EXCLUSIVE: Kristin Scott Thomas collected her Golden Nymph Award at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival‘s opening ceremony on Friday night. At a press conference the following morning, the star slipped between English and French and talked about her career to date. She then sat down with Deadline and gave us the lowdown on playing an icy spymaster in Apple’s Slow Horses and how her writer-director debut movie My Mother’s Wedding has fired up ambitions to do more behind the camera, including a second movie, this time based on a book she has adapted.

With Season 6 of Slow Horses dropping soon and Season 7 confirmed by Apple, Scott Thomas’ spy boss Diana is firmly established in the series lore. Having mostly worked in film before the series, the rhythm of a long-running TV show has taken some getting used to.

“During Slow Horses, there were times, which were perhaps a little bit like ‘Oh, I’ve got to get into another lift,” she said with an exasperated look. “That’s the nature of long form TV. But then, I’ll get this fantastic scene with Sophie Okonedo, which is amazing to do, or James Callis or Sam West. You get these fantastic moments of sparring, which are really fun.”

In the earlier press conference, the star said that playing the MI5 boss had been a revealing process. “What has astonished me is that sometimes in my life people have accused me of being frightening, and I go, ‘What are you talking about?’ And then I saw Slow Horses and oh my god, I just saw the way this woman looks at people and I thought, oh, I get it now. I’ve been really, really careful in my life [since] to smile a lot. It has changed my way of being.”

Directing Her Second Film

Back to her film work, Scott Thomas revealed her second project as a writer and director is underway. “It’s an adaptation of a novel,” Scott Thomas said about the new project. Unlike My Mother’s Wedding, in which she also starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Sienna Miller, Scott Thomas does not plan to appear on screen this time.

My Mother’s Wedding, about a twice-widowed mother, was inspired by her own life story. Scott Thomas lost her father and then stepfather to air accidents. Second time around as a writer and director, she is adapting someone else’s work. “It’s a very different challenge,” she said of adapting a book, which she noted is a contemporary novel. The script is now written and the hope is that it goes into production in 2027.

Scott Thomas also spoke about a moment where, having several hit movies under her belt, she could have decamped to Los Angeles to further her career. Instead, she stayed in France and the UK and said she has no regrets that she did not up sticks for Hollywood.

“That was for a very specific reason, which is that I really loved European cinema, and I continue to love European cinema. There’s something about a little French film made with £2.50 and with 25 people that I just love. And I liked being in theater, so that’s why I didn’t go that way.

“Of course, there were times where I kicked myself [about not making the move], but on the whole, I’m really glad that I have been able to go off and do x, y, and z. To go and do Nicolas Winding Refn film, or just the really fun, mad thing.”