"My blood is English, but my culture is French": Kristin Scott Thomas shares emotional link to My Mother's Wedding

Kristin Scott Thomas has described a deep emotional connection to her directorial debut, My Mother’s Wedding. The film, which marks a new phase in her career, is inspired by personal events and shaped by her bicultural identity. The actor and filmmaker revealed this in an interview with CBS News published on July 25, 2025. She explained how elements of her own life influenced the film's narrative, saying,

"My blood is English, but my culture is French."

My Mother’s Wedding, formerly titled North Star, explores the story of three sisters returning to their family home for their mother’s third wedding. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as Katherine, a Royal Navy captain, Sienna Miller as Victoria, a famous actor, and Emily Beecham as Georgina, a palliative nurse. Kristin Scott Thomas not only directed the film but also plays the role of the mother, Diana. The character is loosely inspired by her own mother, who was widowed twice.

Kristin Scott Thomas lost both her father and stepfather in separate training accidents while they served as pilots in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. She shared that growing up with only one parent left her with a sense of something missing, a gap she often tried to bridge through imagination.

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Kristin Scott Thomas on why the story is personal

In the CBS News interview, Kristin Scott Thomas spoke openly about her inspiration behind My Mother’s Wedding. She said,

"When I was five, my father was killed, and my mother remarried. And tragically, he was killed five years later." "And I know that a lot of the time when I was a younger woman, I had this feeling of something missing, this piece of my puzzle missing having grown up with only one parent," she added.

She recalled that as a child, she often wrote and illustrated stories about families doing ordinary things like going on holiday, because those were experiences she had never known firsthand. These early imaginative efforts, based on fragmented memories of her father, eventually became the foundation for what would grow into the screenplay for My Mother's Wedding.

Scott Thomas emphasized that while the film is fictional, it draws emotional resonance from real experiences. In the film, Diana is preparing for her third marriage after being widowed twice, mirroring Scott Thomas’ own mother’s life. The film examines how Diana and her daughters confront their shared history during the wedding weekend.

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Kristin Scott Thomas and her dual identity

In the same interview with CBS News, Kristin Scott Thomas explained her sense of belonging to two cultures. Although she was born in England, she has spent much of her adult life in France. She mentioned,

"My blood is English, but my culture is French,"

a statement that reflects how she navigates her identity both personally and professionally. Thomas said this duality has been part of her career, from films like The English Patient and Darkest Hour to French-language dramas like I've Loved You So Long.

She noted that her cultural background influenced how she developed the tone and characters in My Mother’s Wedding, blending English restraint with emotional complexity.

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Kristin Scott Thomas on legacy and recognition

Kristin Scott Thomas attends the Opening Ceremony during the 17th Angouleme French-Speaking Film Festival on August 27, 2024 in Angouleme, France. (Photo by Arnold Jerocki/WireImage)

Over the years, Scott Thomas built a career that spans iconic roles in both English and French cinema. She starred opposite actors such as Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer, Harrison Ford in Random Hearts, and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible.

"I'm so proud to be in 'Mission: Impossible,' I cannot even get over it!" she said. "I'm in this thing, which is this enormous monster, and you know, these kids, they have no idea about 'Gosford Park.' They have no idea about 'Four Weddings,' but they've all seen 'Mission: Impossible'! And they have no idea I speak French or do all these other kind of slightly murkier films in France, you know?"

She also earned an Academy Award nomination for The English Patient. Reflecting on that time, she said,

"It's quite moving actually, when you see yourself at sort of 30 acting your socks off."

Scott Thomas has also been active in theater, performing at the Royal Court Theatre and later on Broadway. She won an Olivier Award for The Seagull.

"New York audiences, when they are enjoying themselves, I mean it's electric – you can really, really feel it,"

she said. When asked about London audiences, she added with a laugh,

"We are much more kind of passive, perhaps. Reserved. Of course we are!"

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Kristin Scott Thomas on directing and creative growth

Kristin Scott Thomas attends the Jury Photocall during the 17th Angouleme French-Speaking Film Festival on August 27, 2024 in Angouleme, France. (Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images)

In her directorial debut, Kristin Scott Thomas worked with a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham, along with Freida Pinto and Thibault de Montalembert. Thomas and Johansson have previously played mother and daughter in The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).

She described filmmaking as an intense but fulfilling process, saying,

"The joy and satisfaction and exhaustion that comes from filmmaking when you are being a director, that is not far off. Pretty good. It's just extraordinary."

She also shared a memory about her early days on set with other directors,

"I think it was Sydney Pollock – or it might have been Robert Redford, take your pick," she laughed. "One of them said to me, 'You know, you have to be generous. Forget what you're trying to defend. Forget trying to hide. Be more generous.' And I'm not sure I really understood what he meant by that. He just planted a seed, and then I was able to kind of unzip a bit more."

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My Mother’s Wedding: Release and reception

My Mother’s Wedding premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2023. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on August 8, 2025. According to CBS News and the film's official distribution details, Vertical will distribute the movie in the U.S.

Filming began in June 2022 at St. Mary's Church in Hampshire and concluded in July 2022. Scenes were also filmed on HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth. The screenplay was co-written by Thomas and her husband, journalist John Micklethwait.

The premise of the film centers on three sisters Katherine, Victoria, and Georgina returning home for the wedding of their mother Diana, who has been widowed twice. Over the course of the wedding weekend, the sisters, each shaped by loss and their mother's influence, are forced to confront unresolved emotions, personal histories, and the complicated nature of family.

The film includes the line,

"I brought you up to be women, not just daughters," spoken by Diana.

It addresses the themes of identity, grief, and healing. Thomas said she made the film for audiences who have experienced emotional disruption and are trying to understand their past.

Kristin Scott Thomas continues to act and direct. With My Mother’s Wedding, she explores personal history through fiction, using cinema as a way to process long-held emotions and connect with others who share similar experiences.

Edited by Urvashi Vijay More