Entertainment
Women Are Heroic When They’re In Way Over Their Heads – Emily Blunt
According to Emily Blunt, the term “badass” is not a true way to describe courageous women, thus she becomes “irritated” when it is used to describe a female character.
The 40-year-old award-winning actor will co-star with Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film Oppenheimer, which tells the tale of the titular US scientist and his part in the creation of the atomic bomb.
“I get irritated when I’m told: ‘She’s a badass’. That’s not interesting to me because that’s not real life”, she told the magazine. What I like is that sense of a fish out of the water, someone who’s struggling, who’s haphazardly clawing their way out.
“Women are heroic when they’re in way over their heads.”
Blunt plays Kitty Oppenheimer in Nolan’s upcoming movie, claiming that it “wasn’t an easy woman” to play.
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s real-life wife, Kitty, was renowned as “the father of the atomic bomb” for her contribution to the Manhattan Project, which was America’s attempt to produce nuclear weapons first in the Second World War.
The Devil Wears Prada actress reflected on what it was like to play Kitty, saying: “She wasn’t an easy woman — she obviously didn’t fit the 1950s housewife ideal, and yet she found herself tied to an ironing board in Mexico’s Los Alamos, which must have driven her insane.
“I found her so interesting to play, because she was a great scientist herself, but limited by the era she lived in.
“A lot of women a few generations ahead of me weren’t allowed the juggle of a career and children – there was an expectation they should choose, and if they did choose their career, they were frowned upon.
“Even now, I see women in their 70s whose whole identity has been caught up in motherhood, and then once that’s done, there’s this sense of, well, who am I and how do I reclaim myself?”
Having spent decades in the film industry, Blunt said it could still be hard on young women who wanted to act.
She said: “My toes curl when people tell me, ‘My daughter wants to be an actress’.
“I want to say, ‘Don’t do it!’ Because it’s a hard industry and it can be very disappointing. A lot of people tell you not to take things personally – but it’s completely personal, especially when you’re being judged on how you look.
“So you just have to endure that side of things.”
With her face often appearing on billboards, the star said she had reached a level of fame that could sometimes cause her feelings of “dissociation”.
This could affect her two children as well, who she shares with her husband John Krasinski, known for his role as Jim Halpert in The Office.
Blunt said: “When I see myself up on a billboard, I have this complete dissociation with it … I’m like, who’s that?
“And I can see my children doing the same – they might say, oh, there’s mama, but it’s not exciting for them. What’s exciting for them is when I can pick them up from school and take them swimming.”
The July/August issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from June 8.
