Emily Blunt, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, has been described by The Daily Beast as “one of the most impressive actresses working today,” by The Guardian as “the biggest British female movie star of her generation” and by her three-time collaborator Meryl Streep as “the best young actress I’ve worked with in some time, perhaps ever.” She already has Critics Choice, Golden Globe and SAG awards on her mantelpiece. And yet, she has never been so much as nominated for an Oscar.
On Jan. 23, in recognition of her recent turn as Kitty, the wife of the title character, in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, as well as a 20-year body of work that can hold its own against any other actress of her generation that will almost certainly be corrected. Some of her projects include 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, 2009’s The Young Victoria, 2012’s Looper, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow and Into the Woods, 2015’s Sicario, 2016’s The Girl on the Train, 2018’s A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns and 2020’s A Quiet Place Part II.
Over the course of our conversation at the Los Angeles offices of The Hollywood Reporter, the 40-year-old reflected on how she first began acting as part of an effort to conquer a debilitating childhood stutter; how she broke into the business through a series of happy accidents that led to a role opposite Judi Dench onstage and Streep on film; why she has taken on jobs that presented terrifying physical, vocal and other sorts of challenges; why she found the opportunity of working with Nolan and playing Kitty Oppenheimer so thrilling; plus much more.