Emily Blunt looked back at the moment that changed her career.
She admitted to being “scared” of Meryl Streep while filming The Devil Wears Prada nearly two decades ago.
During a SiriusXM Front Row conversation with the cast ahead of The Devil Wears Prada 2 release, Blunt recalled how Streep’s method approach on the 2006 film left her intimidated.
“I mean, on the first one, I was quite scared because I feel like you were in a zone,” she told Streep, who confirmed she was fully immersed in her Miranda Priestly persona.
Blunt explained that while Streep wasn’t “impenetrable,” her usual warmth and laughter were replaced by the icy demeanor of the fictional Runway editor.
“We could come up and tell you a funny story, but you wouldn’t do your extraordinary laugh that I normally heard,” she said.
The actress, who was then an unknown, credited in an interview with ELLE director David Frankel for taking a chance on her.
“David Frankel changed my life by casting me when I was an unknown… he was so sure that he wanted me in the movie, from a taped reading. That meant a huge amount to me,” Blunt told ELLE.
She added that the role opened doors beyond the “British period drama girl” stereotype.
“It paved the way for character roles, which is all I wanted. I didn’t want to be an ingenue. I was curious to explore an entire bag of tricks.”
Blunt, Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Stanley Tucci will reunite when The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters on May 1.
