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‘It was wonderful to see the film’s phrases – like “Up yer bum!” – enter the vernacular’
‘The success was overwhelming’ … Emily Lloyd in Wish You Were Here. Photograph: Photos 12/Alamy Stock
‘Tom’s in the room – I think he’s drunk’ … Emily Lloyd with Tom Bell. Photograph: Working Title/Rex/Shutterstock
In the evenings, Tom would sit in the hotel bar drinking gin and tonic, and I would be upstairs planning what
to shoot the next day. But Tom got it into his head I was smoking marijuana. He’d say: “Off upstairs to smoke
a bit of weed, are we?”
We got into Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. At the end of the screening, there was a lot of cheering and I
thought: “That’s nice.” Then we went out on to the balcony overlooking the lobby and everyone went wild.
“My God,” I thought, “we’ve got something big here.”
It’s wonderful how some of the film’s phrases – like Lynda’s “Up yer bum” – entered the vernacular. It’s like
Personal Services, the film I wrote inspired by Cynthia’s later life. When she can’t pay the rent, she gives the
landlord a handjob. His name was Popozogolou and that became a euphemism for a wank.
They gave me a synopsis for the audition: “sexually precocious”. So my mother put me in a black leather skirt
and a tight blue crocheted top. The casting director took one glance at me and said: “You look like jailbait. Go
home and get changed.” Then she said: “But come back.” I blushed and returned in jeans.
David took me for lunch and said: “Would you like the part?” But I’d just spooned some soup into my mouth
and it didn’t register. Then he said: “I’d like you to have the part.” It still didn’t register, so he said: “Emily,
you’ve got the part!” And the soup went all over the table.
The first day of filming was on my 16th birthday. We only had six weeks to get it done so it was quite
gruelling. I was completely exhausted at the end of every day. I’d been given a yellow Sony Walkman for my
birthday and I’d lie there in my hotel room listening to Tina Turner to get to sleep.
‘She’s free-spirited but there’s sadness and pain’ … Emily Lloyd. Photograph: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock
The first time I saw the film, I thought: “My nose looks very big.” But it’s a lovely film and I like my character.
Playing her as free-spirited wasn’t hard, but there was also sadness and pain, when she finds herself
pregnant.
The success was overwhelming. I went to Hollywood and one agent wanted to buy me a horse. My mum told
me: “But darling, we’ve only got a small back garden.” I was inundated and there was no one out there to
protect me. My mum says, in retrospect, she wishes she’d gone out there. But, you know, I was hanging out
with the Brat Pack, Matt Dillon, going to barbecues with Brad Pitt. All of that, at 16, can’t be bad really.