20 Things To Know About The New Mary Poppins, Emily Blunt
She first captured our attention back in 2006 when she played the fiery red-headed assistant to one Mrs. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in the hit film The Devil Wears Prada.
And even though Emily Blunt only played a supporting role in the film, she stole the show with her facetious attitude and strong presence. Little did we know, it was only the beginning, and we were witnessing the start of an extraordinary career.
Recently, Emily managed to make us flinch, cry, and hide behind our couches while watching her lead role in the thriller A Quiet Place, a film she starred in with her husband. The charmingly goofy John Krasinski also happened to both direct and write the movie. The film was critically acclaimed and managed to put Krasinski on the map as a prominent director while showcasing Blunt's wide range of acting skills.
On December 19th, Blunt takes on one of the most beloved Disney characters of our time: Mary Poppins. Blunt stars as the magical nanny in this sequel called Mary Poppins Returns, where Mary Poppins returns to help out the former Banks children, who are now adults.
Before the movie premieres, let's take a few minutes to learn some things about the new Mary Poppins that we never knew before!
20 She Embodies The Perfect Mary Poppins, Thanks To Her Voice
Even though our ears will be blessed in December when we get to hear Emily sing as Nanny Poppins, this won't be the first time we've heard the actress stretch her pipes. If you've seen the film adaptation of the 2014 musical Into the Woods (which was the film adaptation of the Broadway musical), you know that Emily can sing with the best of them.
She has a voice like an angel, which she proved when she played the role of the Baker's Wife.
Not only is she a beautiful singer, but she also is an accomplished cellist (she showcased those talents in the film My Summer of Love.)
19 Drama Helped Her Get Over A Stutter
When Emily was in grade school, she actually had a terrible speech impediment that she tried to fix with other methods before a teacher of hers made the suggestion that she take up drama in order to help her shutter. Today, Emily is on the board for the American Institute for Stuttering and she's actively helping others who suffered as she did. She even pointed out that the Academy Awarding winning film The King's Speech (starring Colin Firth as Prince Albert, who had to cure a bad stutter in order to ascend the throne) was extremely accurate in how individuals are able to get over speech impediments.
18 Scarlett Johansson Better Watch Her Back (So Kidding)
We all know that Scarlett Johansson absolutely slays as Black Widow in the Iron Man and Avengers movies, but what would the entire franchise have been like if Emily Blunt would have played the deadly character? Well, it could've happened.
Originally, Emily was supposed to play Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (she actually beat out Scarlett for the role).
But in the end, there was a shooting conflict between the superhero movie and a film she was already set to star in-Gulliver's Travels (based on the classic novel) with Jack Black. She was later offered the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, but she turned that down as well due to another scheduling conflict.
17 She Was A Muse For Former Boyfriend Michael Buble
One of the most high profile celebrity relationships back in the 2000s was actually between Emily and Grammy Award-winning singer Michael Buble. Sure, she and Krasinski are the “It” couple of the century, but she and Buble were a pretty adorable item back then. During their time together, Buble's work took off and it was, in part, thanks to his very inspirational girlfriend. Turns out, the song “Everything” was written as a tribute to her. Heck, she even provided some of the backup vocals at the end of her then boyfriend's cover of “Me and Mrs. Jones." While they were so cute back then, we have to say that her love with Krasinski will always be our favorite.
16 Emily Blunt… The House Flipper?
Everyone has their dreams of what they want to be in the future (usually, in our world, it's dreaming of the worldwide fame that Emily already has) and, of course, Emily has one too. You know, if her acting career somehow managed to fall through the cracks… which would never ever happen.
Turns out, Emily's dream is actually flipping houses.
“It would be my dream just to flip houses,” Emily once told Vanity Fair during an interview. “I adore renovating. I love working with different materials and coming up with a different story for each room. I am Pinterest-mad.”
15 A Former The Devil Wears Prada Actor Is Now Her Brother-In-Law
Everyone who is anyone saw the movie The Devil Wears Prada and can quote the movie on cue. It's the story of a young aspiring journalist named Andy (Anne Hathaway) who goes to work at a Vogue-like magazine as the assistant of the Editor-in-Chief, fashion royalty Miranda Priestly. Emily plays Miranda's first assistant, the snarky Emily Charlton, which rounds out a stellar cast. In the film is also veteran actor Stanley Tucci, who grew close to Emily during filming. Years later, Tucci met Emily's sister Felicity at Emily's wedding to Krasinski. The two fell in love and married a short time later.
14 According To Her, “Less Is Better”
You probably won't see Emily starring in any films where there's an overabundance of dialogue anytime in the near future.
Lately, Blunt has been drawn toward films that are more cinematic than anything else because they tend to speak more without literally doing so.
She says that the reason why she chose the suspense drama Sicario was that of its lack of dialogue. “There's too much dialogue in movies,” she said in an interview. “The most cinematic thing is to offer people the power of suggestion.” If anyone who has ever watched A Quiet Place knows that she was definitely not kidding about the lack of dialogue thing.
13 Her Next Movie Revolves Around A… Disneyland Ride?
Yes, this has been done before and yes, it was a phenomenal success. Everyone clearly remembers the Pirates of the Caribbean which turned into an entire multi-million dollar franchise starring Johnny Depp. Well, now get ready for Jungle Cruise, starring Emily Blunt and… THE ROCK! A great deal of everything that The Rock touches turns to gold, so we're looking forward to this unconventional pairing. It was confirmed earlier this year that Emily will star opposite of the blockbuster action star in, what we're assuming, is his natural habitat (the jungle-the guy seems to like to do films that ALWAYS are set in some random jungle for some reason). We actually can't wait.
12 Reunited With Miranda Priestly
We were tickled to see someone as powerful as Meryl Streep play off of someone as clever and entertaining as Emily and, lucky for us, The Devil Wears Prada wasn't the last time we would be able to witness that sort of cinematic magic!
Streep will star opposite Emily when she takes on Mary Poppins next month.
The Academy Award-winning actress will star as Mary's cousin, Topsy-Turvy Poppins. And yes, with a name like that, we know we're in for some hilarious antics! Of course, this will be way different from the roles they played in Prada. For one, they won't be as serious, so we're most likely in for a huge treat to see them both back on the screen together.
11 She Once Faced Her Greatest Fear
Everyone has a great fear. Growing up, it's usually spiders or snakes or the dark, but when you become an adult, you're faced with a whole new set of different fears. I'm not just talking about your rent or phone bill, I'm talking about something far bigger than yourself-your family. When you have a family, you sometimes imagine the worst case scenario and have to talk yourself down, which is what Emily did when deciding to do A Quiet Place. Emily and John are the parents of two adorable children and Emily's motivation for doing the thriller. “I'm scared of being in a brutal world and not being able to protect my children,” she once said. Well, her character did just that in the film.
10 She Originally Wanted To Be A Translator
If you didn't already know, Emily is smart. I mean like, crazy bonkers intelligent. When you see her on the big screen, she seems to radiate intellect.
Therefore, it's really not too much of a shock to discover that when she was younger, she had aspirations to be a translator and was planning on going to college in order to achieve that dream.
Only, she was sidetracked by taking a part in a play called Bliss. It was there where she caught the eye of a talent agent and dove head first into the theater. From there, she went on to star in My Summer of Love at the age of 20. So, in the end, she scrapped her translator plans.
9 Cate Blanchett Is Her Lady Crush
Everyone has their idols, even someone as uber famous as Emily Blunt has those rare muses that she looks up to in the Hollywood world. She's already worked with Meryl Streep (twice now, in fact) so that's one name marked off her bucket list. Others include Dame Judi Dench and Susan Sarandon. But her number one name that she admires so hard that she wants to be like? None other than Cate Blanchett. Back in 2014, the duo paired up and did a photo shoot for a new IWC Schaffhausen Ad campaign, and the results were black and white magic. It's about time they appeared on the screen together.
8 Her Activist Voice Is A Powerful Tool
Much like most of Hollywood leading ladies, Emily has a heavy hand in being an advocate for education and young women.
Earlier this year, Emily spoke at Variety's “Power of Women” event and stole the show with her words.
“There are over 130 million girls missing out on an education because they have to work or they are married by the age of 12,” she said in her speech. “If women are given a voice they use it. When they are handed the purse strings, the communities thrive.” She has also raised money for education activist Malala Yousafzai (and the non-profit Malala Fund).
7 Despite Not Liking Scary Movies, THIS Is Her Favorite Flick
Not everyone is a fan of scary movies. And why should they be? They can set us back decades if they're frightening enough. Just recently, a whole slew of thrillers was released (like the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, a series that should be watched with ALL the lights in the house on) so they're more popular than ever. Emily, though, is not a huge fan. However, her favorite movie? Jaws. Now that may sound odd for someone who isn't a fan of a horror/thriller genre, but in her defense, it's a brilliantly acted film where the title character doesn't even appear until near the end.
6 Nothing Beats Colds Like Oregano
This one is quite… odd. Everyone has their cold remedies when it comes to fighting off the flu with a more “natural” approach. Emily's recommendation is more of the interesting remedies we've ever heard of, but hey, who knows?
And that recommendation happens to be oregano.
“I would say if you feel yourself coming down with a cold… oil of oregano,” she once said. “You sort of just throw a few drops down there. It's disgusting, you burn your throat but I do tend to find it shortens the cold.” Well, I'll stick with my remedy of plenty of liquids and Theraflu, but thank you for the suggestion.
5 Only One Role Has Won Her A Golden Globe
Emily has played some insanely brilliant characters and has acted her butt off on numerous occasions (seriously, if you haven't watched A Quiet Place yet, get up and go watch it NOW). And yet, she's only won a single Golden Globe, and it's for something you've probably never even heard of before. Back in 2005, Emily starred in a TV drama called Gideon's Daughter with Robert Lindsay and Miranda Richardson and it was a British hit. Emily won a Golden Globe for her role in the series, and sadly, it's her only one. Well, that was over 10 years ago so it's about time she put another win under her belt.
4 She Went For A Cold-Blooded Tactic To Get A Role
A lot of us have gone the distance for landing a job we so heavily covet and famous actresses are no different. Originally, it was one of Emily's friends who was slated to play the role of the mother in A Quiet Place, Even though Krasinski offered Emily the role first.
Of course, this offer was made before the writing took place; after the script was completed and Emily read it, she was transfixed and had her husband fire the other actress.
While that might seem a little cold-blooded, Emily insists that she and the actress (unnamed) are still close friends. Well, that's a good thing!
3 Isn't Every Teenager's Dream To Work With Dame Judi Dench?
If you're an actress working in Hollywood, it's only natural that you have a list of actresses you're dying to work with, including some pretty intimidating names that will help make you a better actress (which is what went down between Emily and Meryl Streep). But imagine working with one of those actresses when you're a mere 16-years-old? Well, that's what happened to Emily when she made her stage acting debut in a play called The Royal Family opposite the great Dame Judi Dench! While that sounds slightly intimidating to the average joe, Emily pulled it off with grace and style.
2 And The Best (According To Emily) New York Pizza Award Goes To…
If you go to New York City, everyone has their opinions on who makes the best pizza in the city. From Totonno's to John's Pizzeria to Denio's Pizzeria, there isn't a shortage of some good pizza in the city.
When Emily and John lived in Brooklyn, however, their go-to place was Brooklyn's Table 87 (their restaurant tagline is “home of the coal oven slice”), a place the couple lived by.
On Yelp, the pizzeria was given a four out of five-star rating and the customer reviews appear to be through the roof. While you think it would be a little mom and pop pizzeria, it appears to be fairly big in the area.
1 She's A Born Mimic
I know what you're thinking, that “all actors are mimics,” but this simply isn't true. A great deal of actors tend to like to do their own thing and have their own original style, but according to Emily, she's a born mimic who likes to take quirks from her favorite actors and blend them all together. Whatever you want to call it, it's worked for Emily for her entire acting career. “I'm combining, so it's not stealing, it's research,” she once famously said. And when it comes to her, it definitely isn't stealing. And even if she was, she's so dang charming about it. Keep owning, you amazing actress.