Emma Thompson has gone from snowy landscapes to sunny pastures. The star plays a widowed fisherwoman who travels alone through snowbound northern Minnesota and interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl, portrayed by Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), in her latest film, The Dead of Winter, directed by Brian Kirk (21 Bridges, The Day of the Jackal, Penny Dreadful). On Friday, though, she discussed the movie in summery Locarno, Switzerland during a press conference at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
In the film, Thompson’s character faces a huge challenge. “Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope,” explains a synopsis.
“Why star in an action thing when you’re 66?! That’s just stupid,” Thompson told the press in Locarno on Friday, earning laughter.
The cold and action scenes meant she was trying to get ready by being in the best physical shape possible. “We spent a long time getting spent a long time getting used to the cold” in Finland, she also shared.
How were all the action scenes? “The one thing that really scared me, genuinely scared me, was not running about, although I did pull every single muscle in my body, but holding my breath underwater,” Thompson shared.
One item of clothing was particularly key. “The making of this movie was mostly about gloves,” the star said, drawing more laughs. “We had to have three pairs of gloves because what does she do when she shoots the gun? She can’t shoot the gun with the big gloves, so we had to have [different] pairs of gloves.”
About her character, Thompson said: ”This woman’s life is an ordinary, humble life,” and she is taking risks for a younger person because she feels, “I am able to let it go” if needed. “This woman was a real heroine … formed by weather,” she concluded.
Thompson added: “I think of her as someone who has had a really full, rich, happy life. And that was one of the things I loved most. We seem to be telling an awful lot of stories about the super-rich, we seem to be looking at a lot at the darker side of human nature, and kind of wanting to take our revenge. There are so many things, not only in film, but also on television, about this.”
Her daughter Gaia Wise, who plays the younger version of Thompson’s character in the film, said she loved bringing to life “what she experiences, and the trauma that she goes through, and seeing how from that, she becomes this woman who is capable and able and willing to sacrifice.”
Written by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb, the film also stars Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Thompson’s daughter Gaia Wise, Lloyd Hutchinson, and Brían F. O’Byrne. Thompson is also an executive producer on it.
Leeb said the heroine was inspired by his aunt, with Kirk recalling that when he read the script, he loved this “fully formed character” who was “not a superhero” but a person “out of her depth.”
Kirk, in a director’s statement, describes The Dead of Winter as “a merciless kidnap thriller, set in the epic snowbound wilderness of northern Minnesota, with a beautiful love story at its heart.”
Thompson is also in Locarno to receive the Leopard Club Award on the Swiss town’s picturesque Piazza Grande square Friday evening, before the movie’s world premiere.
“She is the only person in the history of the Academy Awards to have won for both acting and screenwriting,” Locarno organizers highlighted about the U.K. star in unveiling that she would receive the honor. “Thompson’s willingness to take risks with her roles has meant that she has remained a vital force on stage and screen for four decades, a testament to the depth of affection multiple generations of fans hold for her.”
Thompson “embodies the best of a tradition of performers who continue to be able to infuse each role with the deepest knowledge about the actor’s work,” said Locarno festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro. “Working with writers as exceptional as she herself is, fearlessly tackling ever-changing registers and characters, moving from Shakespeare to James Ivory, from the magic of Harry Potter to the transformations of Nanny McPhee, she has continued to surprise audiences over a career that has earned her numerous awards, including two Oscars, two Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, a Golden Lion, and an Emmy.
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