Q&A with Emily Blunt

Q: How did filming The Young Victoria change any preconceptions you had about this legendary monarch?
 
EB: I had no idea that she was that feisty and strong willed and outgoing and gregarious and all of those things, I mean I read her diaries and I read letters that she wrote and there's nothing in them that suggests she was any other way. I mean she'd write in italics and with things boldly underlined like she couldn't emphasise enough. You can hear her voice if you read her diaries and she was very candid about her life there and her life with Albert and having sex with Albert and all of that and it was very interesting to see that side of her. You know she loved the opera, she loved ballet, she loved music and she loved to dance. All of those things make for a very emotional person and she was a very emotional Queen. I think Albert came in with his Teutonic ways and kind of reeled a lot of that in but initially she was an incredibly passionate and emotional person.
 
Q: What do you think is so special about Victoria and Albert's relationship?
 
EB: Albert was Victoria's greatest achievement in her reign and I think she needed him probably more than he needed her, funnily enough because I think without him this very stubborn, sort of feisty girl would have made some real problems within the country. She already had messed up quite a lot before he showed up, I mean she'd tried to overturn the government, the whole Lady Flora Hastings scandal. She'd made some terrible mistakes and was mistaking stubbornness for strength and he came in and he was a very logical man, so they were like chalk and cheese and they sort of balanced each other out. She brought out in him, laughter and joy and some more emotion and he sort of dampened all of that down with her and just tried to persuade her that she had to think more logically about things. She would attack before thinking about it and he was the polar opposite and so I think they were perfect for each other; they were just this match made in heaven.
 
Q: Did you find you were able to relate to the character of Victoria?
 
EB: I think that we can all relate to her because she's a teenager, she's in way over her head in a job she's probably not prepared for. She's in love. She doesn't have a good relationship with her mum. I mean, everyone's been through these things. And it's about family, and that's what I loved about the film, that this was not about the Monarchy it was about family. So I can very much relate to that. And when it comes to bringing her to life you can read as much as you want, you can read endless books on her, but you have to make this person a real person.
 
Q: What first attracted you to the role?
 
EB: I just loved that you could see this private and this public Victorian and that they were worlds apart and the opportunity to play someone who is a contradiction to people's preconception of what she was like because everyone knows her as the mourning Queen who was wheeled around in black with a hanky on her head and was kind of demure and repressed and she was just the polar opposite when she was younger and so that was exciting to me, that I could sort of change people's opinion of what Victoria was like.
 
Q: What was it like working with Rupert Friend?
 
EB: Rupert was so perfect for this part and the moment he walked in you just knew he was right. He has that kind of composure and the gravitas that you need for someone like Albert. He's impeccable as him and just delved into this character so much and has absolutely morphed into this guy.
 
Q: Director Jean Marc Vallee is of French Canadian origin. Do you think as a non-Brit he had a different approach to the film?
 
EB: I think it's good not to have an English director or a European director, I think because he doesn't hold this period in too much reverence. I think we all have a tendency to do that here and that becomes kind of stuffy and unapproachable and I think people's perception of that period if they're British or European or something, is our dream of what we wanted that period to be like, so it has a sort of ethereal and other-worldly quality and I think that Jean-Marc brings this very modern approach to it. He sees that she's a rebel and that's what he said to me in the first meeting and I was completely taken aback at first…you know, to describe Queen Victoria as a rebel! And then you realise he's so right it's scary.
 
Q: What sort of impact do you think Brit producer Graham King had on the film?

EB: Graham King is a classy man and he has great taste and I think he really wanted to cast the right people in this, not necessarily the right people for the audience or the box office or the studio's gain. He was so adamant that this was cast in the way that it deserved to be cast.
 
Q: You filmed so much of The Young Victoria on location, with many scenes filmed in gorgeous stately homes and castles. Was this quite a welcome change to your usual on set experience?
 
EB: Everyone hates being in the studio; it's stuffy and the air's horrible. You walk out and there are trucks. This is wonderful because you do sort of immerse yourself in this whole world. I mean, we all like to walk in and kind of play it cool and be like 'yeah it's a bit plain, isn't it? Bit plain in here…' but it's just overwhelming. These rooms are overwhelming.