Emma Thompson has stepped in to protest about an up-and-coming British actress, of seemingly perfect proportions, being required by an American film company to lose weight for her next role. Hayley Atwell may be the latest muse of Woody Allen, starring in his new film Cassandra's Dream, but she didn't measure up for Miramax Films, who are behind the big-screen remake of Brideshead Revisited.
Having been cast as Julia Flyte, the gilded scion of an aristocratic family played in the original TV series by Diana Quick, the 25-year-old Londoner was asked to shed a few pounds.
Thompson, who appears in the remake as Lady Marchmain (opposite Michael Gambon in the old Laurence Olivier role as Lord Marchmain), learned of Atwell's predicament when she invited her to dinner at her home.
Hayley says:
"I went round to Emma's one night and she was getting very angry that I wasn't eating all the food she was giving me. I told her why and she hit the roof."
Emma was justifiably so outraged that a perfactly normal weight actress was being forced to lose weight that she got straight on the phone to the producers the next day and threatened to resign from the film if they forced Hayley to lose weight. Faced with the formidable Ms Thompson - a two-times Oscar winner - on the warpath, Miramax Films swiftly relented.
Good on you, Em!
