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Despite the stutter and timidity of her childhood, Emily Blunt has shone throughout her career with a series of remarkable performances. Now, she reaches its heights by assuming the iconic role of Mary Poppins in the sequel to the Disney classic. The actress talks to Lydia Slater about motherhood, marriage and the magic of flying in London skies.
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Emily Blunt looks at the camera questioningly. Sitting lightly on the edge of his black hat, George the Robin does exactly the same thing, seemingly insensitive to flashes and clicks. "Sit down, good boy!" cajole his manager.
Bazaar Cover covers are always exquisite, but this one seems particularly magical, inspired by the world of Mary Poppins in the honor of Blunt's latest star role. The weather has been horrible in recent days, but the sky is now of a limpid blue. Assistants on ladders throw artificial flowers that fall like pink snow, a carousel was temporarily installed in the garden and we were joined by a pack of a dozen dogs, ranging from a small chihuahua called Manuel to a colossal Great Dane named Parker. To add to the fairytale surrealism, on the other side of the street, hundreds of extra dogs gather with their owners for an anti-Brexit march "Wooferendum", a joyous chaos scene worthy of Cherry Tree Lane, place of the original Mary Poppins stories.
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But there is no doubt that George is the star of the show. "Oh my God, the blackbird!" Blunt is crying. "I want one! Every girl needs it!"
Mary Poppins, of course, has one. In the original film, starring Julie Andrews, the magical nanny confides to an oversized (American) robin, for whom she sings 'A Spoonful of Sugar'. For Mary Poppins is back, this blackbird has been drunk and added to his hat, a neat device that instantly prepares you for a less saccharine interpretation of the classic childhood. "It's a dark time, the thirties, is not it?" Blunt said.
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Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
A few days after the shoot, she and I meet at the Olympic, a former recording studio turned café and private club in West London, near the place where her parents are established and where she was raised. Blunt, who is slender and blonder than I thought, has a radiant face of amusement and intelligence, as well as the rose petal beauty of a Fragonard painting.
She now wears a Tarot Dior sweater, green grass trousers adorned with large beads, scarlet Louboutin shoes and a Dior patchwork purse, a set that seems as pale as Poppins-esque. "Why not, agree? I like to mix patterns and styles," she says.
Not surprisingly, a bit of Poppins faded away, as Blunt immerses himself in the world of PL Travers' famous heroine, relying solely on books. "Even though I had seen the movie when I was a kid, I decided not to watch it when it was preparing," she says. "She was so clear to me reading that I decided not to be intimidated by the iconic Julie Andrews in her iconic role and I just touched on it as no matter what." what other part. "
Blunt embodies Poppins with a vanity, a capricious, enigmatic and sometimes an alarming concern, with a fruity and refined accent that periodically slips into a wide cockney. "She thinks she's better than everybody – what she is … I think the pace she's talking about and the way she's talking is a way to keep people out and not To be too sentimental. "
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Her other inspiration for the role was Rosalind Russell's fast-paced reporter in the 1940's Screwball comedy. His daughter Friday. "She's like a tornado, and I thought, 'That's it! It's the rhythm! "
the Mary Poppins The sequel takes place in the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression. Michael Banks, now an adult and recently bereaved, is struggling to cope with financial difficulties and has three children. Enter Mary Poppins at the end of a kite, descending through the gray clouds that cover London like a veil. "I was about 50 feet in the air, hanging on a crane, having to watch effortlessly …" Blunt said, looking a little nauseous in memory.
Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
"But one of the camera guys came up to me and said [she slides into Estuary]"It was very moving to see you coming back." "Sitting in the darkened auditorium, I had felt the same chill of childish hope as I watched the figure covered in a navy blue coat with her feet turned upside down. what would it be in? Is it time to bang some politicians and send them to bed until they have agreed to behave sensibly? Although this is not the case, the film itself is an antidote to the current national sadness, as Mary catapults the Banks family once again out of their sad reality into a glorious Technicolor world.
There are dancing streetlights, cartoon elephants, houses upside down and even Dick Van Dyke, playing the role of the bank's owner, Mr. Dawes Jr, and performing a deserving tap dance on a office. "Yes, he's 92, but his eyes and smile are etched in your memory," says Blunt.
"It was terribly moving to have him there, obviously he would be exhausted by the end of the day, but between shots he would put his hand on my arm and sing:" It's a nice vacation with Mary "."
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I wonder if Blunt had a Mary Poppins in his own life? She was born in this kind of upper middle class English milieu where nannies are commonplace: her grandfather was major-general, her father is a QC and her uncle is eurosceptic MP Crispin Blunt. But she says her maternal grandmother has come closer. "She was so magical, she invented wonderful stories and she was a beautiful artist, we have her watercolors, pastels and acrylics all over my mother's house and in my apartment, she could do something fantastic and fabulous. of some things in the fridge – she was a presence in all our lives. "
Blunt was the second of four siblings; She is particularly close to her older sister, Felicity, a literary agent married to Stanley Tucci (co-star of Blunt, The devil dresses in Prada). "Only 17 months between us, so we really grew up together, we have a secret language." His brother Sebastian, an actor, and Susannah, now a veterinarian, were born a few years later.
Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
He was a quiet, bookish child who stuttered. "Because I did not speak fluently, I watched and listened, I would be in the subway, I would ask myself questions about people and invent stories for everyone." There has always been a natural desire to put oneself in the shoes of people. others. "Moreover, it was only after playing a role that she was able to speak freely. "It started quite young, because it was the only tool where I had to speak correctly," she recalls. "I was this kid, at the top of my room, trying things in the mirror, but I would never tell anyone, it was always very private."
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As a result, she never thought of dreaming of being a professional actress; instead, she wanted to read languages at the university in order to become an interpreter. But while pursuing her undergraduate studies at her mixed boarding school, Hurtwood House, she was chosen for a school production that was then presented at the Edinburgh Festival.
Adrian Rawlins (who played Harry Potter's father in the movies) was one of his fellow comedians. "It was a rock opera called happiness and it was incredibly intense, "says Blunt. There was this horrible scene where I had to do an improvised abortion with a hanger, while singing a ballad. "She breaks into an infectious laugh." Maybe 30 people saw them all the way! "
Fortunately, one of these 30 agents was Rawlins' agent, who also immediately signed Blunt. "I did not want to become an actor and I would not have done it if I had not fallen in," she admits. "It's crazy, is not it?" But that's probably why I ended up booking jobs, because I did not have any nerves It was very thrilling – rather embarrassing, actually. "
Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
And so it continued. Blunt's first professional performance, alongside Judi Dench in Peter Hall's production The Royal family, has earned him the Best Newcomer Award, while his film career seems to have been a continuous string of highlights, since his debut in Pawel Pawlikowski's poignant romance of the next age My summer of love, which was quickly followed by a spectacular turn as a personal assistant obsessed with fashion The devil dresses in Prada, with acclaimed roles in the dramas of the time, science fiction and more recently, the elegant horror film A silent place.
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Perhaps it is precisely because her success seems to have come so naturally that she manages to win it with impetus. She herself attributes to Dench to give her the perfect example of a good woman leading behavior. "She taught me everything about being gracious and gracious and not taking her seriously and she showed me how I wanted to be for the rest of my career." A person to purify everything, and these are the movies that you can "wait to see the back of." Blunt is a charming company and without stars – it seems like today to have lunch with a friend – and she seems to have made allies from most of the Hollywood A list.
"It's very rare that I meet someone I can not hear with, I was warned to work with some people, and I had fun with them." J & # 39, likes the different weird, idiosyncratic personalities you meet – you get a new injection of new people all the time. "
Nevertheless, she manages to stay under the radar, which is not nothing, especially since in the United States (where she lives now), his wife is as famous as she.
She first met John Krasinski, the actor, director and screenwriter, in 2008, and they were married two years later, at an intimate ceremony that was held in the city. George Clooney's communal villa on Lake Como. "John knew George for a long time, they did it Leatherheads together, but I can not believe he offered us his house, actually. I am still quite shocked about this. We thought he was joking the first few times he said it. "
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They have two daughters, four-year-old Hazel and two-year-old Violet, whose birth prompted a move from Los Angeles to Brooklyn, which was close to Blunt's education in London. "There is a multicultural and village atmosphere, we do not have cars, we walk everywhere and people are cool, they leave us alone."
Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
She loves the ordinary of domestic life using her slow cooker and doing school. "We are both very active and we love her," she says about parenting. "I'm so lucky with John, but I have not been prepared for this change of life at all." Like all mothers, I think, "What did I do before What do I have children? "I need you so much, I find myself in a state of perpetual distraction."
For her, A silent place, in which she and her husband played together (Krasinski also directed) is less a horror film than a tribute to the love of parents and the sacrifices we are willing to make for our children. The world has been invaded by spidery extraterrestrials who hunt by sound. Total silence is the only way to avoid being eaten because one of their children discovers the difficulty.
"It's probably the most painful role I've played – the most personal, the hardest to avoid, because it was so close to home." The couple's rule is not to spend more than fifteen days away from their children; which in practice often means that the two girls accompany their parents on the set.
Richard Phibbs for Harper's Bazaar
Today, the whole family is in London because Krasinski is filming the televised drama Jack Ryan right here; and they all spent almost a year living in Richmond for Mary Poppins is back.
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"I've rediscovered how much I adore her," she says of her hometown. "I like the attitude here, its general irreverence and its authenticity.I like to be back and see my friends and go to all familiar places.When you grow up, sometimes you have the impression that a version of yourself is eluding you … is really special. "
It's a feeling that will surely be taken up by all fans of the original film who will see this sequel, including me. For Emily Blunt, Poppins is practically perfect in every way; just the tonic to cheer us up, despite the bluster, Brexit and bad weather.
Mary Poppins Returns "was released in December 21st. The January issue of Harper & # 39; s Bazaar will be appearing on newsstands starting December 4th.
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