Entertainment

Emma Thompson: The Classiest Badass

Aging can instill fear in all of us, but if any of us is lucky enough to age as well as actress Emma Thompson, we could just become the classiest, sauciest ladies around. In response to being "snubbed" by the Oscars this year for her leading role in Saving Mr. Banks, Thompson shrugged off the news to the AP and immediately solidified herself as the badass lady we already knew she was.

"You just go 'Oh!'— and then you (say) 'Ooh, that means I can work in March instead of getting into another frock and heels," she said. Classy, airy, effortless in her response, Thompson is everything we could hope to be one day. Damning the reaction most of us would likely have — screaming inside, tearing out hair, and wondering "What more do you want from me, world? WHAT MORE?" — Thompson simply floats on air, finds the silver lining without a single drop of sweat and praises the heavens that the heels she couldn't keep on her feet at the Golden Globes can remain safely locked away in her closet, never to hurt her again (until the next red carpet for whatever movie her work in March might bring us).

Of course, we've seen other Brits become sassy dames in their later years, inspiring the notion that every age can be just as awesome as the last. But Maggie Smith is never up to crossing the pond to stand barefoot on one of our award show stages and Helen Mirren might play the goofball, but she'd never wave a martini around with such refreshing reckless abandon at the front of the Beverly Hills Hotel ballroom. Close, but no cigar.

As far as we're concerned, when we grow up, we all just want to be the fiercely and famously feminist, devil-may-care badass exemplified by Ms. Emma Thompson. Full stop.