Interview with War Horse Actress Emily Watson

As if attending the world premiere of Steven Spielberg’s movie War Horse wasn’t exciting enough, I also had the opportunity to interview one of the films leading stars, actress Emily Watson.

Since becoming a mother, I find myself interested in other mother’s lives. I want to know if they have experienced some of the same ups and downs during motherhood that I have. Do they struggle with the same struggles I do? How do they manage to “do it all?”

Emily Watson is a mother of two young children, a daughter (6) and a son (2). The British actress, who’s best known for her roles as Bess McNeil in Breaking the Waves, and the title character in Angela’s Ashes, was so grateful to open up to us on her life as an actress and more importantly, her role as a mother.

In the movie War Horse , Watson plays the role of Rose Narracott, mother of Albert, a young man who develops a relationship with the horse who is sold to the British cavalry and sent into combat during World War I.

Watson got involved in the movie after receiving a call from Steven Spielberg himself. “I’d seen the play in London at the National. And I went and had tea with him (Spielberg.)” said Watson “He said, I’d like you to do this. It was pretty exciting.”

Although Watson accepted the role immediately, that didn’t come without certain conditions. “The first day of shooting coincided with Juliet’s very first day at school. So I had to have a bit of a to and fro with Spielberg saying, I’ll do the movie, but I have to be there on the first day. I am taking her to school.”

What I loved about Watson and something that was so apparent during the interview, is that her role as a mother and wife are her first priority. Her job as an actress is important to her, but her family will always take precedent. “It’s the first question I ask when a job comes up is, where, how long? Does it match the school holidays? Can they fly us? That’s how it’s gotta be.”

When she’s not busy flying around the world for her roles in great films, Watson spends time with her family at their home in London. She does her best to keep her home life completely normal for her children, making sure she spends all of the time with them she can. She has even found herself doing an activity with her children that she used to enjoy as a child.

“When I was a kid, I was really good artist. I painted. I actually won the school art competition and my teacher wanted me to go to art school and I just kind of fell out of it. And it just sort of went away and I ended up doing this (acting.) And now that I’ve got kids, I am painting with them, and I’m making taxis out of Wheat-A-Bits boxes and doing all that stuff. But I love doing all the creative stuff. I absolutely love doing that.”

Emily Watson seems to really know how to manage that work/life balance that we, as mothers, are all so desperately trying to accomplish. Her advice for other mom’s is to “give yourself a break because it’s really hard. And don’t believe it when you think other people are making a success of it and it’s all smooth and easy because it isn’t. It just feels like there’s never enough of you to go around.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Thank you to Emily Watson for taking the time out of her busy day to share her challenges and insights on one of the most important roles of our lives, being a mom.

To learn more about Emily Watson’s role in the upcoming Dreamworks movie, War Horse, check out the official website. War Horse hits theaters on December 25.

{Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I did receive travel accommodations from Disney/Dreamworks. All opinions expressed are my own.}