NEW YORK — Emma Thompson's husband restored a barn in Scotland that included a place for her to write, but the actress and screenwriter prefers the bathroom.

She also keeps her Oscars there.

"They look far too outre anywhere else," Thompson, 46, told Time magazine. "They're great big, gold, shiny things. They're up there tarnishing quietly along with everything else I own, including my body."

Thompson stars in and wrote the script for the upcoming film "Nanny McPhee," the story of an ugly but magical child minder. She compared the movie to a western, with a stranger who rides in to a chaotic situation and uses unorthodox methods to sort things out before leaving.

"People say, 'Is it like "Mary Poppins?"' Actually, it's like 'Shane.'"