Emma Thompson is done with men who don’t know how to interact with women after the rise of the #MeToo movement.
“Get a grip guys, it’s not rocket science,” the Late Night star said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “You just behave with respect and courtesy. Now shut up and get on with it.”
The Oscar-winning actor continued, clearly frustrated with the number of men who have acted as though it’s difficult to navigate the workplace now that sexual harassment is being called out more frequently and explicitly.
“Please don’t make this your…problem,” she said. “I’m so fed up with that I just want to smack them.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Thompson—who’s never shied away from sharing her opinions—spoke candidly about sexism in the entertainment industry, including her recent decision to pull out of a Skydance film after John Lasseter was tapped to lead the company. “I can’t speak up about women’s rights and then not do it,” she said.
As the Times points out, Thompson is still the only woman (and person in general) to win an Oscar for both writing and acting, for Sense and Sensibility in 1995. However, while the actress has made quite the name for herself in the drama world, her career may have gone a very different way had it not been for rank industry sexism. Thompson got her start in the comedy world, doing stand-up in college and getting her acting break in funny shows like The Crystal Cube and Alfresco. In 1988, she landed her own show, the short-lived Thompson. The reaction to that show changed her career forever.
“Thompson was ripped apart by critics,” she told the Times. “They said it was ‘man-hating.’ You can’t imagine how terrible they were, so destructive and deeply, inutterably misogynistic. I absolutely know that now but I didn’t then. At the time, I couldn’t get out of bed. I thought, ‘All right, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.’”
That’s what led to her getting into “serious” acting, she said. And happily for Thompson, “I’m quite good at serious acting.”
This year marks a major return to straight comedy for the star. This Friday, Late Night, the comedy penned by and costarring Mindy Kaling hits theaters. And November will see the release of Last Christmas, a romantic comedy based on the Wham! song of the same name. Thompson costars in that film as well—and cowrote the script, too.
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