[Photo Credit: AAP News]

Emma Thompson feels “strange” talking about her role in the Harry Potter movies.

The 67-year-old English actress played Professor Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter film franchise, but finds talking about the movies to be a bit odd, because she feels like a peripheral part of the series.

Thompson – whose first appearance as Trelawney was in the third film, 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – was talking to Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes on the Smartless podcast.

“Honestly, in my quite long career, given the fact that I’m good 10 years older than all of you guys, I have done many many parts and I’ve spent about 30 days on Harry Potter in my whole life so it’s kind of a strange thing to talk [about], because it’s become such this huge phenomenon and that’s a lot of the time that’s what people are very sort of drawn to that.”

Thompson has played all sorts of characters in her long and successful film career and always tries to approach each role with the same level of enthusiasm.

“You just have to fling yourself into it, don’t you? At first, and hope that your instincts are right,” she said.

Despite this, Thompson particularly enjoys starring in movies that are geared towards children.

“I always consider children to be the sacred audience. They’re the people we need to make the best of our work for because it’s the first time that they see something. It needs to be so, so good.”

Meanwhile, Kate Winslet has heaped praise on Thompson, her Sense and Sensibility co-star.

The 50-year-old actress starred alongside Thompson in a 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, and has always paid close attention to the advice of her former co-star.

“She was quite sort of protective of me,” Winslet said while speaking at the 92NY Center for Culture and Arts in New York City.

Thompson expressed her concern for Winslet after she starred in Titanic, a role that changed her life.

“I think she was actually just [a] bit worried like – you know, not, ‘is Kate gonna go off the rails?’ ’cause clearly that wasn’t in my personality – but just that it [can] be very overwhelming and what was I gonna do?

“She did say to me … just remember, it’s equally as important not to work as it’s to work. And I have never forgotten that,” she said.