I've more respect than ever for people who do action stuff now ...it's really hard

DAME Emma Thompson is renowned for her versatility, with acclaimed performances spanning from Sense And Sensibility to Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

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The 66-year-old actress and screenwriter remains the only artist to have won Academy Awards in both disciplines; Best Actress in 1993 for Howard's End and Best Adapted Screenplay in 1996 for Sense And Sensibility.

Most recently, after reprising her role as Dr Rawlings in Bridget Jones's Diary: Mad About The Boy, Dame Emma's career has taken a new turn, as she stars in her first action thriller, The Dead Of Winter, written by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb.

In the film, directed by Brian Kirk and shot in Finland, Dame Emma plays Barb, a grieving widow travelling to scatter her husband's ashes in snowbound northern Minnesota when she inadvertently interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl.

Spurred on by the memory of her late husband and stranded hours from the nearest town with no mobile phone service, Barb realises she is the young woman's only hope of survival.

When asked about leading her first action thriller, Dame Emma laughs, "It was sore and painful."

"I did talk to people I know who've done a lot of action stuff, and I said, 'So how do you prepare?'" she says. "They said, 'Look, you're going to hurt yourself. Just try not to end up having to have an operation."

"I have a great deal more respect than I've ever had for people who do action stuff now, because it's really hard," she adds.

Dame Emma says her favourite thing about the character is the fact she's an ordinary woman who must act as a hero to try to save this young woman.