Lovely and Amazing: Emily Mortimer

Emily Mortimer: live on Breakfast at 8.45am

The film Lovely and Amazing tells the story of a mother and two daughters who are obsessed by their appearance.

Emily Mortimer was live in the Breakfast studio talking about her latest role:

Click here to see our interview with Emily Mortmer

The mother - played by Brenda Blethyn - actually spends a large part of the film undergoing liposuction, in a vain attempt to keep the years and the pounds at bay.

Brenda Blethyn's character is obsessed with looks

Emily Mortimer plays her daughter Elizabeth, an aspiring young actress who's as vain and self-obsessed as her mother.

One of the film's pivotal scenes has caused a big stir in Hollywood, for the bravery of its participants.

In it, Emily Mortimer stands naked in front of her screen lover, while he produces a critique of her body, from top to toe.

She's told her teeth are yellow, her boobs are droopy and her arms need toning up.

"Basically, if this was going to come across as believable then it has to be particular to my own body," she says.

"So I sat down with the scriptwriter and helped with the speech. I added in things like `one eye smaller than the other, yellow teeth and lank hair,' because it's true," she laughs.

"I just went for it.

"So when I'm standing there in that scene I definitely felt as vulnerable and as exposed as my character, but it was because I thought this is what it's like to be a proper actress."

Background

Emily Mortimer, 31, is the daughter of the author and lawyer Sir John Mortimer.

She was brought up in London and attended St Paul's Girls School before taking up a career in acting.

Her first screen appearance was in a Catherine Cookson TV series, The Glass Virgin.

You may remember her cameo role alongside Hugh Grant in Notting Hill - as the ill-fated "perfect girl".

She also appeared in Kenneth Branagh's film of Love's Labour's Lost.

Emily Mortimer currently lives in Los Angeles, with the American actor Alessandro Nivola, who she met while filming Loves Labour's lost.

Lovely and Amazing opens today (Friday August 2)