“It’s so annoying to be female and consistently going, ‘Have I got to see a story again about a guy who does things that I’ve already seen a guy do a million times?’ So I’m bored. The difference now, as I get older, is that I’m released by my boredom. I no longer bother. I’m free to go and look for new ideas and new voices. I’m able with absolute comfort and ease to reject so much. It’s fantastic being this age. I’m old. We’re constantly watching films where older men have wonderful roles and older women really don’t. But I’m a character actor, don’t forget. If you’ve got form and you’re a character actor, you’re much better off because you’re not fighting the way you once looked.”
Meanwhile, Thompson previously insisted she doesn’t think there are many good roles for “older” actresses and she jumped at the chance to nab the part as a female judge in The Children Act because she was surprised by that the authoritative figure was a woman.
She says: “I’d never seen a story about a female judge, and I think in our patriarchal world, when you hear the word judge, you automatically think, ‘Oh, it’s a man.’ Men don’t have any problem with that. It’s something that hasn’t yet properly changed. We are seeing some really good and interesting new roles, so one’s got to be hopeful.”
Thompson says that she feels extremely fortunate to have made it to her 60s. “My dad died at 52. My uncle was 51. My sister-in-law, a couple years ago at 51. I’ve got quite a number of friends who have dropped off. You can’t take survival for granted. What else do I feel? The work I’m doing is more fulfilling and happy-making than ever. I think your 60s, if you are well, are the most fantastic decade. No more periods: resolved! Menopause over: hooray! Kids grown up,” she says.
She hopes that her sixties will be one of the most powerful patches of her life.
