‘Dune: Prophecy’ Star Emily Watson On Portraying Another Fearsome Mother Superior In ‘Small Things Like These’ & Why She Thinks Cillian Murphy Is Even Better In It Than In ‘Oppenheimer’
deadline.comCurrently starring in Dune: Prophecy as the Mother Superior of the mysterious sisterhood that becomes the Bene Gesserit, Emily Watson earlier this year scooped the Silver Bear Best Supporting Performance award at the Berlin Film Festival for her role as a different sort of formidable Mother Superior in Irish drama Small Things Like These.
The Cillian Murphy-starrer is directed by Tim Mielants and based on Claire Keegan’s acclaimed eponymous novel which has been adapted by Enda Walsh.
Watson plays Sister Mary, whose convent is concealing a Magdalene Laundry, businesses run jointly by the Church and the Irish state where unwed mothers were consigned to repent of their sins, do hard labor and ultimately deliver their babies for adoption.
Although Watson doesn’t have much screen time, her impact is spine-chilling. In her review for Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury wrote that Watson “brings an urgent sense of high stakes… she seems to vibrate with menace.” The story takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1985.
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