Posted on 11/20/2022 4:06:34 PM PST by nickcarraway
Don’t mention the strong female character descriptor to Emily Blunt. During a recent interview with The Telegraph (via IndieWire), the actor rejected the archetype and said she’s “bored” of getting scripts where her character is labeled a “strong female lead.”
“It’s the worst thing ever when you open a script and read the words ‘strong female lead,’” Blunt said. “That makes me roll my eyes. I’m already out. I’m bored. Those roles are written as incredibly stoic, you spend the whole time acting tough and saying tough things.”
Blunt said that her latest character, Cornelia on the western revenge series “The English,” is far “more surprising” than what the simplified “strong female lead” label describes. “She’s innocent without being naive and that makes her a force to be reckoned with,” the actor added.
“The English” stars Blunt as a frontier woman hellbent on avenging the death of her son. Cornelia partners with an indigenous farmer named Eli (Chaske Spencer), who is also on a mission of revenge in order to reclaim his land.
“I love a character with a secret,” Blunt said. “And I loved Cornelia’s buoyancy, her hopefulness, her guilelessness… She startles Eli out of his silence and their differences become irrelevant because they need each other to survive. I thought that was very cool.”
Blunt joins a growing list of female actors who have spoken out against the “strong female lead” label. “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” actor Tatiana Maslany told The Guardian in August that it’s “frustrating” for roles to be reduced to that one “strong” trait.
“It’s reductive,” Maslany added. “It’s just as much a shaving off of all the nuances, and just as much of a trope. It’s a box that nobody fits into. Even the phrase is frustrating. It’s as if we’re supposed to be grateful that we get to be that.”
“The English” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video for U.S. subscribers.
I don’t know “why” for westerns. But I’ve heard some do it so that it improves manual dexterity when manipulating objects in cold weather.
Is she giving back her “worst thing ever” role money?
Well, there’s a reason for the gloves and it’s not to keep her hands warm
I think you have recommended Critical Drinker in the past, and I really appreciate his work as a critic!
Most people’s opinions carry little weight with me. Celebrities, not at all.
I tried to watch The English
At some strange level it was kinda, sorta good……I didn’t watch all
It has a surprising storyline…….and what I saw was icky graphic horror/violent
Blunt is nice looking……but she won’t be for long in this movie
Here's how a 115 pound model waif defeats a jacked 6 foot 8, 280 pound assassin:
Jesse told herself to keep cool. She twisted and tugged her arm but it felt as if a bear had clamped onto it.
She needed a distraction.
She pulled her other arm forward, wound up, and hammered him in the jaw with her elbow, immediately yanking her arm free. She darted away, but not before he grabbed her ponytail. Her feet flew out from under her and she slammed to the ground on her back. She rolled over and kicked him with both feet as he reached for her. He didn’t move, but the kick pushed her backwards across the ground and out of his grip. She pulled Tyler’s pistol from her fanny pack and fired two quick rounds into the man’s chest.
From the novel, Collateral Crimes
Would also be a good title for a movie about Jerry Nadler and Robert Reich.
“When Brian Dennehy was good, he was very good.”
I’ve always had a major crush on him.
Her character in the mini-series has been raped by a man who has syphilis and she bears the child with the disease. The boy lives and she mothers this child until he dies and this makes her an outcast to all British society. She wears the gloves to hide the fact that she has tertiary syphilis herself. Frankly, I found her character strongly Pro-Life and pro-family...
Thank you! I was hoping there was another fan. And yes, she was definitely a great “strong female lead” in “Edge of Tomorrow”.
Her and her husband, John Krasinski, (Jim from “The Office”) are a pretty talented couple. I like them in “A Quiet Place”.
I don’t know. Specific usage is a separate question from its being a period clothing item, which it is.
Very charismatic.
I expect that was very good.
1883 was grossly detached even from the reality of the modern day West let alone the West of 1883.
I can’t help feeling cynical.
How gracious of Ms. Blunt (& other actors like Kate Blanchett) to start complaining now, instead of 5 years ago, when the whole cancel culture started. Those few brave individuals who did raise their voices were publicly and professionally censured.
Now that Hollywood films, as well as the viewership, are in the toilet, and her colleagues are seeing the backlash and worrying about their paychecks, do they finally come out with a statement. Now it’s safe, apparently. I’m sorry, but this whole thing sounds disingenuous.
Instead of fan-baiting, we know have “anti-woke baiting” — a desperate ploy to get people back in the theaters. I read in a thread elsewhere of likening this to a woman who pleads with her husband, “Please take me back. I’ll never cheat on you again!” Sorry, trust and respect are over.
I watched it all and I love this movie. Sometimes hard to follow, but it all comes together in the end. Cinematography is beautiful. Minimal sets, filmed in Spain, to my surprise.
Some gore, but minimally graphic. Unforgettable movie I highly recommend to all.
Thanks. How do you like that, there IS a reason.
When I was a freshman at college in my very first semester, I had the weirdest professor I ever had in my life. He was a very small man and would write equations with his right hand all the while following along and erasing them with his left hand. His right hand was always run a white cotton glove. Nobody ever found out why.
“grossly detached even from the reality of the modern day West let alone the West of 1883” — I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw that. It wasn’t as bad as some Westerns where everybody looks, behaves, acts, and speaks like it’s 2022, but it was pretty bad.
The cinematography was good. So many things required major suspension of disbelief like the farmer in one of the opening scenes outrunning five bandits while single-handedly driving a fully loaded wagon and a team of four. Right.
The Fort Worth scenes were pretty good.
The river crossing scenes were very poor.
But, I REALLY like the Indian love-interest who spoke excellent white man English with no accent and how she became perfectly fluent in his language in two weeks.
The romance was pure BS and the language thing caught my attention too. We’re a couple hours away from the Wind River rez and when we’ve been down there for the elk hunting none of the NA speak their own language. “Too hard.” they all say.
And they all had a lifetime to learn...not a couple weeks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.