Working opposite a huge ensemble of British acting legends can have its challenges according to Emily Watson, especially when you’re under the direction of someone like Robert Altman, who likes to keep things loose.
During a recent interview with Vulture, Watson shared that while shooting the 2001 murder-mystery “Gosford Park,” she was concerned over Altman’s laissez-faire style, especially in regards to her big scene in the film, in which her servant character butts into the conversation being had by the guests she’s serving.
“It was a giant half-an-hour reset [between takes] because of all these quails that people were eating,” Watson said of shooting the scene. “And I hadn’t nailed it! He said, ‘I think we got it.’ And I was thinking, I haven’t gotten it. It was mortifying because Maggie Smith was sitting right there, and Kristin Scott Thomas was over there, and they were all being lovely, but I was dying inside. I begged him for one more take, which was this big reset. And that’s the one in the movie!”
Watson didn’t want to whiff a take in front of all the talent around the table, but it was actually Smith who helped her find the right tone in the scene.
“In that scene, she was lovely to me. I said, ‘Maggie, help me,’ and she was really sweet, making suggestions,” Watson said. “I don’t exactly remember, but it was about where the motivation would come from, and, really, the solution was to forget you weren’t part of the conversation. It wasn’t a conscious interjection. It was as if you’re chatting away with all these people in your head.”
During her interview, Watson also discussed how British filmmaker Stephen Frears was called upon to serve as a back-up director for Altman for insurance purposes. This would not be the only time this happened, as Paul Thomas Anderson famously handled the same role on the 2006 production of Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Though Watson said Altman knew exactly what he was doing.
“Any time there was any sort of problem, he’d say, ‘I’m going to go lie down. Just wake me up when it’s fixed.’ He’d turn up on a Monday morning, barely able to walk, looking terrible,” said Watson. “Everybody was going, ‘Is he dying? What’s happening?’ It was just that he’d smoked so much weed over the weekend.”
Watson can currently be seen in theaters in “Small Things Like These” and soon on HBO and Max in “Dune: Prophecy”.