Emily Watson

The Boxer

Filmography

  • 1.Shantaram (2008)
  • 2.The Waterhorse (2007) .... Anne MacMorrow
  • 3.The Cone Gatherer (2006)
  • 4.Miss Potter (2006) .... Millie Warne
  • 5.Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (2006)
  • 6.Separate Lies (2005) .... Anne Manning
  • 7.Corpse Bride (2005) .... Victoria Everglot
  • 8.Wah-Wah (2005) .... Ruby Compton
  • 9.The Proposition (2005) .... Martha Stanley
  • 10.The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) .... Anne Sellers 1/2
  • 11.Back to Gaya (2004) .... Alanta
  • 12.Blossoms & Blood (2003) .... Lena Leonard
  • 13. Equilibrium (2002) .... Mary O'Brian
  • 14. Red Dragon (2002) .... Reba McClane 1/2
  • 15. Punch Drunk Love (2002) .... Lena Leonard 1/2
  • 16. In Search of the Assassin (2001)
  • 17. Gosford Park (2001) .... Elsie (Head Housemaid)
  • 18. Luzhin Defence, The (2000) .... Natalia
  • 19. Trixie (2000) .... Trixie Zurbo
  • 20. Film-Fest DVD: Issue 4 - Hawaii (2000) (V) .... Herself
  • 21. Angela's Ashes (1999) .... Angela McCourt
  • 22. Cradle Will Rock (1999) .... Olive Stanton
  • 23. Hilary and Jackie (1998) .... Jacqueline 'Jackie'/'Jacks' du Pré
  • 24. Boxer, The (1997) .... Maggie
  • 25. Mill on the Floss, The (1997) .... Maggie Tulliver 1/2
  • 26. Metroland (1997) .... Marion
  • 27. Breaking the Waves (1996) .... Bess McNeill

    Date of birth: January 14, 1967
    Place of Birth: Islington, London, England
    Height: 5'8"
    Spouse: Jack Waters (1995 - present)

    Seperate Lies

    Wah Wah

  • Was considered for the lead role in "Bridget Jones's Diary", along with fellow Brits Kate Winslet and Rachel Weisz, and American model-turned-actress Cameron Diaz.
  • Was spotted by Lars von Trier during a representation of Lilian Hellman's "The Children's Hour", in which she played a young student who falsely accuses her teacher of lesbianism.
  • Won the role of Bess in "Breaking the Waves" after Helena Bonham Carter dropped out at the last minute because of the film's explicit sexuality.
  • She graduated from high school, went to University for three years, got a 2.1 ranking [in the English education system], then she applied to drama school but was refused. So she started waitressing and doing secretarial stuff along with some fringe theater. Then she applied to drama school again and was accepted, and did a one-year course. Her first professional job was in the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 1992.
  • She was 25 when she started acting professionally, and was 29 during the filming of "Breaking the Waves".
  • Her mother has a PhD in English, and is an English teacher.

    Cradle Will Rock

    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:

  • "Angela never rails against the world, she never climbs the walls, she never has a truly big emotional breakdown scene. Neither it nor 'Cradle Will Rock' requires the kind of acting that traditionally wins Oscars, but I don't care. I love both films.''

  • "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 working with Tim Robbins: "It was fantastic. He's really...it was a really special film to be a part of actually. It's not like there were any leads - nobody was really carrying the film as it were. But he made everybody feel so inspired to want to really make this work and be a part of telling this fantastic story - particularly the scenes in the theatre company because a lot of it was shot in one long Steadicam shot. It was like being in a dance troop, and if one person is one second out of step it all goes wrong. It was incredibly exciting and intense. It was always like... "oh my God is it going to work?" We were always working against the clock. I was surrounded by all these people that are actually Broadway musical stars who were going off to do shows at night... it was quite alarming that - because obviously I have to sing in the movie and I am not really a singer. But I think it was quite a clever piece of casting in the sense that I don't have a trained voice. Because my voice betrays me and the fear that I have is immediately there in my voice and it is so right for that moment which is the... I don't want to spoil the story! My character, she is unlike everyone else in the film. She doesn't have an articulate sense of her political beliefs or her artistic world or anything everybody else has. It's full of these people who are very very opinionated about lots of things and have a very strong sense of their own freedoms that they are fighting for. And she just wants to sing. But she is the one person who actually does the very very simple act of courage which sticks two fingers in the face of everything which is a beautiful moment. You know, when you read a script like that - even if that was the end of the scene - I'd have done it. In a way I didn't have to do anything because the whole story feeds that moment"

  • 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."

    Angela's Ashes

    The Luzhin Defence

    1999 Academy Awards

    2002 Academy Awards

    2003 Cannes

    Hilary & Jackie

    Last updated: October 1, 2006

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