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Filed in A Quiet Place Articles and Interviews Edge of Tomorrow Sequel Mary Poppins Returns Projects

Emily Blunt: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Will ‘Hopefully Stand Alone’

INDIEWIRE – Good things take time. Nearly 55 years after the original “Mary Poppins” dropped into theaters, care of Julie Andrews and her iconic umbrella, the film is finally getting a sequel, this one starring Emily Blunt as the eponymous nanny with a magical way of doing things. The film, “Mary Poppins Returns,” reteams Blunt with her “Into the Woods” director Rob Marshall, hinting that there will be no shortage of large-scale musical set pieces. Still, the biggest challenge for Blunt was the most obvious one: taking over such a beloved character, who also happened to be played by an equally as beloved actress.

“Rob Marshall sort of protected me from the idea that I felt like I was moving a boulder out of the way of this iconic role played by someone as iconic and as brilliant as Julie Andrews,” Blunt told IndieWire. “Ultimately, he allowed it to feel like an intimate process where I could just make her my own. It will be my interpretation of her, for better or worse.”

Set in Depression-era London, the film reintroduces the Banks kids — Jane and Michael, now adults — and picks up after a “personal loss” that has impacted both the siblings and Michael’s own trio of kids. Per the official synopsis, Mary uses her “unique magical skills” to help “the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.”

The film stars Ben Whishaw as Michael and Emily Mortimer as Jane, along with Meryl Streep as Mary’s own “eccentric cousin” and Lin-Manuel Miranda as a lamplighting apprentice. Angela Lansbury, Julie Walters, and Colin Firth also appear, and original star Dick Van Dyke is reportedly on board for a cameo appearance.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve seen it,” Blunt said. “It’s absolutely magical, yet grounded and I think will hopefully stand alone as an independent feature. It’s the next chapter of Mary Poppins and I absolutely adored doing it.”

The actress didn’t rematch the original film during the process of making her own “Mary Poppins,” all the better to allow the character to become her own. “I tried not to be swayed by the details of what Julie did, so that I could really just have my own impression of her from the books,” she said.

Continue reading Emily Blunt: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Will ‘Hopefully Stand Alone’

Filed in A Quiet Place Festivals Photo Updates Photoshoots Projects

SXSW Portraits

Our gallery has been updated with some great portrait sessions of Emily taken as SXSW Festival during her promotion of A Quiet Place. Enjoy!

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Photoshoots and Portraits > Sessions > Photoshoots and Portraits from 2018 > Session 001 – SXSW Festival
Photoshoots and Portraits > Sessions > Photoshoots and Portraits from 2018 > Session 002 – SXSW Festival
Filed in A Quiet Place Appearances Festivals Photo Updates Projects

‘A Quiet Place’ SXSW Premiere

Yesterday was the “world” premiere of Emily’s latest film, A Quiet Place – directed by husband John Krasinski at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Early reviews since the screening have been very positive, so here’s to hoping that the film will be commercially successful, too. I’ve added a handful of photos of the couple at the premiere to the gallery.

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Public Appearances > Appearances in 2018 > SXSW Film Festival – ‘A Quiet Place’ Screening
Filed in A Quiet Place Festivals Projects

‘A Quiet Place’ SXSW Review Round-Up

Last night marked the premiere of A Quiet Place at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas (photos to follow soon) – and the film was met with great reactions from both critics and audiences. So happy for John, and for Emily! Horror films can often get ripped by critics, so it’s nice to see some of the industry’s most prestigious publications give positive reviews. You can read the full reviews by clicking the title links below.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – A terrifying thriller with a surprisingly warm heart, John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place is a monster-movie allegory for parenting in a world gone very, very wrong. A couple with kids in real life, Krasinski and Emily Blunt here play parents in a world where even the slightest noise can lead to sudden, violent death: Training their children to be self-sufficient without making a sound is as unique a challenge as, well, let’s not waste the time explaining what in 2018 America might feel like a plague of revolting, apocalypse-creating monsters, because even moviegoers who don’t accept the metaphor are going to have the pants scared off them. Third time’s the charm for Krasinski in the director’s chair, as commercial success is all but guaranteed.

VARIETY – Krasinski, whose personality in the features he has directed (“The Hollars,” “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men”) has always seemed a bit blurry, now brings himself into focus with the genre brinksmanship of “A Quiet Place.” He stages highly suspenseful scenes, like one involving Emily Blunt and a nail sticking out of the basement stairs, and another in a grain elevator. In the second half, the film turns into a more conventional alien-attack thriller, but if anything it becomes more rousingly effective. The monsters, it turns out, can hear everything but see nothing. And though we can’t always buy what we’re seeing in “A Quiet Place,” Krasinski is a gifted enough filmmaker to paper over our objections. He directs with all his senses.

INDIEWIRE – “A Quiet Place” develops its horrifying premise around a gimmick perfect for cinematic storytelling — in a post-apocalyptic countryside, monsters are drawn to their prey by sound, so human survivors can barely exchange more than whispers. Directed with first-rate visual flair by John Krasinski (who knew?), this riveting near-silent thriller exudes the despair of a broken world with the concision of a Cormac McCarthy novel folded into a simplistic B-movie premise. Utilizing the pure physicality of a cast you can count on one hand, the movie maintains a minimalist dread throughout, with every footstep or sudden move carrying the potential for instant death.