Emily Blunt – Before A Quiet Place

     December 2015                   By Philip Berk

Emily Blunt is such an timeless beauty, it’s hard to believe that in the the ten years since we first met her in The Devil Wears Prada, for which she won the Golden Globe, she’s made — believe it or not — 25  films, most of them forgettable. 

But four stand out: Young Victoria, Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, and Into the Woods. 

And now she’s playing the complex Girl on the Train, based on the novel which has sold 15 million copies worldwide, and after that she’ll be devoting eight months to a remake of Mary Poppins.

Her personal life has been equally productive.

Married to actor John Krasinski, they have two beautiful daughters, the youngest two months.

In New York for the film’s junket she’s as relaxed as ever the epitome of unaffected professionalism.

Not only is she married to an actor, her brother is an actor, and her sister is married to her Devil Wears Prada costar Stanley Tucci (she introduced them.) 

Knowing that her father is a practicing barrister, I wondered how he’s adjusted to his newly acquired theatrical clan.

Getting my drift she smiles broadly.

My father defends criminals for a living, so I am sure he feels that he is the biggest actor in the family. Cause he literally lives a lie every day, and most of the people he defends are usually guilty.  And so I don’t know. I think it makes him laugh. We are very good at charades. It’s loud and boisterous. Although I am sure he would prefer not to be known as Emily Blunt’s father, and he would like to be known as Oliver Blunt in his own right. We like to tease him about that, but it’s wonderful because the conversation is the most bubbling, ongoing joyous thing when we all get together and it’s loud, very loud.

After accepting the role in Girl on the Train you found out you were pregnant, why did you choose to hide it?

It was a week before we started shooting.  So I was like, this will be interesting — you can hide it for a great deal of time, but I think the first twelve weeks, as everybody mother knows, is frightening and you hope everything is going to be okay. It was only when Justin Theroux, who is my dear friend, took me aside because I was being a bit wussy about some of the stunts, and remarked, “You did Edge of Tomorrow, what is wrong with you?  Are you pregnant?”  I was like yes!  Don’t tell anybody!  So he guessed and  because we had quite a few tussles in the film. he had to be careful about what he couldn’t do in those scenes.  

And even the director wasn’t told?

We started shooting in October and I didn’t tell him until January, and then only because I was really showing by then. We were doing a scene in the bathtub, and I was like, you are going to have to shoot this from behind, and this is why, and he was like. Oh my God!  He had no idea. 

What attracted you to the part?

I thought, in a broader sense, this was so unusual to have your protagonist be a blackout, totally raging alcoholic, and for her to be a woman in a mainstream film. Roles for women certainly in the mainstream environment, usually require you to be likable or pretty or witty. Men don’t have those same constraints when it comes to the types of roles they are offered. So it was such a rarity to read a script like this, and such an exciting prospect. So that was a huge draw for me.

You’ve been working almost nonstop for the past few years. Will you continue to do so with a growing family to look after?

I am now very much aware and conscious about what I want to put out there and when I want to work. It has to be very emotionally worth it  and I have to love it, because as you say I have children at very tender ages and there’s that juggle to contend with.  

Was having a second baby easier?

I think you are more relaxed the second time around.  

Will you be trying for a boy now?

I am thrilled with my girls, thrilled.  

And John?

He is from a family of all boys. He is thrilled, he is thrilled with all girls.

So what have are you learning from your kids?

I think you rediscover life through their eyes.  You will never laugh as much until you have a kid and you rediscover a bit of wonderment about the world and everything about it, from a skyscraper to how blue the sky is. It’s a voyage of discovery, isn’t it? It’s like your heart walks around outside of you, So yeah, I am rediscovering more of life through their eyes.

Besides the physical demands, the role was emotionally challenging. And being pregnant didn’t make it any easier, I’m sure.

Fortunately for me, when I work, I have a real detachment from my own life, from the person that I am playing. The two have a kind of bright line between them, and they don’t really blur over. The only real challenge for me was the first trimester when you’re tire easily, but maybe in some ways my fragile state helped. John thought I looked like a ghoul, (she jokes.) But I had a long car ride to the set to prep and a long car ride home to shed the skin.

Working with a director who has a special rapport with women — Tate Taylor had guided three actresses to Oscar nominations for The Help  —  was that a plus?

Yeah. I think I have been lucky. I have worked with quite a few directors who have a profound understanding of women and are interested with what you can bring to the table. Tate is a collaborator. On the set it was always, the best idea would win, no matter who it came from. And so between him and the cinematographer, the three of us would very often just come in and hash it out.  And everyone had a very spirited opinion.   Tate is unaffected by that. He doesn’t have that ego of wanting it to be his way. 

Initially he wanted you to put on a little weight for the role. What happened there? 

In the book, it was such a central thing that she was gaining weight. I’ve never been asked to gain weight for any role I have done. So with this one I said to Tate, Do you want me to gain some weight?  No. That wasn’t what he wanted. “I don’t think that should be the focus.” He felt the only way she should let herself go should be a mental thing that you see it in the skin and the hair and the eyes and the unhappiness that kind of resonates off the face. So he wasn’t concerned with the weight gain.

Even after the birth of your second child, you seem really good at weight management.

I happen to be from a family of twig people. So I feel lucky, and it’s a sort of genetic thing. But I am not somebody who strives to maintain a certain inch. That is not my main focus, thank God. 

 How excited are you about playing Mary Poppins?

I  have a Mary Poppins right now helping me with my own children, We call her our Irish Mary Poppins, Tina, who is incredible. So when  (director) Rob Marshall called me, he left a sort of ceremonious message on my phone and I was like Oh my God, what is this about? It was a very cryptic message. So I called him back, and as soon as he uttered the name Mary Poppins — it’s such a sensory name that conjures up so many nostalgic memories for people —  I was filled with a mix of frozen with fear and so excited. What a gift of a character. And so because she is so iconic and so emblematic for so many people, I just have to try to do my own version of her, I have found the books really helpful in discovering a new way, or my way of playing her. It’s going to be a very long process. We rehearse for two months, and then we pre-record, and then we shoot for four or five months. It will be like an eight month process. 

Did you ever meet Julie Andrews? 

I met her years ago actually, at this event and she was really lovely to me. But actually I have a story I’ve never told anyone before, which is about four years ago, John and I were in Ojai, and we went to this little farmer’s market, and there was a woman who had made beautiful little art pieces out of flowers and seeds and leaves — it was the most incredible, intricate, beautiful images in these little art pieces. And we bought one of Mary Poppins. And this was way before I had children or any idea this would happen. And it’s sitting at the top of our stairs now. 

You’ve changed your hairstyle. Is that for a role?

No, I just fancied a change. I love changing my hair.  

Do you feel pressure to look a certain way, which is problem for so many women. And could eventually impact your five and eight year olds ? 

It definitely worries me, and that was a big part of us deciding to move to New York. The biggest star in New York is New York itself. It’s a city that is not bogged down in a look or being too superficial or looking too perfect. It feels more grounded here for two girls.

John told us you live in New York rather than Los Angeles because of the proximity to London. 

That is true, but in New York you are just bombarded with the what if’s in life. In LA you can become isolated; you are in your car, and you are in your house, and you know this circle of friends. You don’t meet new people, and you don’t brush up against strangers in the street. I am always open to meeting new people, and New York is where it happens.

What do you miss most about London?

There’s an attitude in English people I miss, a sort of irreverence and shoulder shrugging attitude that I miss when I am in America. And I miss the pubs and the really soggy chips from a fish and chips shop. Of course I have Marmite everywhere in my house. I am still trying to persuade John that it’s a good thing, but he is like, it’s yeast. You are talking about yeast extract. He is like, I will never eat that.  

Is there anything you’ve leaned from making this movie?

Yes, that women are quite often a bit judgmental of each other. It’s a social currency to talk about each other, the ins and outs of someone’s marriage or the demise of their marriage, or the fact that they can’t have children. It’s sort of a tantalizing subject. And I think because it’s so personal to us, it’s something that we all want to know about each other. But I think it can make women defensive of their choices. I think we can be a little hard on each other when it comes to the domestic environment.