Emily Blunt shot to fame in her role as Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada alongside Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway back in 2006.
And since then she has seen her star rise working on Charlie Wilson's War, Dan in Real Life and now The Young Victoria, which follows the early reign of Queen Victoria and her relationship with Albert.
So on the set of her new film Emily talking about her regal role.
So, lots of sitting around today...
Lots of sitting... Yes, which is rather nice actually if you’re in a corset. That’s a relief. It’s a big relief. I’m quite overheated though with all these layers. The big cloak is like carrying a bear on my shoulders so that’s interesting.
What about the crown?
The crown has left a dent in my head which they just cover with make-up so I don’t look frightening to you. But it’s remarkably heavy.
I notice someone rushes up and takes it off your head between set-ups.
Yeah, they do. It starts to wobble so I have to make everything very slow.
How have you found playing Victoria?
It’s wonderful. It’s exciting, it’s a challenge to say the least. She was a remarkable girl and so of course you want to do her justice. And there’s a big journey to play with her from this young, rather stubborn teenager to a rather magnetic queen very much in command of herself.
It’s a big arc to find and particularly when you shoot out of order, it’s tricky to maintain that. But I’m loving her. I’d read a lot about her before I did this and, contrary to popular belief, she was when she was younger a feisty and emotional and intelligent, vibrant person.
I think that people mistake her for being this widowed, mourning queen. So it’s exciting that we’re going to refresh people’s opinion of Victoria in this.
Wasn’t she quite oppressed by her mother when she was young?
She was. She had a very isolated childhood and, you know, she wasn’t allowed any friends, or the friends had to be interrogated before they were allowed to meet her. She led such a secluded life and wasn’t allowed her own bedroom, had to sleep in the same room as her mother til she was 18, couldn’t walk down stairs without someone holding her hand. I mean, just so awful!
So no wonder she made this stubborn burst for freedom when she became queen and made some mistakes, these silly, reckless mistakes because she was finally independent of everyone.
And it was probably frightening to put a young girl who’d lived in her imagination in that position. So Albert came in and she needed him; he was her greatest achievement, I think.
And he came in with his very Teutonic ways and sort of reeled in some of that emotion so that they became this very successful couple. But she wouldn’t have been the success she was without him.
We’ve also heard she had a very close relationship with dolls...
With dolls! [laughs] There’s quite a bit of playing with dolls so I’m going back to my Barbie days in this film!
What was it like to be chosen for the role? Especially with this film being funded by an American company
Well, I think the British would have been up in arms if they’d put an American in this part. But still, there are much bigger English actresses out there than me and I pretty much just demanded that they cast me in the role. Or pleaded first but then demanded... And it seemed to work.
Maybe there was something quite queenly in that [laughs] commanding them to choose me please! But I do feel the weight of responsibility and I certainly did right at the beginning.
It was frightening, the thought of playing her. And then as soon as you start, the nerves dissipate a bit. But it is a big responsibility and I’m really tired but I’m really enjoying it still.
Did you watch other Queen Victoria performances prior to arriving on set?
I watched Judi Dench do Mrs. Brown. Her queen was great; her Victoria was still quite vibrant and feisty even though she was deeply unhappy. So that was helpful. And also I just read everything I could on her.
I’ve also read her diaries, have seen letters that she wrote. And you can hear her voice, you know, this rather emphatic way of talking and underlining words as if she can’t stress them enough. You can hear how emotional she was. Horrible temper. Terrible temper!
Yes we’ve heard. Don’t you end up chasing Albert around the palace?
Yeah, and he would just shut the door on her and she’d keep chasing him around slamming the door.
Have you shot those scenes?
Yep, we’ve done that. I nearly lost my voice that day. [laughs] Screeched myself senseless.
Everyone has a visual image of Victoria when she was older. Do you feel your face is similar to her’s when she was younger?
Well, I’ve heard she wasn’t really a looker so... [laughs] Oh god, I hope not. No, I think we are fairly similar. We both have these rather hooded eyes and similar colouring. She liked to eat as well and I do eat like a truck-driver but I think I have a better metabolism than she did.
Actually the prime minister said to her at one point, 'Maam, you must try to eat only when you’re hungry.' And she said,'Well, I’m always hungry.' So she’s screwed.
How is it working with Rupert Friend as Albert?
Oh, he’s wonderful. He’s just perfectly cast, impeccable, and has morphed into this character completely and read everything, did a lot of research in a very short space of time. I just couldn’t have asked for a better guy.
And you can believe him he has a kind of gravitas so that you believe this guy would come in and help her, almost take over, almost become her superior in the relationship. He was the only one out of all of the actors that I read with that I would believe could do that.
Their’s is an amazing love story.
Wonderful. They were deeply in love. They had nine kids for god’s sake, they must have been! And they were passionate about each other. It was partly why they had the blazing fights because they could and because she was safe to do that because he would always be by her side. Always.
How are you finding the gowns?
I hate the corset. Over it. So over it. Every day I have to wear it. They put it on me in the morning then they loosen it off for lunch, and then it’s painful to get back into it again after a big meal. But they are beautiful but I think if one more person steps on my train, I might swing some punches.
The Young Victoria is released 6th March
Emily Blunt shot to fame in her role as Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada alongside Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway back in 2006.
And since then she has seen her star rise working on Charlie Wilson's War, Dan in Real Life and now The Young Victoria, which follows the early reign of Queen Victoria and her relationship with Albert.
So on the set of her new film Emily talking about her regal role.
So, lots of sitting around today...
Lots of sitting... Yes, which is rather nice actually if you’re in a corset. That’s a relief. It’s a big relief. I’m quite overheated though with all these layers. The big cloak is like carrying a bear on my shoulders so that’s interesting.
What about the crown?
The crown has left a dent in my head which they just cover with make-up so I don’t look frightening to you. But it’s remarkably heavy.
I notice someone rushes up and takes it off your head between set-ups.
Yeah, they do. It starts to wobble so I have to make everything very slow.
How have you found playing Victoria?
It’s wonderful. It’s exciting, it’s a challenge to say the least. She was a remarkable girl and so of course you want to do her justice. And there’s a big journey to play with her from this young, rather stubborn teenager to a rather magnetic queen very much in command of herself.
It’s a big arc to find and particularly when you shoot out of order, it’s tricky to maintain that. But I’m loving her. I’d read a lot about her before I did this and, contrary to popular belief, she was when she was younger a feisty and emotional and intelligent, vibrant person.
I think that people mistake her for being this widowed, mourning queen. So it’s exciting that we’re going to refresh people’s opinion of Victoria in this.
Wasn’t she quite oppressed by her mother when she was young?
She was. She had a very isolated childhood and, you know, she wasn’t allowed any friends, or the friends had to be interrogated before they were allowed to meet her. She led such a secluded life and wasn’t allowed her own bedroom, had to sleep in the same room as her mother til she was 18, couldn’t walk down stairs without someone holding her hand. I mean, just so awful!
So no wonder she made this stubborn burst for freedom when she became queen and made some mistakes, these silly, reckless mistakes because she was finally independent of everyone.
And it was probably frightening to put a young girl who’d lived in her imagination in that position. So Albert came in and she needed him; he was her greatest achievement, I think.
And he came in with his very Teutonic ways and sort of reeled in some of that emotion so that they became this very successful couple. But she wouldn’t have been the success she was without him.
We’ve also heard she had a very close relationship with dolls...
With dolls! [laughs] There’s quite a bit of playing with dolls so I’m going back to my Barbie days in this film!
What was it like to be chosen for the role? Especially with this film being funded by an American company
Well, I think the British would have been up in arms if they’d put an American in this part. But still, there are much bigger English actresses out there than me and I pretty much just demanded that they cast me in the role. Or pleaded first but then demanded... And it seemed to work.
Maybe there was something quite queenly in that [laughs] commanding them to choose me please! But I do feel the weight of responsibility and I certainly did right at the beginning.
It was frightening, the thought of playing her. And then as soon as you start, the nerves dissipate a bit. But it is a big responsibility and I’m really tired but I’m really enjoying it still.
Tagged in The Young Victoria