miles per hour. We really do go at 100 miles per hour and that’s the thing I love, because so often I look at the screen and think, “Get on with it.”’
The Love Punch certainly harks back to the caper comedy classics of yore, an age when comedians and actors couldn’t rely on being crude to be funny. ‘Sometimes I watch a comedy and I think bits of it are too much for me,’ confesses Thompson. ‘I’m the opposite of prudish, but I can feel there is an effort. Actually what it is, is they’re just not funny enough. It’s just an overcompensation for something.
‘With women’s comedy, I find they’ll sometimes overcompensate because it needs to be like men’s comedy,’ she continues. ‘It goes into a sort of grotesque routine. Is that where it needs to go? Can’t you find a way to make it wittier rather than just that “splat” thing?
‘I watch a lot of them and don’t laugh at all,’ Imrie adds.
Talented, bold and witty, Thompson and Imrie are certainly inspiring female role models at a time when celebrity culture so often values fleeting style over lasting substance. ‘I gave a talk at a school recently and the head mistress said, “You know there are very few female role models out there.”
‘Why is that?’ asks Thompson. ‘I started to think about it but I’m not sure whether I agree. Your mum… that’s really who your role model is. It’s the people around you, because they are the ones you actually know. You know who they are rather than just what they are on the surface.’
Imrie admits that Thompson has inspired her. ‘Years ago, Emma was my role model… now I’m sitting here with her. It’s just dreamy for me – that’s the truth.’
‘It’s always great to have somebody to look towards, but if you say to me I’m one,’ says Imrie, ‘I go all peculiar and think “Oh God, you must be talking about someone else” and look behind me.
‘We have lived life a bit, so that’s true. If someone comes to us and says, how did you start or what do you think about this, at least we have something to say. It’s not necessarily right, but it’s our experience.’
The film industry is often criticised for having too few roles for more mature ladies. So what does Thompson think? ‘Shall we just question that whole thing for a minute: what do you mean, mature? There are the same number of older women as younger people. What is this thing? You need to start questioning this, because in a minute you’re going to be a mature woman and say, “Hang on, why am I being referred to as though there is something peculiar about me?”’
Continues Imrie, ‘You wouldn’t ask the same question about a man; that’s the bizarre thing.’
‘We have to keep questioning these things,’ says Thompson. ‘We’re living in a society where we have lost sight of it; we don’t even question that it is unusual for mature women to get roles when we are all still alive and taking part in life. It’s just weird.’
In Thompson’s opinion, the key to success is staying power. ‘Staying power means you can survive failure, and understand that is what will teach you the most. Success is fi ne, but it’s not going to teach you anything, whereas if you mess up, you really learn.’
But what about relationships, another theme of The Love Punch (in which sparks fl y between Thompson’s character Kate and Brosnan’s Richard)? What is the best lesson in love Thompson, whose fi rst husband was Kenneth Branagh and who is now married to Greg Wise, has learnt?
‘My grandmother used to say that a heart’s no good until it’s been broken at least 10 times. I know what she means, the secret is that you develop; it shapes the way in which you are able to navigate all your relationships. It’s such a small word, “love”, and it has so many diff erent forms… particularly in long-term relationships. You go through all kinds of weather so my grandmother’s advice was useful.’
‘I just think our expectations of love are fanciful b****cks actually,’ Imrie adds, rather prosaically. ‘I love what Bette Davis, my all-time heroine, said once in her autobiography: “Never rely on somebody else for your happiness.” I think that’s rivetingly true and should be taken on board.
‘What do I know? I’m not married, but falling in love only really lasts about 18 months and then it changes into diff erent things.’
And what about Pierce Brosnan – was it a pleasure working with the dashing former James Bond? ‘He’s got glamour but he’s also very surprising… you practically expect him to whip out some knitting,’ says Thompson. ‘He has amazing physical grace, like a ballerina. He’s got this extraordinary way of moving. It’s why he was one of the most successful Bonds, because watching him move is so wonderful.’
Thompson’s stunt driving, however, had Brosnan on the edge of his seat. ‘I did my own driving scenes,’ she says. ‘Pierce was next to me, genuinely frightened. It was heaven to be driving an ex-James Bond around.’
So would she like to reinvent herself as an action heroine?
‘Totally,’ she exclaims.
But of course the question that many of us want to know is – what’s it really like to kiss Pierce Brosnan? ‘I tried to mess up as many shots as I could just so I got the chance to do it again. ‘It was lovely.’
The Love Punch is in cinemas now.
EMMA THOMPSON’S CV
It’s not the sort of thing that happens every day, but the foursome’s adventures will have you snorting with laughter. ‘It was as much fun as it looked,’ says Emma Thompson, who counts two Oscars and three Baftas among her awards. ‘What’s lovely is everyone says, “Oh, you look like you’re having such a good time”.’
Not that bringing a comedy to life is a walk in the park. ‘We have a lot of experience,’ she adds. ‘Between us it’s 100 years of experience. We should be good at it by now. In a way you need it to do that very light, quick, caper comedy. That’s one of the things I enjoyed about it so much, having to speak very quickly and be funny.’
‘That’s what they used to do in the old days, the caper films,’ adds Celia Imrie, who I meet at the same time. ‘They used to speak at 100 miles per hour. We really do go at 100 miles per hour and that’s the thing I love, because so often I look at the screen and think, “Get on with it.”’
The Love Punch certainly harks back to the caper comedy classics of yore, an age when comedians and actors couldn’t rely on being crude to be funny. ‘Sometimes I watch a comedy and I think bits of it are too much for me,’ confesses Thompson. ‘I’m the opposite of prudish, but I can feel there is an effort. Actually what it is, is they’re just not funny enough. It’s just an overcompensation for something.
‘With women’s comedy, I find they’ll sometimes overcompensate because it needs to be like men’s comedy,’ she continues. ‘It goes into a sort of grotesque routine. Is that where it needs to go? Can’t you find a way to make it wittier rather than just that “splat” thing?
‘I watch a lot of them and don’t laugh at all,’ Imrie adds.
Talented, bold and witty, Thompson and Imrie are certainly inspiring female role models at a time when celebrity culture so often values fleeting style over lasting substance. ‘I gave a talk at a school recently and the head mistress said, “You know there are very few female role models out there.”
‘Why is that?’ asks Thompson. ‘I started to think about it but I’m not sure whether I agree. Your mum… that’s really who your role model is. It’s the people around you, because they are the ones you actually know. You know who they are rather than just what they are on the surface.’
Imrie admits that Thompson has inspired her. ‘Years ago, Emma was my role model… now I’m sitting here with her. It’s just dreamy for me – that’s the truth.’
‘It’s always great to have somebody to look towards, but if you say to me I’m one,’ says Imrie, ‘I go all peculiar and think “Oh God, you must be talking about someone else” and look behind me.
‘We have lived life a bit, so that’s true. If someone comes to us and says, how did you start or what do you think about this, at least we have something to say. It’s not necessarily right, but it’s our experience.’
The film industry is often criticised for having too few roles for more mature ladies. So what does Thompson think? ‘Shall we just question that whole thing for a minute: what do you mean, mature? There are the same number of older women as younger people. What is this thing? You need to start questioning this, because in a minute you’re going to be a mature woman and say, “Hang on, why am I being referred to as though there is something peculiar about me?”’
Continues Imrie, ‘You wouldn’t ask the same question about a man; that’s the bizarre thing.’
‘We have to keep questioning these things,’ says Thompson. ‘We’re living in a society where we have lost sight of it; we don’t even question that it is unusual for mature women to get roles when we are all still alive and taking part in life. It’s just weird.’
In Thompson’s opinion, the key to success is staying power. ‘Staying power means you can survive failure, and understand that is what will teach you the most. Success is fi ne, but it’s not going to teach you anything, whereas if you mess up, you really learn.’
But what about relationships, another theme of The Love Punch (in which sparks fl y between Thompson’s character Kate and Brosnan’s Richard)? What is the best lesson in love Thompson, whose fi rst husband was Kenneth Branagh and who is now married to Greg Wise, has learnt?
‘My grandmother used to say that a heart’s no good until it’s been broken at least 10 times. I know what she means, the secret is that you develop; it shapes the way in which you are able to navigate all your relationships. It’s such a small word, “love”, and it has so many diff erent forms… particularly in long-term relationships. You go through all kinds of weather so my grandmother’s advice was useful.’
‘I just think our expectations of love are fanciful b****cks actually,’ Imrie adds, rather prosaically. ‘I love what Bette Davis, my all-time heroine, said once in her autobiography: “Never rely on somebody else for your happiness.” I think that’s rivetingly true and should be taken on board.
‘What do I know? I’m not married, but falling in love only really lasts about 18 months and then it changes into diff erent things.’
And what about Pierce Brosnan – was it a pleasure working with the dashing former James Bond? ‘He’s got glamour but he’s also very surprising… you practically expect him to whip out some knitting,’ says Thompson. ‘He has amazing physical grace, like a ballerina. He’s got this extraordinary way of moving. It’s why he was one of the most successful Bonds, because watching him move is so wonderful.’
Thompson’s stunt driving, however, had Brosnan on the edge of his seat. ‘I did my own driving scenes,’ she says. ‘Pierce was next to me, genuinely frightened. It was heaven to be driving an ex-James Bond around.’
So would she like to reinvent herself as an action heroine?
‘Totally,’ she exclaims.
But of course the question that many of us want to know is – what’s it really like to kiss Pierce Brosnan? ‘I tried to mess up as many shots as I could just so I got the chance to do it again. ‘It was lovely.’
The Love Punch is in cinemas now.
EMMA THOMPSON’S CV - Born in London on 15 April 1959.
- Married to Greg Wise; they have a daughter, Gaia, born in 1999.
- She has received five Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars: Best Actress for Howards End and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense And Sensibility.
- In 2012, Emma wrote The Further Tale Of Peter Rabbit to mark the 110th anniversary of The Tale Of Peter Rabbit.
CELIA IMRIE’S CV
- Born in Surrey on 15 July 1952.
- She has one son, Angus.
- Film credits include Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Calendar Girls. She is also known for her television and theatre work, and won a Laurence Olivier Award in 2006 for her supporting role in Acorn Antiques: The Musical!
- Celia Imrie’s ancestor, William, Lord Russell, was executed in 1683 for conspiring against Charles II.