Emma Thompson Rescues Haley Atwell

During the filming of Brideshead Revisited, Emma Thompson invited ingenue Haley Atwell over for dinner. Thompson asked why Atwell was picking at her food and Haley admitted she was on a diet because the producers told her to lose some weight.

"I went round to Emma's one night and she was getting very angry that I wasn't eating all the food she was giving me. I told her why and she hit the roof," says Atwell.

Thompson was so upset that she immediately contacted the producers and said she would quit unless they agreed to rescind their request that Atwell shrink a few sizes.

This is not the first time Thompson has intervened with the diet of a young starlet. During the filming of Sense and Sensibility, Thompson noticed Kate Winslet was struggling with poor body image and dieting to extremes. Winslet later told reporters that Thompson intervened and had a heart to heart with Winslet about body image and Hollywood. Apparently, the conversation worked because now Winslet is so anti-diet that she will sue your ass if you write that she's on one!