Emily Blunt had her breakthrough role in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. And although her standout performance in the film was highly regarded, Blunt believed that she overacted.
When Blunt was first cast in Devil Wears Prada, she was less than prepared for the audition. Instead, her focus was on getting the part to an entirely different project. But she happened to stumble onto Prada by accident.
“I remember being in L.A. for pilot season—or something terrifying like that—and I went and met with Fox Studios, and I was reading for this other project,” Blunt once told E-News. “And just they randomly said, ‘Oh, we’ve got this Devil Wears Prada movie—you want to read for this movie?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
However, while auditioning for the movie, Blunt’s mind was on a flight she was trying to catch.
“But I was rushing for the airport, and I remember just being kind of flustered. So I read it, but I was wearing sweatpants, and I did not look the part at all,” she said.
Still, her audition left enough of an impression for the studio to call Blunt back to test for the role again. Only this time without the sweatpants. The success of her auditions led Blunt to playing one of her most memorable movie characters.
Blunt’s performance in the Meryl Streep film attracted much attention in the film industry. So much so she was even nominated for a Golden Globe. The nomination alone was shocking for Blunt, who felt awards typically gravitated towards more serious works.
“It was a complete surprise because the film was released so long ago, and I think that comedic performances are overshadowed by dramatic ones in that supporting category,” she once said in an interview with MTV News.
But Blunt was also caught off guard by how memorable her role became. Especially since the star felt she was intentionally overacting in the hit feature.
“I knew I had some good one-liners, but I think all of us underestimated the impact this film and our performances would have. Honestly, I didn’t realize how big a deal the performance would be at the time. I was having a huge amount of fun with it, overacting my little butt off,” she said.
She wasn’t the only actor on set who had fun with the role. Blunt had a bit of competition brewing between herself and her co-star Stanley Tucci regarding their performances. And it was a competition Blunt asserted she won completely.
“Both of us were playing the larger-than-life characters, so we definitely had room to ham it up a little more. We just decided one day to see who could be more hammy,” she added.
There were many changes and improvisations Blunt made to her character after acquiring the role. For one, she felt that her character was much meaner and colder in the book the film was adapted from. But Blunt felt it necessary to make the character more sarcastic to add layers.
“I think in humor you find vulnerability, so if I could make her as funny as possible then there would be that side to her that people would feel sorry for,” she said.
It was also her suggestion to make the character British, believing it would add to her character’s attitude.
“When I read this part I thought it would work in a British accent [because] there was something imperious and snooty about it. I felt it would help me look down upon Anne’s character more. There’s a superiority thing that some British people have – the Queen’s English and all that bulls***,” she explained.