Kristin Scott Thomas Drawn to the Difficult

Thomas is best known for her role as the unfaithful wife in "The English Patient." She had to fight to get that part because "the finance people didn't want me at all."

Kristin Scott Thomas stars in the French drama "I've Loved You So Long."

(Courtesy: Sony Pictures Classic)

The movie became one of the biggest screen hits of 1996, won nine Oscars and earned Thomas a nomination for best actress.

Another unexpected success was the 1994 film "Four Weddings and a Funeral," with Hugh Grant. Grant told Thomas about the script while they were filming Roman Polanski's "Bitter Moon." She eventually got the role of Fiona, whose love for Charles (Grant) is unrequited. Thomas' favorite line, she said, was when Fiona confessed to Charles, "It's you, it's always been you."

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After 1998's "The Horse Whisperer" with Robert Redford and 1999's "Random Hearts" with Harrison Ford, Thomas -- against strident advice from her management -- left Hollywood to go on tour with a French theater company.

While the experience was "fantastic," she discovered upon her return that she was "dead in the water," she said. "You take your foot off the gas for one minute and you're gone. It's so quick. It's just incredible."

In the upcoming "Confessions of a Shopaholic" based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella, Thomas, who admits she is "a goofball," was allowed to be eccentric.

This is coming from the woman whose vision of riding out her illustrious career includes wearing a diaphanous gown while singing on cruise ships. When that day comes, Thomas promises she will return to perform exclusively on "Popcorn With Peter Travers."