Dear Gossips,
There’s a lot to unpack in Emily Blunt and John Krasinski’s joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter, beyond the fact that they are irresistibly ADORABLE together. And that shot of them where they’re walking on a rooftop somewhere in New York, his arm around her neck, and she’s in a gorgeous striped coat over cinnamon colour leather pants, is basically my dream photo.
Though they’ve tried to keep their careers separate, what happened this year is that their careers happened to ignite at the same time – first because of the success of A Quiet Place, for which they’re Oscar campaigning, which is one of the goals of this feature, and then because of Mary Poppins Returns. And this is where I want to focus right now. Because this is Emily’s big swing.
Not that we didn’t know her. Not that we haven’t very much enjoyed her work. But as it’s made clear in the article, this is the moment. Mary Poppins Returns will make Emily Blunt into a major Movie Star. And, perhaps, she’s timed it this way all along:
Blunt has steadily worked toward this high-stakes role, in parts as disparate as a futuristic military mascot nicknamed "Full Metal Bitch" in Edge of Tomorrow, the warm-hearted, Stephen Sondheim-singing Baker's Wife in Into the Woods and the broken-hearted alcoholic hot mess in The Girl on the Train. "She's ready for it," (Rob) Marshall says, of Blunt's Poppins pressure. "It's happening at age 35, not age 25. This is her time. She knows how to protect herself and when to step away."
What I like about this is that nobody’s walking around pretending like, you know, she just couldn’t say no to the part because she owed it to her creative self to explore the limits of what was possible – which is true… but it’s not the only thing. The other thing is ambition. She wants this. She wants that spotlight, the biggest spotlight. And she’s not just stepping into it, she’s stomping into it. We’re only just now beginning to see the strategy behind it, the planning, the calculation, the work that went into getting here. It’s been a decade of carefully calibrated choices, thinking six or seven moves ahead. She saw the full picture all along.
Mary Poppins Returns opens today. The reviews have been solid, not amazing, but every critic agrees that Emily Blunt is magnificent. She’s already been nominated for a Golden Globe, two Critics’ Choice awards, and two SAG awards too. It’s looking better and better for her at the Oscars too, especially within the actors branch of the Academy. They’ll appreciate more than most the degree of difficulty in her performance. And, remember, she is very, very well liked.
More on Emily later today.
Click here to read the full THR piece on Emily and John Krasinski that also includes the full version of them answering questions from the fishbowl. Whatever it is they’re selling, I’m buying.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey