Emily Blunt has been on a roll with her dramatic film roles. From Sicario to The Girl on the Train, Blunt has proven she has some serious acting chops, but, to be completely honest, we’ve missed her adorable comedic side. Emily from The Devil Wears Prada is still one of our favorite movie characters to date, and we’re ready for fun Emily Blunt to once again grace us with her presence—it seems the talented actress seems ready for the transition, too. Enter her newest film role: Mary Poppins.
“I enjoy the challenge to be versatile … [but] I want to find the silliness again,” Blunt told Entertainment Weekly. “I feel a little more trepidation with this [character] because she’s so emblematic of people’s nostalgia,” she told the mag. “It’s such an important character in people’s childhood.” Luckily, the most important critic of them all has given Blunt her blessing. Director Rob Marshall told Blunt that he ran into the original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, and told her, “‘It’s top secret, but Emily Blunt’s playing Mary Poppins.’ And she went, ‘Oh, wonderful!'”
“I felt like I wanted to cry,” Blunt said when Marshall told her the news. “It was lovely to get her stamp of approval. That took the edge off it, for sure.”
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“We’re delving into the books a lot more, which is a different version of the character, I’ll say that much,” the actress revealed. “She’s a little meaner, yeah.”
Blunt is set to star as the titular nanny in the sequel of the classic film, titled Mary Poppins Returns. The new film is a slight departure from the original, taking place in Depression-era London, following an adult Jane and Michael Banks, and Michael’s three children. Poppins gives the Banks children a visit following a loss in the family, and along with her friend Jack, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda, aka the new Bert. Meryl Streep is also set to join the cast, playing the nanny’s cousin, Topsy. Needless to say, we can’t wait for a (second, thanks to Into the Woods) Miranda Priestly-Emily reunion!
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The movie will be directed by Rob Marshall and produced by Marshall, John DeLuca, and Marc Platt, the same trio behind 2015’s musical movie, Into the Woods, and is set to hit theaters Christmas of 2018.
