Editing Emma Thompson (section)

===Continued screen work and further acclaim (2000–2011)===
[[File:EmmaThompson05 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|Thompson at the premiere of ''[[Nanny McPhee]]'' in 2005]]

When she became a mother in 1999, Thompson made a conscious decision to reduce her workload, and in the following years many of her appearances were supporting roles.<ref name="bafta interview"/><ref>{{cite news|first=Jeff |last=Simon |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1827973.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140313185754/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1827973.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2014 |title=THE IoS PROFILE: Emma Thompson |newspaper=The Independent on Sunday |date=8 February 2004 |access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> She was not seen on screen again until 2000, with only a small part in the British comedy ''[[Maybe Baby (2000 film)|Maybe Baby]]'', which she appeared in as a favour to its director, her friend [[Ben Elton]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ben Elton live on our talkboards |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/may/30/2 |access-date=1 February 2014 |work=The Guardian |date=30 May 2000 |archive-date=1 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201075433/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/may/30/2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

For the [[HBO]] television film ''[[Wit (film)|Wit]]'' (2001), however, Thompson happily took the lead role in what she felt was "one of the best scripts to have come out of America".<ref>{{cite web |last=Kirwan |first=Sian |title=Emma Thompson interview: "Wit" - Edinburgh International Film Festival 2001 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/08/30/emma_thompson_wit_2001_interview.shtml |website=BBC Online |access-date=2 February 2014 |date=24 September 2014 |orig-date=August 2001 |archive-date=11 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111154236/http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/08/30/emma_thompson_wit_2001_interview.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Adapted from [[Margaret Edson]]'s [[Pulitzer Prize]] winning [[Wit (play)|play]], it focuses on a self-sufficient [[Harvard University]] professor who finds her values challenged when she is diagnosed with [[ovarian cancer]]. Thompson was instrumental in bringing Mike Nichols to direct the project, and the pair spent months in rehearsal to get the complex character right.<ref>{{cite web |last=Belcove, Julie L. |title=True Wit |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72510059.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611091212/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72510059.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 June 2014 |work=WWD |access-date=13 March 2014|date=16 March 2001}}</ref> She was greatly drawn to the "daredevil" role,<ref name="Klaus2006">{{cite book |last=Klaus |first=Carl H. |title=Letters to Kate: Life After Life |url=https://archive.org/details/letterstokatelif00klau |url-access=registration |date=1 April 2006 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |isbn=978-1-58729-669-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/letterstokatelif00klau/page/110 110]}}</ref> for which she had no qualms about shaving her head.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lyall |first=Sarah |title=For 'Wit,' Emma Thompson Supplies a Wit of Her Own |url=http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/wit_hbo_1.htm |access-date=2 February 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=18 March 2001 |archive-date=20 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620031754/http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/wit_hbo_1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Reviewing the performance, Roger Ebert was touched by "the way she struggles with every ounce of her humanity to keep her self-respect", and in 2008 he called it Thompson's finest work.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=When a movie hurts too much |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/when-a-movie-hurts-too-much |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=2 February 2014 |date=3 July 2008 |archive-date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219093008/http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/when-a-movie-hurts-too-much |url-status=live }}</ref> Caryn James of ''The New York Times'' also described it as "one of her most brilliant performances", adding "we seem to be peering into a soul as embattled as its body."<ref>{{cite news |last=James |first=Caryn |title=TV WEEKEND; Death, Mighty Thou Art; So Too, a Compassionate Heart |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/23/movies/tv-weekend-death-mighty-thou-art-so-too-a-compassionate-heart.html |access-date=2 February 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 March 2001 |archive-date=28 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728080304/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/23/movies/tv-weekend-death-mighty-thou-art-so-too-a-compassionate-heart.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The film earned Thompson nominations at the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television|Golden Globes]], [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie|Emmys]] and [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie|Screen Actors Guild Awards]].

Thompson's only credit of 2002 was a voice role in [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]]'s ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', an adaptation of ''[[Treasure Island]]'', where she voiced Captain Amelia. The animation earned far less than its large budget and was considered a "box office disaster".<ref>{{cite news |title=Disney's Treasure Planet flops |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2551219.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=4 February 2014 |date=6 December 2002 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508225837/https://server-uk.imrworldwide.com/a1.js |url-status=live }}</ref> This failure was countered the following year by one of Thompson's biggest commercial successes, [[Richard Curtis]]'s romantic comedy ''[[Love Actually]]''.<ref name="highest" /> As part of an ensemble cast that included [[Liam Neeson]], [[Keira Knightley]], and [[Colin Firth]], she played a middle-class wife who discovers her husband (played by Alan Rickman) has been unfaithful to her. The scene in which her stalwart character breaks down was described by one critic as "the best crying on screen ever",<ref name="bafta interview" /> and in 2013, Thompson mentioned that she gets commended for this role more than any other.<ref>{{cite web |title=Emma Thompson: Live webchat, Wednesday 2 October, 8.15–9.15pm |url=http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/a1868169-Emma-Thompson-Live-webchat-Wednesday-2 |website=Mumsnet |access-date=4 February 2014 |archive-date=7 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407064008/http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/a1868169-Emma-Thompson-Live-webchat-Wednesday-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> She explained, "I've had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer."<ref name="affair" /> Her performance received a BAFTA nomination for [[BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]].<ref>{{cite web |title=BAFTA Awards Search: Emma Thompson |url=http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=Emma+Thompson |website=Bafta.com |access-date=4 February 2014 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222200623/http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=Emma+Thompson |url-status=live }}</ref>

Thompson continued with supporting roles in the 2003 drama ''[[Imagining Argentina (film)|Imagining Argentina]]'', where she played a dissident-journalist abducted by the country's [[National Reorganization Process|1970s dictatorial regime]]. [[Antonio Banderas]] played the husband who tries to find her, in a film that most critics disliked.<ref>{{cite web |title=Imagining Argentina |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/imagining_argentina/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=13 March 2014 |archive-date=14 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314014704/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/imagining_argentina/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was booed and jeered at when it was screened at the [[Venice Film Festival]] and received a scathing article in ''The Guardian''.<ref name="Valck2007">{{cite book |last=Valck |first=Marijke de |title=Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JotcRIeihQ8C&pg=PA159 |year=2007 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-5356-192-8 |page=159 |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-date=4 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704043242/http://books.google.com/books?id=JotcRIeihQ8C&pg=PA159 |url-status=live }}</ref> Thompson had greater success that year when she worked with HBO for a second time in the acclaimed miniseries ''[[Angels in America (miniseries)|Angels in America]]'' (2003).<ref name="yahoo"/> The show, also starring [[Al Pacino]] and [[Meryl Streep]], deals with the [[AIDS epidemic]] in [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-era America. Thompson played three roles&nbsp;– a nurse, a homeless woman, and the title role of The Angel of America&nbsp;– and was again nominated for an Emmy Award.<ref name="emmy"/> In 2004, she played the eccentric Divination teacher [[Sybill Trelawney]] in the third [[Harry Potter (film series)|''Harry Potter'' film]], ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)|Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', her character described as a "hippy chick professor who teaches fortune-telling".<ref name="theguardian"/> She later reprised the role in ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)|Order of the Phoenix]]'' (2007) and ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows&nbsp;– Part 2|Deathly Hallows&nbsp;– Part 2]]'' (2011),<ref name="yahoo"/> and has described her time working on the popular franchise as "great fun".<ref name="bafta interview"/>

{{quote box|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|width=25em|quote="''Nanny McPhee'', it took nine years to make that movie, from the moment I picked up the book to the moment we walked into the movie theatre&nbsp;... the [films] were labours of great love and commitment."|source=—Thompson on ''[[Nanny McPhee]]'' and [[Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang|its sequel]], which she wrote and starred in.<ref name="bafta interview"/>}}

The year 2005 saw the release of a project Thompson had been working on for nine years.<ref name="bafta interview"/> Loosely based on the ''[[Nurse Matilda]]'' stories that she read as a child, Thompson wrote the screenplay for the children's film ''[[Nanny McPhee]]''&nbsp;– which centres on a mysterious, unsightly nanny who must discipline a group of children. She also took the lead role, alongside [[Colin Firth]] and [[Angela Lansbury]], in what was a highly personal project.<ref name="bafta interview"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Rebecca |title=Emma Thompson Talks About 'Nanny McPhee' |url=http://movies.about.com/od/nancymcphee/a/mcpheeet012106.htm |website=movies.about.com |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019043226/http://movies.about.com/od/nancymcphee/a/mcpheeet012106.htm |archive-date=19 October 2013 }}</ref> The film was a success, taking number one at the UK box office and earning $122{{nbsp}}million worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nanny knocks Wallace off top spot |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/nov/10/news1 |work=The Guardian |access-date=8 February 2014 |date=10 November 2005 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223010146/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/nov/10/news1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nanny McPhee |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nannymcphee.htm |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-date=24 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124033213/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nannymcphee.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Commenting on Thompson's screenplay, film critic Claudia Puig wrote that its "well-worn storybook features are woven effectively into an appealing tale of youthful empowerment".<ref>{{cite news |last=Puig |first=Claudia |author-link=Claudia Puig |title='Nanny McPhee' is no humble servant |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2006-01-26-nanny-mcphee_x.htm |newspaper=USA Today |date=26 January 2006 |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221065601/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2006-01-26-nanny-mcphee_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The following year, Thompson appeared in the surreal American comedy–drama ''[[Stranger than Fiction (2006 film)|Stranger than Fiction]]'', playing a novelist whose latest character (played by [[Will Ferrell]]) is a real person who hears her narration in his head. Reviews for the film were generally favourable.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stranger_than_fiction/ |title=Stranger Than Fiction |work=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218110803/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stranger_than_fiction/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Following a brief, uncredited role in the post-apocalyptic blockbuster ''[[I Am Legend (film)|I Am Legend]]'' (2007),<ref>{{cite news |first=Dana |last=Stevens |title=I Am Legend, reviewed |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=14 December 2007 |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2007/12/i_am_legend.html |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222040051/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2007/12/i_am_legend.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Thompson played the devoutly Catholic Lady Marchmain in a [[Brideshead Revisited (film)|2008 film adaptation]] of ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]''. Critics were unenthusiastic about the film,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brideshead_revisited/ |title=Brideshead Revisited |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=25 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225212058/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brideshead_revisited/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but several picked Thompson out as its highlight.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gleiberman |first=Owen |title=Brideshead Revisited (2008) |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20214608,00.html |access-date=9 February 2014 |newspaper=Entertainment Weekly |date=30 July 2008 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222065647/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20214608,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Susan |title=Brideshead Revisited: A simpler version |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2008/07/25/brideshead_revisited_a_simpler_version.html |access-date=9 February 2014 |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=25 July 2008 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222064523/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2008/07/25/brideshead_revisited_a_simpler_version.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mark Kermode]] said "Emma Thompson is to some extent becoming the new [[Judi Dench]], as the person who kind of comes in for 15 minutes and is brilliant&nbsp;... [but then] when she goes away, the rest of the movie has a real problem living up to the wattage of her presence".<ref name="kermode">{{cite web |title=Brideshead Revisited reviewed by Mark Kermode |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bv7m1 |work=BBC Radio 5 live |date=27 October 2010 |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=7 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407164836/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bv7m1 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Emma Thompson (2008).jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Thompson receiving the Crystal Award at the [[World Economic Forum]] in 2008]]

Thompson received further acclaim for her work in the London-based romance ''[[Last Chance Harvey]]'' (2008), where she and [[Dustin Hoffman]] played a lonely, middle-aged pair who cautiously begin a relationship. Critics praised the chemistry between the two leads, and both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances.<ref>{{cite web |title=Last Chance Harvey |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_chance_harvey/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=17 February 2014 |archive-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107071105/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_chance_harvey/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Travers |first=Peter |title=Last Chance Harvey |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/last-chance-harvey-20090122 |access-date=17 February 2014 |newspaper=Rolling Stone |date=22 January 2009 |archive-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411054048/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/last-chance-harvey-20090122 |url-status=live }}</ref> Thompson's two 2009 films were both set in 1960s United Kingdom, and in both she made cameo appearances: as a headmistress in the critically praised drama ''[[An Education]]''<ref>{{cite web |title=An Education |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_education/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=17 February 2014 |archive-date=13 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213183840/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_education/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and as a "tippling mother" in Richard Curtis's ''[[The Boat That Rocked]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |title=The Boat That Rocked |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/03/boat-that-rocked-film-review |date=3 April 2009 |access-date=17 February 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian |archive-date=10 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310174225/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/03/boat-that-rocked-film-review |url-status=live }}</ref>

Five years after the original, Thompson reprised the role of Nanny McPhee with 2010's ''[[Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang]]''. Her screenplay transported the story to Britain during [[World War II]]. Building on the first film's success, it was another UK box office number one and the sequel was widely seen as an improvement.<ref>{{cite news |title=McPhee makes a bang at box office |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8594759.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=3 March 2014 |date=30 March 2010 |url-status=live |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127131146/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8594759.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nanny_mcphee_returns/ |title=Nanny McPhee Returns |work=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427064528/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nanny_mcphee_returns/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year, Thompson reunited with Alan Rickman for the BBC television film ''[[The Song of Lunch]]'', which focused on two unnamed characters meeting at a restaurant 15 years after ending their relationship.<ref>{{cite news |last=Preston |first=John |title=The Song of Lunch, BBC Two; The Genius of British Art, C4, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8051633/The-Song-of-Lunch-BBC-Two-The-Genius-of-British-Art-C4-review.html |access-date=3 March 2014 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=8 October 2010 |archive-date=12 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140412093059/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8051633/The-Song-of-Lunch-BBC-Two-The-Genius-of-British-Art-C4-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Thompson's performance earned her a fourth Emmy Award nomination.<ref name="emmy"/>