Emily Blunt brought the star power to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, the first day of the fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF), discussing her career, including the Oppenheimer awards season run, a possible ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ sequel and working with her husband on A Quiet Place during an “In Conversation With” session.
The British actress, who has won a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well a nomination for an Academy Award and four BAFTA Film Awards nominations, entertained the crowd for more than an hour and provided deep industry insights.
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Her actress mother had four kids and had to give up her acting dream to some degree, Blunt recalled. “The industry can be hard on people. You need a helmet for it,” the star emphasized.
She also shared that “I was quite a shy kid” with a stutter, but creative work helps as “an unlocking system.” That is why she now helps children with stutters.
Discussing how she approaches roles, Blunt said she still starts out unsure how to play a new character but has come to like that feeling and challenge. “Every time I am scared, I probably get used to the idea that I get there somehow,” she said. “The key for me is to work with people who collaborate” and are open and interested in what you bring to the table.
Discussing her experience with Oppenheimer, Blunt lauded Christopher Nolan for being so collaborative, which she said isn’t always the case with writers-directors given they often have a very specific vision in their heads, and noting that “he has changed the face of cinema.” Asked about the “Barbenheimer” moniker during the big box office run of Barbie and Oppenheimer, she said a studio should hire the person who first came up with the word. “You should see both,” she said about the two films, lauding Oppenheimer as “indelible.”
Blunt also lauded the amazing skill and work of Cillian Murphy, whom she called a dear friend, and Robert Downey Jr., whom she said she also loves. The actress also joked that Murphy deserves an Imax camera pointed at him so much. “He is the last person who should be famous,” Blunt also quipped. “He is so crap at it.”
Among other lovely experiences she mentioned Thursday, she recalled an early stage experience with Dame Judi Dench, she told the audience: “She is so graceful and silly and warm.”
Blunt’s first movie, which got her noticed, was Pawel Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love, which was largely improvised, posing another challenge. “He’d say ‘talk about Nietzsche,'” the actress recalled and thinking: “I don’t know anything about Nietzsche.”
Blunt got a big round of applause when asked about The Devil Wars Prada, recalling how she got informed about the opening weekend box office only to ask if that was a good number. Asked about the lasting legacy of the movie for her, she said that it was not only the first of several collaborations with Meryl Streep, but also still echoes today as co-star Stanley Tucci is her brother-in-law since marrying her sister Felicity.
Asked about a possible The Devil Wears Prada sequel, Blunt told the crowd: “There (are) rumblings. There is stuff churning around. But I don’t know if I can confirm anything. But we would all be delighted.”
Of course, A Quiet Place was also a key talking point. “I was a little nervous to work with him,” meaning husband and actor, writer, producer and director John Krasinski (The Office). She loved the script and found it so unusual with a simple, intriguing premise though. Blunt initially suggested a friend for her role but the friend laughed, and the star ended up taking it on herself. “The reaction was crazy. I remember it was like a rock concert.” She concluded: “It was this meteoric thing that none of us had expected.”
Krasinski can write without interruption and food for eight hours, Blunt quipped. “He’ll think about it for weeks, story-boards it and then writes it in a week,” she added. “So he is often in a cave” during that part of the creative process.
What roles does she look for? “I would like not to repeat myself. I’d like to find out how many crazy people I have inside of me,” the star shared Thursday, adding that she is looking for “unique voices” and “bold, wild ideas” in scripts that allow for real world-building. She prefers to play people who are “way in over their head” than characters who have all the answers.
The actress highlighted that her characters have at times been particularly different from her real life, mentioning that “I played a raging alcoholic” in The Girl on the Train when she was pregnant with one of her children.
“Complete terror” was her reaction when she was asked to play Mary Poppins, Blunt recalled. She prepared by reading Poppins rather than rewatching the classic film. She found that the written character is “incredibly rude and vain and funny” and “acerbic,” which “gave me a different angle on her” to depart from the beloved work of Julie Andrews in the role.
Blunt also drew laughs when she at one point looked out into the audience, saying with a big smile: “Oh my god, there is someone dressed as Mary Poppins. I just saw the hat.” When Blunt first came onto the stage, the packed audience gave her a large ovation.
Could she play a Marvel or DC superhero? Blunt said she would never rule out anything but “I always thought Mary Poppins was my superhero.” She explained: “She’s magical, she flies, she’s perfect. I’m always open, of course, but I’ve never ventured into the comic book realm or superhero realm. But I’m always open.”
Asked by a young boy when he can see a Jungle Cruise sequel, Blunt quipped: “I need you to put a call in to Bob Iger at Disney.” The boy replied that he didn’t have the Disney CEO’s number, to which the actress responded with a smile that she would have to organize it for him. And she shared: “We would love to do it.”
“We” included Dwayne Johnson, she hinted, sharing that she just did a “very intense” movie with her Jungle Cruise co-star, The Smashing Machine, in which she said the professional wrestler-turned-movie star is “unrecognizable,” cautioning that the boy would have to wait until he is older to watch this upcoming movie.
During the session, Blunt also noted that she is producing more films but said she doesn’t know if she wants to write a full film or direct, even though she enjoys tweaking scenes.
Asked about the difference between Hollywood and British film sets, the star offered that British productions feel less hierarchical, with everyone chipping in any way they can.
Blunt also shared that she just saw Jacques Audiard’s awards season contender Emilia Pérez, telling the Jeddah audience: “I just couldn’t believe what I was watching.” Arguing that “you can’t call it a musical,” she concluded: “It’s a completely singular experience.”
The actress is one of several big Hollywood names set for the fourth edition of RSIFF. Others include Viola Davis, Michelle Yeoh, Andrew Garfield, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Nick Jonas, and jury president Spike Lee.
RSIFF 2024 will formally kick off with the Thursday evening opening night gala screening of Karim Shenawi’sThe Tale of Daye’s Family, which tells “the story of an 11-year-old Nubian albino with a beautiful voice who faces adversity due to his unique appearance,” according to a synopsis. “Abandoned by his father and bullied by his peers, he dreams of following in the footsteps of his idol, singer and actor Mohamed Mounir. When he gets a chance to audition forThe Voice, Daye and his family embark on a perilous journey from Aswan to Cairo.”
