Moviefone Editorial

Tag: emily-blunt

  • Jessica Chastain Marries Into Italian Aristocracy in Star-Studded Wedding

    US-ENTERTAINMENT-OSCARS-FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM AWARD RECEPTIONJust call her Countess Jessica Passi de Preposulo– even if she’ll never call herself that, officially.

    Jessica Chastain married Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo this past weekend at his family’s Italian estate north of Venice. According to People, the Passi de Preposulo family is one of the most noble in Italy, dating back to the year 973. (And they make their own prosecco.) The family still reportedly uses their count and countess titles, even though the Italian aristocracy is no longer recognized by the government. It’s still a cool name-only title.

    The wedding had a seriously swanky guest list, including Chastain’s friends and co-stars Edgar Ramirez, of “Zero Dark Thirty,” Anne Hathaway of “Interstellar,” and Emily Blunt of “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

    Check out People’s wedding photos, showing Chastain’s beautiful dress and her arriving guests.

    Jessica’s new husband works in high fashion, currently for the French fashion brand Moncler. Chastain is usually very private about her personal life, but she has posted a few loving shots with her man in the five years they’ve reportedly been together.

    So happy to be together on your birthday! ❤ Thankful for real life. ❤

    A post shared by Jessica Chastain (@jessicachastain) on

    ????Some things are worth the wait???? @preposulo #happyvalentinesday

    A post shared by Jessica Chastain (@jessicachastain) on

    A royal congratulations to the newlyweds!

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  • Doug Liman Reveals the Real Reason He’s Making an ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ Sequel

    Director Doug Liman‘s latest film, the incredibly tense wartime thriller “The Wall,” opens this weekend and is very much worth checking out. But while I was talking to the wonderfully talented filmmaker about his new film, we had to ask about a potential sequel to “Edge of Tomorrow,” his jaw-dropping 2014 sci-fi masterpiece that starred Tom Cruise as a cowardly grunt who, thanks to some alien goop, relives the same bloody beachside battle over and over and over again. It’s like “Groundhog Day” with automatic weapons and, despite a modest box office haul, has gained a sizable cult following. Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has spoken about returning to the alien-infested well, and so we had to ask about the status of the sequel.

    “Chris and I came up with a great story that I love. We normally never do a sequel. I might produce it, like with ‘Bourne,’ but for me to direct a sequel, it’s got to be better than the original,” Liman explained. “And we’ve got a story that passes the litmus test for me of how I decide whether or not I’ll make a movie which is every one of my friends knows the story of this movie because I’ve told it at every dinner party. I just like telling the story. It’s so cool and so funny and so sharp and wicked. I constantly find myself telling the story. So I’m like, I’ve got to make the movie so I don’t have to tell the story over and over again. And ‘Swingers,’ I was telling the story before I made it, ‘The Wall’ I’m telling the story before I make it. The movies I end up making are the ones that I am compelled to tell over and over again with words first.”

    As I was leaving the room I asked if everyone, including Cruise and Emily Blunt (who is absolutely terrific in the first film), would be returning, and he said yes. Then, he said, “It’s going to be really cool.” Cannot wait.

    If you need your Liman fix, “The Wall” is in theaters this week.

  • The ‘Sicario’ Sequel Dropped Emily Blunt & Apparently Never Explained Why

    The word “Sicario” means hitman, and it sounds like Emily Blunt was the latest target. She starred in the 2015 movie with Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin, and they were all reported to be be returning for the sequel, titled “Soldado.” Then, in June, it was reported that Blunt’s FBI agent Kate Macer was dropped.

    What happened?

    Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan recently explained the decision to TheWrap, and the way he described it sounds like he still owes Emily Blunt a conversation on the topic. Maybe she’ll even hear the explanation for the first time by reading his interview? Or maybe she heard and just doesn’t accept his reasoning — that he couldn’t come up with a next chapter, even after she had signed on to return.

    Here’s what Sheridan told TheWrap, when asked why Blunt would no longer star in the sequel:

    “That was my decision, and at some point I’m going to have to talk to her about it. Her arc was complete … I couldn’t figure out a way to write a character that would do her talent justice. Look what she went through. It was a difficult role. Here I write this lead character and then I use her as a surrogate for the audience. I make her completely passive against her own will so the audience feels the same impotence that a lot of law enforcement officers feel, I drag her through hell, and betray her in the end. It was an arduous journey for the character, and for Emily. That character had arc.

    What do you do next? She moves to some little town and becomes a sheriff and then gets kidnapped and then we have ‘Taken?’ I had to tell the story that was true to this role, and I didn’t feel like I could create something with that character that would further that world that would do Emily’s character justice. That said, there could be room for Kate somewhere else down the road.”

    So he couldn’t figure out how to write a follow-up for the character — which is more on him than the character, since there was certainly an opportunity to take that passive, betrayed Kate and show her decision to continue and attempt to regain control, even within the same world. That could’ve been a continuation of her unfinished arc. No need to head to a small town and kidnap her.At any rate, Sheridan did find roles for several other guys from “Sicario,” including Jeffrey Donovan (Steve Forsing), who talked to Collider about “Soldado”:

    “I know I was in it, but as a fan of ‘Sicario,’ I can’t believe they’re making another one, which is so awesome. And I’m in it, which is even more awesome. I thought ‘Sicario’ was one of the best films, in the last five years, that I’ve seen. I really believe that. I was just lucky to be in a small portion of it. The story picks up with the same male characters that were in Sicario, which was Josh [Brolin] and Benicio [Del Toro]. Emily Blunt’s character is not in it, but my character, Forsing, is also brought back. It focuses on these three characters now, going down into Mexico to basically start a war, on purpose, between the rival Mexican cartels. There’s a bigger reason for it, but that’s the beginning of the movie.”

    Donovan added that “Soldado” is “more of a stand-alone spinoff” than a sequel or a prequel. “It really is yet another examination told from this male point of view, rather than from a female point of view. It’s pretty cool.”

    In addition to Blunt being dropped, director Denis Villeneuve is also gone, with Stefano Sollima stepping in as director. There’s no official release date yet for “Soldado” but it’s expected in 2017.

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  • ‘Girl on the Train’ Star Haley Bennett Gets Why You Keep Comparing Her New Movie to ‘Gone Girl’

    In “The Magnificent Seven,” Haley Bennett played the frontier woman who hires Denzel Washington to avenge her husband’s death. In “The Girl on the Train,” she plays Megan, a woman with a seemingly perfect life who goes missing and now her husband (Luke Evans), her neighbor and former employer (Rebecca Ferguson), and a voyeuristic train rider Rachel [Emily Blunt] are all suspects.

    Both roles boost Bennett’s profile significantly in 2016, making her the next “one to watch” in Hollywood. The actress talked to Moviefone about her complex character in “Train,” the similarities to “Gone Girl,” and shooting her new movie’s infamous shower scene.

    Moviefone: Which was harder to film — “Magnificent Seven” or “Girl on the Train”?

    Haley Bennett: “Magnificent Seven” was a really physical role and there was a lot of action and then this is a psychological thriller and a very emotional roller coaster.

    Had you read the book?

    Yes, I read the book prior to knowing anything about the film or the fact that it was a huge phenomenon.

    Did you have a fave character when you were reading it?

    I think the reason I liked the book so much was because I liked all of the characters. All three of the women had strong personalities and I think I’m drawn to all of their stories.Megan (HALEY BENNETT) and Tom (JUSTIN THEROUX) in DreamWorks Pictures’ THE GIRL ON A TRAIN. ©Storyteller Distribution Co. CR: Barry Wetcher.What did you think of the comparisons to “Gone Girl?”

    Obviously, it’s a female-driven thriller much like “Gone Girl” and there’s the title, of course. No denying that [Laughs]. And they both explore the underbelly of domestic life. It’s easy to draw comparisons, I liked Gillian Flynn and I liked “Gone Girl” and there was a parallel that I could identify with, which was that Amy seemed like the perfect woman with the perfect life, but in reality she was a very complicated character.

    And Megan also looks like she has the perfect life from the outside, but she has a lot of secrets.

    Yeah, Megan seems to be the perfect wife and have the perfect life, but she has a terrible secret that she’s carried around for 10 years. She has an enormous amount of guilt and she hasn’t told a soul her secret. Usually you can tell one person, I can’t imagine holding onto a secret like that for so long. It was shocking for me when I discovered what it was and I can’t imagine not telling anyone.

    I talked to Luke earlier and he said you both got drunk before your shower scene.

    There’s scenes that we filmed which were more observations from Rachel’s point of view [from the train]. So there’s a scene where we’re drinking wine outside and we’re having a fire and we’re enjoying ourselves. I think it’s supposed to create a sense of separation between Rachel and any relationship she’s had — create more of a void for her. So they’re carrying on and enjoying each other’s company. The set designer gave us a really nice bottle of wine. It wasn’t a scene where we really had to dig in, since it was [shot] from afar.
    So did you also have some drinks before the shower scene or is Luke wrong about that?

    Oh, absolutely, it wasn’t a shower scene. We were shooting in the house and there was a scene that we were getting frisky, but it was not the shower scene. No way.

    Was this the first time you had to strip down for a film? How nervous were you?

    It’s a racy thriller, but a lot of the context around the nudity has very little to do with sex. Even those in scenes where she’s engaging in those activities, she sort of detached, so it’s more of a character trait than an act. The way that Megan uses her sexuality is basically the way that Rachel uses alcohol. It’s to numb herself.

    So in a way, could you see them switching places?

    Yeah, I think with any type of addiction, it’s a device to escape reality.

    In one of your nude scenes, you’re out in the pouring rain. I hope you weren’t out there too long. I was a bit worried for you.

    Awww. It was a very emotional scene, so I didn’t really notice that I was nude.

    You have another movie coming out this year, Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply.”

    It was such a thrill to be part of that wonderful ensemble class — I was able to sing in the movie and just to work with Warren Beatty is a dream. It’s set in the ’50s, so it’s a period piece and I love the Golden Era … this is a throwback to those films that I love so much.

    He plays Howard Hughes in the film. Is your character also based on a real person?

    No, she’s fictional. Her name is Mamie and it was nice because it’s a lighter character and it was a nice contrast from these much darker films and characters experiencing loss. It was fun to sing and to have some comedic screen time. And Luke got to do a musical (2017’s “Beauty and the Beast”), which is so cool. We spent time on set singing. We would put on little duets. We would sing a little bit of “The Lion King” and songs from “Beauty and the Beast.” I think that helped loosen some of the tension.

    Would you also want to be in a Disney musical?

    I think they’ve all been made. They’ve remade “Cinderella,” they’ve remade “Beauty and the Beast,” what’s left? I think they’ve done it all. I like animated films a lot. I don’t know that any of the films I have coming out will get me any offers to do those kind of movies.

    Like the Terrence Malick movie, “Weightless,” which I imagine is not very light.

    No, not at all. It’s been quite the journey with that film. It was like five years ago, when we filmed it. Terrence has been a massive advocate of my career. He was responsible for getting Antoine Fuqua to see me in a different light. He was generous enough to write Antoine a letter of recommendation, I guess you could call it after we worked together. In true Malick fashion, I think it’s our responsibility to protect how he prefers to work and to keep that sort of private in a way.

    Do you have any idea what the finished film will look like?

    Last I heard it was maybe six hours! He shoots a lot of footage. He shoots all the footage and then he takes it back into the editing room — he’s the master.

    “Girl on the Train” is in theaters now.
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  • 5 Reasons Why ‘Girl on the Train’ and ‘Birth of a Nation’ Stumbled at the Box Office

    Which affected the box office the most this weekend: the controversy over “The Birth of a Nation” filmmaker/star Nate Parker‘s past, the surprisingly poor reviews for the much-anticipated “The Girl on the Train,” or Hurricane Matthew?

    There seemed to be a perfect storm of events that threatened to keep people away from the multiplex, even with three new wide releases (the other was family comedy “Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life“). As it turned out, this weekend’s films performed pretty much as expected. “Girl” debuted on top with an estimated $24.7 million.

    Historical drama “Birth” earned an estimated $7.1 million, finishing sixth, while “Middle School” followed close behind, in seventh place, with an estimated $6.9 million. Still, overall box office was down 10.3 percent from last weekend.

    What are the lessons, then, from this weekend’s underwhelming turnout? Here are five of them.

    1. Reviews Matter
    “Girl” got mixed-to-poor reviews, amounting to a 44 percent “Fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Those downward thumbs should have hurt the film more, according to conventional wisdom that older adult audiences still care what critics think. But major Hollywood films starring women, based on best-sellers written by women, and targeted at women audiences are rare, so their intended viewers rush to the theater when such movies open. (“Gone Girl,” which earned much stronger reviews, seems the obvious point of comparison; it opened on this same weekend in 2014 to $37.5 million.)

    As it turned out, ticketbuyers agreed with the critics, giving “Girl on the Train” a weak B- grade at CinemaScore, but not even poor word-of-mouth could completely dissuade viewers primed to see it.

    2. Screen Count Is a Big Deal
    “Middle School” didn’t earn high marks from critics either, landing at 59 percent at Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, kids don’t read reviews, but their parents do.

    No doubt Lionsgate was hoping to duplicate the success of 20th Century Fox’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies, another tween-age comedy series based on a series of kid-lit best-sellers. But the “Middle School” books don’t seem to have as ardent a following. Nor were the just-okay reviews or the very good word-of-mouth (an A- grade at CinemaScore) powerful enough to overcome a saturated marketplace.

    Last week’s box office champ, Tim Burton‘s “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” added another 183 screens (for a total of 3,705) and finished second with an estimated $15.0 million. Despite Burton’s grown-up fanbase, “Peregrine” appears to be playing more to family audiences. Meanwhile, family cartoon “Storks,” playing in 3,608 theaters in its third week, finished fifth with an estimated $8.5 million. Both films had just marginally better reviews than “Middle School” but were playing on 800 to 900 more screens.

    3. Audiences Are Looking for Certain Stories
    “Birth” had comparatively robust reviews, earning 79 percent at Rotten Tomatoes. Indeed, it was coasting on a year’s worth of awards-season hype, ever since it brought the house down at January’s Sundance Film Festival and sold to Fox Searchlight for a record $17.5 million. Yet its subject, Nat Turner’s bloody slave rebellion of 1831, was always going to be a tough sell.

    Consider, for instance, “12 Years a Slave,” which Fox Searchlight released in October 2013. It debuted in limited release and didn’t go wide until its fourth weekend, when it made $6.8 million (just a hair below “Birth,” which went wide immediately). Though it would go on to win Oscars for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (for Lupita Nyong’o), “12 Years” never rose higher than seventh place on the chart and ultimately earned just $56.7 million in North America. Or look at this summer’s “Free State of Jones,” which also tackled the subjects of American slavery and rebellion and even featured a white A-list leading man in Matthew McConaughey. At a time when no other prestige dramas were playing, it still mustered just a $7.6 million debut and a total gross of $20.8 million.

    It’s not that adults want only escapism and won’t go see bleak, violent, thought-provoking dramas, as is clear from this weekend’s first-place movie. Hollywood insiders have spent much of the last year wringing their hands over the lack of diversity in their own industry, in terms of both the stories told and the people who get to tell them.

    Indeed, “Birth,” which made its splash at Sundance just days after this year’s Oscar nominations were announced and unleashed a torrent of #OscarsSoWhite complaints, was expected to be a corrective to such complaints. And while “Birth,” “Katwe,” and a handful of other upcoming movies with black protagonists may yet win awards, they continue to face a struggle at the box office. The Academy may want more chances to honor artists of color, but Hollywood won’t be creating too many such movies when it can’t figure out how to draw mass audiences or even African-American audiences to the few such movies it does release.

    4. Controversy Factors In
    Despite “Birth” having grim subject matter, Fox Searchlight originally must have thought it had a feel-good story on its hands in the facts of Parker’s life: rising actor puts his promising career on hold and risks his fortune to get well-intentioned passion project made; earns raves as his movie’s star, director, and co-writer; and wins awards (and perhaps reaps commercial success) for bringing to light an under-told tale from American history at a time when race relations are especially fraught.

    Instead, however, Parker has spent much of the last two months discussing (but not exactly apologizing for) the rape allegations of 17 years ago, when he was a college student. (Parker was tried and acquitted; his future “Birth” co-writer, Jean Celestin, was convicted over the same incident but had his conviction overturned on appeal.) Audiences who had scarcely heard of Parker and Celestin were now forced to confront the question of whether they’d go see this movie if it meant tacitly rewarding Parker and Celestin for bad acts they allegedly committed before they were even in show business.

    Theater owners, however, felt no such qualms. While Fox Searchlight initially wanted to book “Birth” on about 1,800 screens, exhibitor demand led to bookings on 2,105 screens. Critics were careful (as they are when Woody Allen or Roman Polanski releases a new movie) to separate the director’s cloudy personal history from the merits of his film. None of the rape talk prevented “Birth” from drawing an audience that was 61 percent female — this in a weekend when “Girl” was supposed to hoard all the adult female viewers. The “Birth” audience was also 60 percent African-American. Word-of-mouth was even better than the reviews, resulting in an A at CinemaScore.

    All of that means that “Birth” did as well as it possibly could do, especially among the audiences that were most likely to see it anyway.

    5. Hurricane Matthew
    In the end, though, nothing was going to draw people in several southeastern states to the movies when they were fleeing from Hurricane Matthew. Several movie chains closed their theaters throughout the region as millions evacuated their homes.

    Box office analysts took the storm into account and revised their revenue projections down by about 5 percent. Between the hurricane and all the other reasons this weekend’s movies gave potential moviegoers not to bother, maybe the theaters should be celebrating that they sold as many tickets as they did.
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  • Box Office: ‘Girl on the Train’ Races to Top Spot, ‘Birth of a Nation’ Derails

    By Brent Lang

    LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “The Girl on the Train” pulled into the station with a $24.7 million opening, a solid result despite the fact that the mystery debuted as much of the U.S. Southeast was being pummeled by Hurricane Matthew. (But $2 to $4 million less than what analysts had hoped).

    Its success is a shot in the arm to DreamWorks, which optioned the Paula Hawkins’ best-seller about an alcoholic woman (Emily Blunt), who must piece together a mysterious disappearance. The company has suffered a string of duds in recent years, most recently shouldering the twin duds of “The BFG” and “The Light Between Oceans.” However, “The Girl on the Train” kicks off a new five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures — one that will see the company rebranded as Amblin Partners, complete with backing from Reliance, Entertainment One, and Participant. “Girl on the Train” cost $45 million to make.
    Nate Parker‘s “The Birth of a Nation” was not as fortunate, premiering to a disappointing $7.1 million across 2,105 theaters. The biopic about slave rebellion leader Nat Turner was a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered to a rapturous standing ovation and sold to Fox Searchlight for a record-shattering $17.5 million.

    But the release was derailed after rape allegations against Parker and his “The Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean Celestin resurfaced. Both men were accused of assaulting a college classmate over a decade ago. Though they were ultimately acquitted of those charges, news broke this summer that their accuser had committed suicide in 2012. The ensuing controversy overshadowed the strong reviews and may have hurt the film’s Oscar chances.

    The weekend’s other wide release, “Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life,” attempted to court younger crowds, opening to $6.9 million from 2,822 theaters. The film follows a teenager who cooks up a series of pranks to embarrass his autocratic principal. It is based on a popular series of books by James Patterson. CBS Films produced the movie for $11 million, with Lionsgate distributing the picture.Last weekend’s champ, “Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children,” fell roughly 50% to $15 million for a second place finish. That puts the Tim Burton fantasy’s total at $51.1 million. Fox backed the film, which carries a sizable $110 million price tag.

    Lionsgate’s “Deepwater Horizon” continued to struggle, taking in $11.7 million, and bringing its domestic total to $38.5 million. The action-drama about the men and women caught up in one of the worst oil spills in history earned solid reviews, but cost a massive $120 million after tax credits were taken into account.

    Sony’s “The Magnificent Seven” took fourth place with $9.1 million, pushing the Western remake’s haul to $75.9 million. “Storks,” the Warner Bros. animated comedy, rounded out the top five with $8.4 million, bringing its stateside receipts to $50.1 million.
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  • ‘Girl on the Train’ Star Luke Evans Pulls a Ben Affleck in New Thriller’s Shower Scene

    [SPOILERS: Do not read this interview if you have yet to see the movie.]

    In “The Girl on the Train,” Luke Evans plays an overly-possessive husband who becomes a key suspect when his wife [Haley Bennett] goes missing. And from there, things go to a very plot-twisty place, rather quickly.

    Evans rang up Moviefone to discuss his potentially infamous shower scene in the movie and what it’s like to play the bad guy.

    Moviefone: Did you base your characterization on any real person who’s been suspected of doing away with their wife, like Scott Peterson?

    Luke Evans: No, I didn’t base it on anybody specifically, but I did do research into real-life situations where a loved one has disappeared or gone missing — and you find they’ve been murdered and then everybody’s a suspect and the family are taken in for questioning. That happens quite often around the world, you see it in the news all the time. So that was interesting stuff for me to do some research on.

    What kind of research did you do? Watching news footage of specific cases?

    Yeah, exactly. I watched news footage and some documentaries on the ones I knew of in the U.K. There was one very famous one of a family who’d lost their daughter and they were for a while suspected of maybe being the reason for her going missing, but obviously they weren’t in the end.
    My next question is about your shower scene. It’s not quite as revealing as Ben Affleck‘s in “Gone Girl,” but still, did that give you pause?

    You’re right, it’s not as revealing as Ben’s, but it was revealing enough for me, thank you very much. But I think it was important because you realize that Megan and Scott don’t actually speak to each other in the whole film. Everything is just told visually. There was a lot that needed to be presented to the audience so they got a well-rounded idea of the relationship and it wasn’t just an argumentative, tempestuous relationship. There was much more to it as well. They were passionate as well as extremely volatile.

    So is it more awkward being naked with someone else in a movie than just being naked by yourself?

    It can be very awkward, but Haley Bennett’s a professional. She’s a trouper. She threw herself into it, and so did I, and we knew we just had to get on and do this. You have to be committed to something like that, otherwise, the second you think it’s ridiculous -– which, obviously, it is ridiculous when you think about it –- it becomes very uncomfortable. Tate Taylor, the director, was fantastic. We actually got quite drunk the first time we had to do it, just to take away the nerves, which is quite funny. So we were quite tipsy by the time we got to do the scene. [Laughs]

    You also played a not very nice guy earlier this year in “High-Rise.” Is it more fun to play villains?

    No one is very nice in that film. No one’s quintessentially, perfectly nice, they always have a flaw so I think that even with bad, nasty characters, they can’t always be nasty. How did they get to that place? I like to think that through so you get a full-rounded idea of a human being and not just a monster.

    Would you prefer to make more thrillers or more musicals?

    I’d like to do more comedy! I like smiling and laughing. I like making people laugh. I got a bit of a bug when I did the Gaston character, it was so much fun, so I wouldn’t mind trying a bit more of that.

    Do you have a dream comedy role?

    Anything that Melissa McCarthy is in, I’d like to do, because I think she’s absolutely hilarious.

    “Girl on the Train” hits theaters Friday.

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  • Emily Blunt Hates That a Female Lead Must Be ‘Likable’ Even if Male Is ‘a Total Drip’

    BRITAIN-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-CINEMA-THE GIRL ON THE TRAINHer last name is Blunt for a good reason!

    Emily Blunt is not into America’s Sweetheart roles. From “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Edge of Tomorrow” to her new lead role in “The Girl on the Train,” she tends to play a different kind of female lead — an antiheroine lacking the kind of male fantasy attributes you see a little too often on screen. (Especially in the manic pixie dream girl trope, where a beautiful girl full of life and charm devotes herself to some bland guy with no personality.)

    In “The Girl on the Train,” Blunt plays Rachel, a depressed, often drunk divorcée obsessed with an attractive couple she regularly spies from her seat on the train. “Trainwreck” applies to the character pretty well, and Blunt loves that about her.

    “With so many movies, women are held to what a man considers a feminine ideal,” Blunt told The Hollywood Reporter. “You have to be pretty. You have to be ‘likable,’ which is my least favorite bloody word in the industry. Rachel isn’t ‘likable.’ What does that mean? To be witty and pretty and hold it together and be there for the guy? And he can just be a total drip?” THR added the note “that Blunt herself seems extremely likable as she says all this only underscores her point.”

    Blunt also took aim at the double standard that gives derogatory names to women for doing the same things as men.

    “A woman is a drunk, a wh*re, whereas the guy’s like a partyer, a player,” Blunt told THR. “I’ve been around both women who drink too much and guys who drink too much and it’s just as ugly on the guys. It makes me crazy. I don’t think that women should be seen as any less sexual than a guy. And maybe she doesn’t want to settle down, and that’s OK. And maybe she doesn’t want a kid, and that’s OK. And she’s just happy playing the field. There’s so much judgment with women.” Yep, women get “sl*t,” “wh*re,” or — if they’re not playing the field — “old maid,” whereas an over-40 single guy, like Leonardo DiCaprio, is envied as a “bachelor” or a “player.”

    Anyway, Blunt’s whole interview is wonderfully candid, as always, including a description of how she filmed what turned out to be a fairly physical role while she was pregnant.

    “The Girl on the Train,” based on the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins, will be released October 7.

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  • ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Has Julie Andrews’s Blessing

    2015 TCM Classic Film Festival Opening Night Gala 50th Anniversary Screening Of "The Sound Of Music" - Red CarpetNo need for a spoonful of sugar to go with the new “Mary Poppins” sequel, because the original star Julie Andrews, has given her blessing to the project.

    Emily Blunt, who is starring in the sequel, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Andrews reacted warmly to her casting.

    “Rob [Marshall, the director] said he was in the Hamptons, and he saw her, and he said, ‘It’s top secret, but Emily Blunt’s playing Mary Poppins,’” the actress said. “And she went, ‘Oh, wonderful!’”

    She added, “I felt like I wanted to cry. It was lovely to get her stamp of approval. That took the edge off it, for sure.”

    Yes, whew! Andrews’ blessing is key, since, as Blunt noted, “It’s such an important character in people’s childhood.”

    “Mary Poppins Returns” will pick up 20 years after the original, in Depression era England, and will have a different take on the mystical English nanny, with the character more closely resembling the version in P.L. Travers’s book. Which means, “She’s a little meaner,” Blunt teased.

    Blunt will be joined by “Hamilton” creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda and Meryl Streep in the movie, which is set for a December 2018 release.

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  • Emily Blunt Is Afraid of Herself in the New ‘Girl on the Train’ Trailer

    A new trailer for the upcoming thriller “The Girl on the Train” doubles down on the madness encircling protagonist Rachel (Emily Blunt), who thinks she’s seen something terrible happen to a young woman — but may have been more involved in the crime than she actually remembers.'The Girl on the Train' (2016) Trailer

    Much like the first trailer, this new promo sets an eerie mood, echoing Rachel’s own sense of foreboding as she begins to discover the connections between herself, her ex-husband (Justin Theroux), and the missing woman (Haley Bennett), who turns out to be her ex’s nanny. We see several scenes of Rachel trembling as she washes something dark off her hands (is it just dirt, or maybe blood?), and nurses some serious looking bruises and scratches covering her back.

    A weeping Rachel admits, “I’m afraid of myself,” and based on what we’ve seen from the flick so far, it’s not difficult to understand that feeling. The why of it, however, remains an intriguing mystery for now.

    “The Girl on the Train,” based on the novel by Paula Hawkins, also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow, and Laura Prepon. It’s due in theaters on October 7.

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