Your latest character Sheba has an affair with one of her pupils. Were those tricky sex scenes to do?
I didn't have the courage to ask him how experienced he was but he was very precocious. He was above the age of consent(only just). And luckily the room was very warm. I was glad it was dark because I blushed my way through the whole thing.
The idea of seducing a young boy must have been difficult to get your head round.
I'm not interested in playing characters who see the world through my prism. I think the journey of understanding any character is to see what makes them tick and how they differ from you. There was an odd discussion about how much of his buttocks we could see and that was a bit awkward. But look, irrespective of whether the actor's 15 or 57 there is always that discussion of how much you can actually see.
It must have been even harder for the young actor. He'd only done one film before.
Maybe it was my morality coming in again but it was important to me that he was above the age of consent. Although what's the difference between 15 and 16? Very little. But he was mature. It wasn't until the end of shooting that I gasped... He wrote me a handwritten letter that made me want to weep - it was about what the film meant to him. And it was then I thought, 'God. He's so young'. You just tend to treat actors like they're actors once they're there.
You said it was one of the most difficult characters you've ever had to connect with...
Oh we always say that don't we. (Laughing) It's such hard work.
Sheba is less scatty in the film than she is in Zoe Heller's novel...
There's a plaintive quality to her in the novel, which could be a bit annoying on the screen. It's a fascinating journey to play someone who's quite fey and gossamer and coy in the beginning. Who then ends up being thrust out of a basement flat screaming, in her pyjamas (dressed as Siouxsie and the Banshees) into the arms of the paparazzi.
There is a great scene at the end when you and Barbara (Dame Judi Dench) come to blows. How was that handled and how difficult did you find it?
She had this strange turtle backpad on, which we had to hide - it gave her a bit of a hump. But both of us were dreading it to be honest. We downed a bottle of champagne afterwards.
You have given Sheba some wonderful little mannerisms like stroking the side of her neck…
Have you felt my skin? You would too (laughs).
Do you find yourself observing strangers as
inspiration for your characters?
As an actor I suppose you're constantly observing. I don't sit in restaurants making notes. I don't live my life to then feed it into my work. I guess by osmosis
you observe these things.
Has winning an Oscar changed your career in terms of the roles that come your way?
I think probably winning these things can be a bit of a curse depending on who you are and how you think. My criteria for choosing projects hasn't changed. Perhaps it's changed by being a parent in that you think, 'How long am I going to be away from home?' My elder child's approaching school age so is less portable. So that's probably shifted things.
Rumour has it you might be leaving our shores…
Are you pleased? I've come to my senses. I must admit when we landed and the visibility was zero yesterday - I'm one of the few people in England who gets excited by that. No, you're peripatetic when you work in this industry. My husband and I are assuming the roles of co-artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. But as long as the film industry will have me I'll certainly have it. If Martin Scorsese calls tomorrow then you know...
'Notes on a Scandal' is released in the UK on 2 February 2007.
