6 January 2019, Los Angeles, USA
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Hollywood Foreign Press, this is such a great honor. And I'm so honored to be with my category sisters. And we've gotten to know each other a little bit so far and I can't wait to spend more time with you. Everything that you did this year—or, what you're here for—we all should be up here together.
I want to thank Meg Wolitzer for writing this incredible novel and Jane Anderson for adapting it, Rosalie Swedlin and Claudia Bluemhuber for the passionate—it took 14 years to make this film! I was attached to it thanks to my wonderful Kevin and Franklin who were behind me and said, "Yes, this is a great story and we need to stay with it until it happens."
You know, it was called The Wife. I think that's why it took 14 years to get made. To play a character who is so internal, I’m thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life. And in her 80s she said to me, "I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything."And it was so not right. And I feel like what I've learned from this whole experience is, women, we’re nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us. We have our children, we have our husbands if we're lucky enough, and our partners. But we have to find personal fulfillment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, "I can do that, and I should be allowed to do that."
When I was little I felt like Muhammad Ali, who was destined to be a boxer. I felt destined to be an actress. I saw the early Disney films and Hayley Mills and I said, Oh, I can do that! And I’m here today. It will have been 45 years in September that I am a working actress, and I cannot imagine a more wonderful life.
Thank you Björn Runge who is here who directed The Wife, who trusted the close up, who knew where to put the camera and how to light us. Jonathan Pryce, what a great partner. My daughter Annie who laid the foundation of this character, I love you my darling. Thank you so much.