Oscar nominee Emily Blunt opens up about owing her career to The Devil Wears Prada ahead of next year’s much-anticipated sequel – as well as the acting royalty who had cross words with her
Emily Blunt says The Devil Wears Prada, the second film she ever made, changed the course of her entire life. As the mother of two prepares to return for the much-anticipated sequel, she confessed it had been “terribly moving” to reprise the iconic role of Emily Charlton, Miranda Priestly’s first assistant, which she first played in 2006.
The ELLE Women in Hollywood honoree said, “It’s terribly moving. Because it changed everything. David Frankel [the director] changed my life by casting me when I was an unknown. In the interview with ELLE she added, “I’d been working, but no one knew who I was, and he was so sure that he wanted me in the movie, from a taped reading. That meant a huge amount to me.”
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Of the iconic Emily, the 42 year old called her “a ludicrous character” – but in the best way. ““It did leave the door open for people to see me as more than a British period drama girl. It paved the way for character roles, which is all I wanted. I didn’t want to be an ingenue. I was curious to explore an entire bag of tricks.”
Opening up on why the global Box office hit – set in a bitchy fashion magazine office in New York, and now a West End musical – is still so loved almost two decades on, she said, “The movie now is like a nostalgia bank for people. They’ve watched it with a sick parent; they’ve watched it when they go through a breakup. It has been a source of comfort and escapism.
“What starts off as a comedy—with the shock factor of the things they say, how they say them, and the ruthless nature of the fashion industry—then turns into something much more poignant and deep”
Blunt, who would go on to earn her first Oscar nomination in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer as the nuclear physicist;s wife, also revealed that the scrutiny women come under is the ‘worst part’ of Hollywood. “I try to let it be like white noise. But I’m not immune to it. Also, don’t Google yourself. It’s a slippery slope.”
But the actress, who is married to fellow A Quiet Place star John Krasinski, learned one of her greatest lessons from another strong female – Dame Judi Dench, who she starred with in her first play aged 18, admitting working with the acting legend was ‘so magical’.
“She was really the lily pad to everything else. She was so kind to me, and even though I was the only person under the age of 50 in that cast,I felt like one of the gang… I saw someone at the very top of their game, one of the most revered actors around, and I saw how much humor was injected into every day.
She also remembers the day she annoyed her after coming in the morning after a night on the town. “I was wildly hungover and I almost didn’t make curtain call for the matinee. I remember her saying, “No, darling. No, never.” I almost shit myself and I’ve never been late again.”
Source: Mirror
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