{"id":4370,"date":"2012-09-06T14:03:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T20:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2012-09-06T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T20:04:31","slug":"looper-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4370","title":{"rendered":"Looper"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Up until this week, all the attention around the sci-fi thriller Looper has been on Joseph Gordon-Levitt\u2019s transformation into a younger version of Bruce Willis. In the film, written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a mob assassin called a looper who kills off marks beamed back from the future. It\u2019s a steady, well-paying, simple-if-brutal gig, until one day the mob decides to close your loop, and send back your future self to be killed off, severing all ties to the crime. Unfortunately for Gordon-Levitt, his older self is played by Bruce Willis, who escapes his assassination, forcing the younger Joe to try to chase down and murder his older self.
\nAnd that\u2019s where Emily Blunt\u2019s character comes in. It\u2019s a part that\u2019s been kept largely under wraps \u2014 all Blunt\u2019s said publicly is that Joe\u2019s pursuit of Older Joe brings him in contact with her and her family \u2014 but all that is about to change when the film premieres Thursday as the opening movie of the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. EW had a chance to talk with Blunt in July about the role; why she leapt at the chance to be in the film; the unusual training regimen she took on for the part; why she called Looper \u201cthe best movie I\u2019ve ever been a part of\u201d; and what it\u2019s like to be directed by Johnson. Check out our conversation below: <\/p>\n

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your first reaction when you read the script?
\nEMILY BLUNT: More than anything, I felt like, \u201cWHAT?!\u201d [Laughs]
\nWhat does your \u201cWhat?!\u201d imply?
\nI think really that it implies that actually I\u2019m programmed to reading a lot of generic scripts. So when one comes along that is unfathomably original and seems to have a very singular voice, and seems to be carving out new space in storytelling, it\u2019s so exciting. I ran to that meeting [with] Rian and just sort of anchored there hoping I could strong-arm him into giving it to me. Because it was just one of the best things I\u2019d ever read or been lucky enough to read.<\/p>\n

You definitely seem to be taking on a role that\u2019s much grittier than what you\u2019ve done in the past.
\nFor me, that\u2019s the appeal. That was the draw, that I hadn\u2019t done before, and I think the challenge of it was speaking to me in a big way. I admired this character a lot. She\u2019s tough and protective and she has a secret. There was just so much to play with. She\u2019s kind of a bad ass as well, and I think I hadn\u2019t had a chance to play a character like that in a movie of this ilk, you know? I was more than anything drawn to playing that part.
\nWe meet your character as she\u2019s swinging an axe into a tree trunk for firewood, and I understand you had to teach yourself how to properly chop wood?
\n[Laughs] Yes, I did. I had logs delivered to my backyard in Los Angeles, and just learned how to chop wood. I chopped wood most days until I looked like I could chop wood convincingly, seeing as this something the character probably does every day. I didn\u2019t want to chop wood like a sissy, you know?
\nWhat did your husband John Krasinski make of you constantly chopping wood in the backyard?
\nI think my dog was more disturbed by the logs, because that\u2019s usually where he pees in that small section of lawn. But then, months after the movie wrapped, John was like, \u201cWe have to get these logs removed. At some point, they have to go.\u201d I went,\u201dI know, I know, I know. I keep forgetting!\u201d The gardeners moved them. This was eight months after the movies wrapped, the logs were still there, looking a bit beaten up and sad.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Sony Pictures
\nYou said before that you didn\u2019t realize Joe was in make-up to look more like Bruce Willis when you first met him?
\nYeah, which I think is a testament to the makeup. When I arrived on set, one of the PAs said, hey, do you want to meet Joe? So I went into his trailer, and no one had told me he was in his prosthetic makeup. In fact, I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t know this, but I hadn\u2019t asked. I thought he just looked strange and different from how I imagined him looking. I was more just weirded out than anything else. And then I convinced myself, oh my God, I\u2019m not talking to Joe, what am I doing, I\u2019m obviously talking to his stunt man, someone has mis-guided me to the wrong trailer! All kinds of paranoid thoughts went through my head. [Laughs]
\nYou also have a son in the film, played by Pierce Gagnon. What was it like working with him?
\nI just tried to spend every moment I could with him, so we\u2019d have a bond that would show on screen, and he\u2019d be comfortable with me physically \u2014 I could lift him around and hug him and he\u2019d wouldn\u2019t feel uncomfortable. So we\u2019d hang out constantly. We had lunch together. We did a bunch of stuff together.
\nAt Comic-Con, you called Looper \u201cthe best movie I\u2019ve ever been a part of.\u201d Of course, you are proud of the other work you\u2019ve done, and for good reason, why has this movie earned that kind of praise from you?
\nThat\u2019s funny, when I said that, I realized that that sounded very absolute. I think more than anything what I feel \u2014 and it\u2019s not to take anything from the other films I\u2019m enormously proud of and happy to be a part of \u2014 it\u2019s just that for whatever reason it was, everything fell into place. The script was unbelievable, the director was unbelievable. I haven\u2019t seen this movie before. I think that\u2019s a really rare thing. For me, I think, to be original and rare, that seems to be the best thing for me right now. Because it\u2019s hard to find that.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not alone in that pronouncement \u2014 Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have said similar things \u2014 but when I brought it all up to Rian, he got visibly nervous. I think he\u2019s afraid that\u2019s raising expectations for the film to an unrealistic level.
\nOh no! I think I understand. I think he\u2019s more embarrassed than anything else. I mean, it\u2019s also a personal thing for us. Whatever Bruce said, whatever I feel, whatever Joe feels, that\u2019s a personal thing for us. It doesn\u2019t mean that everyone\u2019s going to think that it\u2019s the best movie that they\u2019ve ever seen. But I feel that it\u2019s probably that it\u2019s the best film that I\u2019ve been lucky enough to be in. I think more than anything, Rian is like, \u201cWhat\u2019s happening?!\u201d [Laughs] His brain sort of melts when he hears stuff like that. Rian is the most unassuming, humble dude. He\u2019s a very contained person. He\u2019s not an arrogant guy who takes big swings. He\u2019s a really humble guy who takes big swings.
\nWhat\u2019s he like on set?
\nHe\u2019s f\u2014ing remarkable. Even though he wrote it, he has a great belief in collaboration, which is a rare thing. Because often when people write something, it\u2019s precious to them so they covet it from any change. With Rian, he was so interested with what we could bring to the part and to the scene, there was a real openness to any idea, however big or small. He also would give you really smart, fun notes. I had this big scene. It\u2019s really the first time you meet the character, and I come out with a shotgun and try to scare off a vagrant. It\u2019s this big monologue that the character has. Rian just said after a couple of takes, \u201cThat\u2019s great. I just want you to think, like, Full Metal Jacket. Just do that now.\u201d