'My Mother's Wedding' Interview: Kristin Scott Thomas

Moviefone speaks with filmmaker Kristin Scott Thomas about 'My Mother's Wedding'. "Now that I'm grown up, I felt it was my turn to tell this story."

Kristin Scott Thomas directs, co-writes and stars in 'My Mother's Wedding'.

Opening in theaters on August 8th is the new comedy drama ‘My Mother’s Wedding’, which was directed and co-written by actress Kristin Scott Thomas (‘The English Patient’ and ‘Slow Horses’).

In addition to Thomas, the film stars Scarlett Johansson (‘Jurassic World Rebirth’), Sienna Miller (‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’), Emily Beecham (‘Cruella’), and Freida Pinto (‘Slumdog Millionaire’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kristin Scott Thomas about her work on ‘My Mother’s Wedding’, developing the screenplay from her own life story, which characters she relates to the most, how her experience as an actress informed her work as a director, working with the cast, and shooting the complicated wedding sequences.

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Kristin Scott Thomas in 'My Mother's Wedding'. Photo: Vertical.

Moviefone: To begin with, I understand the film is loosely based on your own life. Can you talk about the process of writing the screenplay with John Micklethwait and did you always intend to make this project your directorial debut?

Kristin Scott Thomas: They always say, "write about what you know”, and I know this story very, very well in that the experiences that these girls, in particularly, the character played by Scarlett Johansson, had, as children, were my experiences. So, all the memories that Catherine has in the film are my memories. This aspect of my life has been touted quite a lot during every time there's a profile written about me, they'd have this little paragraph about my tragic childhood. Now that I'm grown up, I felt, well, hang on, it’s my turn to tell this story. So, here we go. So, what we did from there was to use my memories of my father and my stepfather and use them as a kind of catalyst if you like, to tell a story that is pretty much invented about these three women who returned to their childhood home to witness their mother getting married for the third time to a man who they find frankly disappointing. But their own love lives are all in turmoil. The fact that their mother is so deliriously happy, you know, makes some sort of quite comedic moments.

MF: Do you feel that there is a little bit of you in each character, or was there one character specifically that you can really relate to?

KST: Well, I think when you're creating something, certainly as an actor, I know there's always a tiny bit of me in it, there's a tiny bit of my next-door neighbor, or there's a tiny bit of, you know, we're like magpies. We see things that we like, and we gather them all, and we put them into characters when we're an actor. So, when you're a writer, I think it's the same thing. You know, you're inventing a character, but I'm inventing it from things I've seen and things I've experienced during my life. So, I think there's a bit of me in in everything, really, in all of them. Certainly, the character of the mother is somebody, I'd love to be that kind of a mum, you know, really sort of forthright and knows what's what. I'd love to be so certain as she is.

(L to R) Scarlett Johansson, Emily Beecham and Sienna Miller in 'My Mother's Wedding'. Photo: Vertical.

MF: With all your experience as an actress collaborating with directors on different sets, do you think that informed the way you worked with your actors as a director on this set?

MF: I think it did. I think that I was very aware. If I started off making the film very much as an actress, as an actress directing a film, and then little by little, I got into the groove of being the one answered the questions and just made the decisions. But to begin with, I was very conscious of the actor's needs. So, I had a way of sort of shorthand in talking to them and managing to explain what I would really like to see. But if they wanted to bring anything else, you know, great. That's what I saw, I saw an enormous amount of sort of invention on their part and their imaginations were inspired and it went well.

MF: Finally, as difficult as a film can be to produce, so is a wedding, and you had to do both for this movie. Can you talk about shooting the wedding sequence?

KST: Oh, that was fun. I mean, as an actor, I've always sort of dreaded those big set pieces, because you sit around for hours, and you get bored and all. So, I tried to make it as relaxed as possible, and I tried to make it as mobile as possible. So, you don't get stuck in one thing. So, you kind of jump around a bit, and there are sweet moments and quite funny moments. I tried to keep it as kind of busy as possible, towards the beginning anyway, to set it all up, and to keep it all kind of a bit feverish. So, that's what we were aiming to do and then this glorious moment when Geoff (James Fleet) sings, when everyone just goes, “What's he going to do”? He's singing and then there's the relaxing into it, because he's so brave to get up there and sing this rather affecting song. You know, you have nothing but admiration for him, even though he's not a singer. You're touched by that. You're moved by that. It was so generous of him.

What is the plot of ‘My Mother’s Wedding’?

Three sisters (Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller and Emily Beecham) return to their family home to attend the wedding of their twice widowed mother Diana (Kristin Scott Thomas). All three sisters have had different life experiences, with Georgina being a palliative nurse, whilst Victoria is an actress, and Katherine is a captain in the Royal Navy.