Emily Blunt’s performance as the rugged future soldier Rita in Edge of Tomorrow was so good she nearly stole the entire movie away from Tom Cruise. We liked her so much, me and my colleagues in the BFCA gave her a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie. Fans have been waiting a few years for that sequel Cruise and director Doug Liman have been talking about, but now we learn from Blunt herself that she’s the reason for the delay. So send your cards and letters to her.
Blunt tells ScreenCrush…“It’s a lot for all the stars to align for everyone to be free at the same time and available to do it at the same time,” Blunt said. “They asked me to do [it] two months before I started ‘Mary Poppins.’ Tom was like, ‘Can you go this autumn?’ and I was like, ‘No, I can’t go, I’m playing Mary Poppins for like a year, dude! I can’t do Edge of Tomorrow.’ Doug Liman has got an awesome idea and he’s excited and they just need to write it. There has been a script, but now I gather there’s another one in the works.”
Basically, Mary Poppins Returns better be hella tight for making us wait so long. The excitement generated by Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow caused a big push for her to land other major action roles, including the lead in Captain Marvel. It would ultimately go to Brie Larson but Blunt’s name surfaced as a contender and there was a lot of fan support for it. However she says it was all a bunch of smoke and no fire because she was never called about it.
“Oh, no, nobody ever called me about it. [Laughs] It was all untrue!”
She would still dig the chance to play a superhero someday, but thinks Mary Poppins is pretty close already. She says, “I mean, I think Mary Poppins is a superhero, so I’ll just say that she’s my superhero …. I think I’ve fulfilled that. I’ll say it’s her. Listen, she can fly, she has superpowers, she’s magical. I’ll just go with Mary Poppins.”
But does she have adamantium claws and heat vision? Didn’t think so. Blunt will be seen next in the horror film A Quiet Place, opening April 6th.
