Emily Blunt Says There Are “Rumblings” For ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Sequel; Sings Praises Of Oscar Contender ‘Emilia Pérez’ & Joy Of Awards Season With ‘Oppenheimer’
Emily Blunt has hinted that a sequel to 2006 hit The Devil Wears Prada, reuniting her with key cast Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci, could be in the cards.
“There’s rumblings, there’s stuff churning around, but I don’t know if I can confirm anything completely… but we would be all delighted to work together again,” said Blunt, in response to question on a potential sequel in a conversation event at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival.
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Looking back at that early period in her career, Blunt said the success of the film and the impact it had on her trajectory as an actor had been unexpected.
“I just didn’t know anything back then. I remember my agent calling me on the opening weekend and saying, “It made this’. I was like, ‘Is that good?’ When we were filming it, we were weeping with laughter every day. We thought we were making something funny… but I didn’t know that it would become this thing that would catch fire in the way that it did… it’s quoted to me every week now.”
Blunt suggested her role as Emily Charlton, the scheming senior assistant of toxic fashion publication editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Streep) had changed perceptions of her as an actress.
“Playing that character, who was so insane, it paved the way for people to see me more as a character actor rather than someone who should just be in period drama… a lot of British people are just subjected to wearing a garnet or a crown at some point.”
The A Quiet Place and Sicario star was talking ahead of receiving an honorary career award at the festival’s opening night ceremony later on Thursday.
She is among a raft of stars touching down at the festival, running from December 5 to 14 in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, alongside Michael Douglas, Michelle Yeoh, Catherine Zeta Jones, Eva Longoria, Andrew Garfield, Ranbir Kapoor, Cynthia Erivo, Brendan Fraser, Shraddha Kapoor, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeremy Renner
Quizzed on whether there was a genre or type of film she had yet to appear in and would like to tackle in the future, Blunt replied: “I’m always looking for a genre that can carve out a new space for itself in some way, like something hasn’t been seen before.”
“I just saw Emilia Pérez. I just couldn’t believe what I was watching. And you can’t call it a musical… it’s a completely singular experience,” she continued, referring to the musical film which is enjoying a buzzy awards seasons run.
The actor also talked about her own experiences on the awards trail with multi-Oscar winning drama Oppenheimer, saying it had been a challenging but joyous time.
“Honestly, I could talk about the challenges of it and being on parade like that, but ultimately, because of the movie and the cast, it was so joyful. Robert Downey Jr., he made everything so sparkly and fun and silly. We knew we were in one of those indelible films, and when you know that, you’re so proud to be there. It’s a bit of a blur, but I remember joy over any challenge.”
Blunt also talked briefly about her new film, Benny Safdie’s biopic The Smashing Machine about legendary MMA fighter Mark Kerr, played by Dwayne Johnson, and in which she is the tortured sportsman’s girlfriend and then wife.
She said Johnson was unrecognizable in his role as Kerr. “It’s an incredibly intense film, centered around the life of this real-life MMA fighter, Mark Kerr, all of his struggles with addictions, these relationships. And it was an incredibly immersive, very intense, very emotional experience to do it, and he’s extraordinary in it.”
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