At its core, acting requires people to play pretend for a living. Having said that, some roles are more intimate and personal than others. That's something that CinemaBlend recently had a chance to talk about with Emily Blunt during an interview about her work on A Quiet Place, and the actress revealed that her role as the mother in the movie is one of her most personal pieces of work yet because of her own status as a mother. Addressing her connection to the character, Blunt told us:
I just understood this mother so much. It's a very personal film for me. It's a very intimate film, much more so than any other character I've played because often you're sort of required to play somebody who's rather dissimilar from you. So that's a stretch, in its own right. When I did Girl on the Train or Sicario... how those girls live is completely different from how I live. This mother is somebody who I admire so much. I relate to her so much. I'm someone who sort of worries unnecessarily about her children anyway, as most parents do. This is like the magnified version of what my experience would be as a mother in this environment. So, it was moving and kind of gut-wrenching and at times the bright line between me and the character would become a little blurry. It's just such an intimate experience for me going through this.
Emily Blunt has played a wide variety of roles over the course of her career. From playing the lonely and alcoholic Rachel Watson in The Girl on the Train to the tactical and no-nonsense Kate Macer in Sicario, the Edge of Tomorrow actress has shown a natural ability to blend into unique environments. However, per her comments to CinemaBlend, A Quiet Place was far more personal and intimate for her because she was able to channel her own fears and anxieties as a mother and apply them to this heightened horror scenario. Of course, Blunt has played a mother before, but a big difference between a film like Looper and A Quiet Place is that she became a real mother herself in 2014 (and then again in 2016), so she now has a well of authenticity to draw from in her performance.
The authenticity of A Quiet Place arguably seems even more pronounced when we consider the fact that Emily Blunt was allowed to work alongside her husband, John Krasinski (who also directed the project) by playing the wife to his husband. In a film largely devoid of dialogue to help forge connections between actors, it seems relatively easy to assume that a natural romantic connection between the leads helped Krasinski and Blunt convey their on-screen romance as well. The result? A story as profoundly personal as it is genuinely terrifying.
John Krasinski's A Quiet Place will hit theaters this weekend on April 6. As for the early reception that the film has received, make sure to check out our full review of the movie, as well as our reaction roundup to see what audiences already have to say about it!
