Emma Thompson instantly wanted to star in 'Late Night'.
Emma Thompson
The 60-year-old actress was drawn to the role of talk show host Katherine Newbury right away when she read the script, and she told her manager to make sure she landed the part.
She told 'HeyUGuys': "It's not just the role, it's the whole script. It was such a good script.
"I mean, Mindy did some work on it but I just remember reading it and going, 'Oh my God, this is absolute pure gold', and ringing my manager going 'you have to make this happen.' "
The star explained that although there aren't many female late night talk show hosts to compare her character to, she was able to take inspiration from the industry as it is.
She said: "The thing is, the whole point about Katherine is she's based herself on the male talk show, and it's Mindy' character's input and inspiration that makes her suddenly turn round to the writing room and say, 'you know what - let me talk, let me not ape this other people, let me speak to things that mean something to me'. That's a wonderful scene."
Kaling - who wrote the movie and also plays Molly Patel - previously admitted she had no back-up plan if Thompson had turned down the role.
The 39-year-old actress said: "She's done so much drama and not that much comedy, but she's really funny and came from comedy. It was a stupid thing to do.
"I'm in Los Angeles creepily writing this movie about a woman I was a fan of. She's hilarious and never gets to do funny parts. She just turned 60, and I was excited to see her in this kind of role."
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