Thompson Talks More Trelawney

Nov 09, 2003

Posted by: Melissa Anelli

Uncategorized

Having taken a snippet from a Telegraph article, Contact Music has a short article with Emma Thompson discussing Trelawney. The scene she seemingly describes as part of PoA is pretty much something that happens in Order of the Phoenix:

“I have a nervous breakdown in the film and in one scene I get to stand at the top of the stairs waving an empty sherry bottle which is, of course, a typical scene from my daily life, so isn’t much of a stretch.”

Update: I hadn’t noticed this before, even while reading the Telegraph article but – it seems Contact Music willfully changed the Thompson quote. It says in their version that Thompson says “I have a nervous breakdown in the film.” Here’s what it says in the Telegraph.

In the next Harry Potter film, she will be playing Professor Trelawney, the professor of divination. “I get to wear huge, googly glasses and I have a nervous breakdown and I get to stand at the top of the stairs, waving an empty bottle of sherry,” she says gleefully.

We probably won’t see Trelawney break down in the PoA film. It’s much more likely she’s just talking about the character in general, even showing her knowledge of her through OotP. Looks like someone took what the reporter said in the Telegraph and attributed it to the interviewee – bad journalism at its best.

Thanks again Sue, for the link! Click below for clips from the Telegraph article.
Here are excerpts from the long Telegraph piece:

“The crust of consumerism over Christmas is so hard now that I don’t see
how anyone can successfully break through it, except within the confines of
the family.”
She pauses. “I’m sorry to be so political, but I just hate what’s been done to it.” Her shoulders perform a sad shrug.

“It was very difficult for me to have a child, because I had miscarriages
and things,” she says. “Gaia was IVF and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done
and the best thing anyone could ever do.

“For me, having a child was an everyday miracle that transformed the landscape as completely as death transforms it, and it was as profound an experience as death, which was the only thing I had to compare it to.

‘s extraordinary. It’s like a thunderbolt. It’s like a meteor hitting your world. Nothing’s ever the same again and there’s this bloody great crater of motherhood out of which you are never going to climb. And, you know, it’s fabulous. It’s the best thing.”

“My child teaches me everything about being human. People say that children
can be cunning or naughty, but I don’t really think they can. Children are
remarkable and incredibly balanced and unbelievably just and
extraordinarily kind. And if you can preserve that, they are liable to grow
into human beings that have some sort of chance of being fully human. You
just have to try not to interfere too much and to allow their humanising
influence on you to take its course.”

In the next Harry Potter film, she will be playing Professor Trelawney, the professor of divination. “I get to wear huge, googly glasses and I have a nervous breakdown and I get to stand at the top of the stairs, waving an empty bottle of sherry,” she says gleefully.

“My daughter is not quite into Harry Potter yet, but, of course, I am doing it for her so that later she will be impressed. If she only watches Howards End, she will say, `Mum, it’s so boring!'”





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.