Emily Watson

And we weren't allowed to, you know, engage with popular culture, popular music, all sorts of things.

Obviously, of

There was a part of me that had grown up in this way and was just always felt like I was on the outside looking in.

And he gave me this mixtape.

And I just remember being utterly baffled by the idea of that this was a sort of pleasurable leisure activity that would contribute to the creative work that we were doing.

And then slowly kind of listening to it.

And, you know, then over the years, directors have done that.

Like Paul Thomas Anderson had this fabulous collection of music.

Major music nerd, isn't it?

Yeah, for Punch Drunk Love.

And I think I've, over the years, become, you know, through the people I've met, through my husband who listens to a lot of music, through my kids, I've come to a realisation of how important it is in my imagination.

But I think, you know, that's been quite a journey for me.

OK, my first disc is My Curly-Headed Baby, sung by Paul Robeson.

And this is a song my granny sang to me when I was a baby.

I kind of wondered why am I drawn to this song to talk about it now?

And I think that when I was very small, I had such a strong feeling of being utterly loved.

And the lyric that stays with me from this song is, do you want the stars to play with?

Do you want the moon to run away with?

And that idea of being a dreamer and being free and having your imagination set on fire by the imaginative world, by the dream world, is very, very powerful.

Then sort of later in my upbringing, I was...