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Emma Thompson may be best known as an actress, winning an Oscar for Howard's End (1992) and nominated for three more for her roles in Remains of the Day (1993), In the Name of the Father (1993), and Sense and Sensibility (1995)—not to mention awards for her stunning portrayal of a woman dying of cancer in the made-for-TV movie Wit (1999).

But what satisfies Thompson most is what goes on behind the scenes—and indeed, long before the first scene is even shot: Writing. Thompson won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, and more awards for writing Wit. (She also helped fine-tune the script for the recent Pride & Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley.)

Emma Thompson as the magical—and hideous—Nanny McPhee

Quite the resumé. And yet, Thompson says she's proudest of her latest project, Nanny McPhee, in which she stars as a magical—and physically hideous—British nanny whose assignment is to bring order to a chaotic home with a single dad and seven very naughty children … who specialize in driving nannies away. But they won't be getting rid of this nanny, not till she's taught them—and their father—five important lessons, including some they'll have to learn the hard way. And with each lesson learned, one of Nanny McPhee's ugly features—a wart here, an exaggerated buck tooth there—disappears. Magically, of course.

Thompson, 46, wrote the screenplay, adapted from a series of children's books about Nurse Matilda. It was a labor of love that took some five years, but Thompson is more than thrilled with the payoff—a film that the whole family can enjoy.

What attracted you to this story?

Emma Thompson: I like it because it has everything in it. The first thing I was attracted to was the fact that this fantastically ugly, rather baleful-looking person turns up, and she isn't nice and sweet. And she helps the children by giving them space to really consider what they're doing, and to work things out for themselves. And I liked the physicality of it; I adored the fact that her face changes.

When writing the script, we had to give the children reasons to be naughty, because most children aren't naughty for no reason at all. I enjoyed developing that line of the story, and as we went on with this process, it became clear that it was a profoundly layered story. And by the end, you had to involve the father and what lessons he had to learn. So what had started off as rather a simple idea, turned into something like a myth or a fable that had all those layers.

This isn't a Mary Poppins type of magic nanny; she's doesn't just make everything perfect in the blink of an eye. There are good parenting skills on display here, with the children learning lessons on their own—sometimes the hard way—while Nanny McPhee sits back and observes.

Thompson: It's true, especially about the stillness and the waiting. Her parenting skills are mammoth. But she's also a stranger, and it's much more difficult to use those things as a real parent. You can't be mysterious if you're a mom; you're there the whole time. But you can employ the methods of patience, silence, waiting, observation and attention.

Have you had to work those things into your own role as a mom?

Thompson: Oh sure. My daughter Gaia is 6. Absolutely, I've had to really develop patience in particular. We say patience is a virtue, but it's more than a virtue. When you look at people like the Dalai Lama or Zen Buddhist masters, they've burnt the ego out of themselves so that it no longer exists. Nanny McPhee has no ego at all. She's just there.

And you're not there yet?

Thompson: Sadly, no! Because I am an actor, and therefore a complete and utter showoff, with a very difficult and wayward ego. It's ghastly. And so when you lose patience as a parent, you think to yourself, How could I have failed again? But the wonderful thing about children is that you have the chance the next day to try again and to get it right.

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