Emily Blunt
Interview By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com
Her first movie role was just a few short years ago in 2003, but rising British star Emily Blunt has already landed clutch roles in a series of high-profile movies, the latest being the highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada. Based on the popular novel by Lauren Weisberger, it chronicles the high-stakes world of the fictional fashion magazine Runway. Blunt plays Emily, an assistant to Runway’s tyrannical editor, Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep (and said to be based on Vogue‘s Anna Wintour).
“I wanted people to love to hate her,” Blunt says of her high-strung character. “You know, I really did. I think when someone is that neurotic and that on the edge of a nervous breakdown, you can’t help but think she’s kind of sad. And she’s got no life, you know, she kind of defines herself by her association with Miranda Priestley, and that’s a rather sad place to be. She lives to work.”
Work, in this case, would be defined by being in a constant state of panic about your boss. To her staff, Priestley represents both a demon spawn (hence the title) and a sacred idol of admiration and worship. “I think she’s blinded by this powerhouse of a woman. I think people get blinded by celebrity as well, by being in the limelight, and being eye-catching, and being associated with someone great. And people put up with a lot more than they should as human beings, and I think that’s what’s happening. I mean, I agree with people not quitting. I think it’s very easy in this world for people to quit, whether it be on a marriage, or school, or a job. But there’s a limit as to how much you should take as a person. And I don’t quite understand how people can stick out jobs for as long as
Is she speaking from experience? “I babysat a kid with ADD a lot, which was never fun. So I’d put him to bed at eight o’clock, and I thought everything was fine. I’d settle down to watch a film and eat out their fridge, and at one o’clock in the morning he’d be sliding down the stairs in a cardboard box.”
Certainly almost everyone can relate to jobs with monstrous bosses, as well. Since Streep is such an iconic legend in movie history, one could easily leap to the conclusion that being on set with her would be just as intimidating as being in the office with Miranda. However, Blunt does nothing but gush over her co-star, presumably because of admiration and not fear. “She’s very down to earth, and very private, and that’s how she’s maintained the mystique. She’s a mother, she has four children, just like my mother, and she’s definitely managed to keep the balance…I think she just likes to play characters. I don’t think she even has a method to this magic. She invests so much of herself and is so committed and has been for thirty-five years. I admire her above every actor.”
Although Blunt is no stranger, especially after the film, to the fashion world — ask her and she’ll list her favorite designers and heaps praise on the costume designer, Pat Field — but she does know how to put it in perspective. “I think [personal style] should be an extension of your personality. I hate it when you see, because there are so many fads coming out, everybody kind of follows the newest fad because it seems to be safer in that way. There’s a kind of conception that this dress, this new dress looks great, even if you hate it, people tend to follow it. And I don’t like that, because it seems
Remaining true to herself was also important when it came to the role, which was originally meant to be spoken with an American accent. “I know she was supposed to be cast American, but I thought it would be funny. There’s something incredibly irritating, actually, about a highly strung, overly pronounced British accent, and patronizing, and I thought it would work, and so I really fought for it, and I know [director] David Frankel thought it was funnier that way. So I’m glad I went with my gut on it.”
It might have also had something to do with a fear of speaking in an American accent. “The accent’s pretty hard! I think every Brit thinks they can do an American. And they can’t.”
Unfortunately, her next film required it, an old-fashioned horror story called Wind Chill. It co-stars Ashton Holmes of A History of Violence. “Clooney and Soderbergh are producing. It’s a thriller, a horror. I don’t want to make it out to be blood-and-guts; it’s far more reminiscent of The Shining. It’s very chilling, but it’s also a love story, and there’s tragedy in it.”
Probably not much fashion, though. After months of being squeezed into fashionable but tiny dresses, what did Blunt learn? “Never eat a big lunch,” she says. Ideally, that is. “The food on set — I’m such a sucker for it. I don’t pass on a snack on set. They’ll hand around little chicken drumsticks, I’m like, I’m there.”
