Emily Blunt understands the power of a blockbuster. She’s been in word-of-mouth wonders such as “Edge of Tomorrow,” surprise hits like “A Quiet Place,” and prestige hits like “Sicario.” But, nothing prepared her (or the world for that matter) for “Barbenheimer.” A meme that became a pop culture phenomenon driving massive box office returns not only for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” but a movie Blunt had a major role in, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”
READ MORE: Christopher Nolan on Heath Ledger, Robert Downey, Jr. and, of course, “Oppenheimer” [Interview]
By the end of its theatrical run, which frankly continues with extra IMAX and 70mm screenings here and there, “Oppenheimer” earned over $952 million worldwide. Sure, Nolan has a built-in audience and the cast included draws such as Blunt, Robert Downey, Jr., and Florence Pugh, but it’s still a drama about the man J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) who spearheaded the effort to make the world’s first atomic bomb. Many thought it would barely make back its $100 million production budget. And boy were they wrong.
“I thought there would always be an audience for it,” Blunt says. “I never expected the meteoric journey that it had. It was so thrilling. We were just awestruck and continue to be by the reaction. It was not expected to the degree that it became a runaway train.”
Anyone at both Universal Studios (“Oppenheimer”) and Warner Bros (“Barbie”), will tell you the Barbenheimer phenomenon (which consisted of moviegoers organically watching both movies on the same day or subsequent days) contributed to their massive box office. Blunt, who will be starring opposite “Barbie” star Ryan Gosling in “The Fall Guy” this summer, thinks it has to be duplicated again. Somehow, some way.
“We have to make it happen again. We have to because look what it did for cinema. Look what it did for people,” Blunt says. “It was joyous and such a celebration of the diverse range of movies out there. And why do they have to be pitted against each other? Just go see both. I want it to happen more and more and more. It’s fantastic.”
During our conversation earlier this month, Blunt went into detail about portraying Oppenehiemer’s wife, Kitty Oppenheimer, the killer scene where Kitty lets them have it, what Benny Safdie told her about Kitty’s diss to the backstabbing Edward Teller, and much, much more.
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The Playlist: You’ve made many movies in your career that have been big, gigantic hits. I am going to guess that never in a million dreams did you think that “Oppenheimer” would make almost a billion dollars. What were you hoping for when you made this movie?
Emily Blunt: I thought there would always be an audience for it. I never expected the meteoric journey that it had. It was so thrilling. We were just awestruck and continue to be by the reaction. It was not expected to the degree that it became a runaway train.
Having been so close to the material, why do you think it struck such a chord? Why do you think so many people who hadn’t gone to see a movie in forever went to see it?
I think that deep down there’s a craving to be challenged and to be provoked and for an experience that… I feel this movie was just unleashed upon the world, and if you didn’t go and see it, then you would be missing out on something. You’d be missing out on a human experience more than anything. I think it is a myriad of amazing, a concoction of many different reasons why it became what it did. I think it’s Chris Nolan. I don’t know where the theatrical experience would be without him. I think he’s absolutely changed the world in the films that he’s created and inspired so many filmmakers to make like-minded movies. Cillian is just riveting, extraordinary. People have a culty obsession with him. I think he and Chris together are a lethal, lethal team. And I think that there’s so much relevance in the film. We’re still living in the looming shadow of what was created today. But I also remember the first time I saw it, it felt like a rock show. It felt like a horror movie. It felt like he Trojan horsed all of these genres. It’s not a biopic. It doesn’t even feel like a historical drama. It’s a thriller, it’s a horror, it’s a love story. It’s all of these things.
Have you ever read a script written in the first person before?
Never. Never.
Did it take you back? Were you surprised?
It was unnerving actually in a wonderful way. The whole film is quite unnerving, I guess. And it felt very visceral. It felt very personal. We felt we were inside him. You feel like you’re inside that extraordinary, traumatic brain and it read like that. And Chris prints all his scripts on red paper. I don’t know if you knew that. And Downey was saying something about how he feels the paper is hypnotic. That’s why all the actors say yes to Chris Nolan. So you’re handed this massive script on red paper and Chris is so understated as a person. He’s so terribly English in that way. So we spoke for an hour and a half, then he was like, “Right. So the role’s for Kitty Oppenheimer, and I’d quite like you to play Kitty Oppenheimer. So do you want to take a look? And if you like it…” I was just like, “Ahhh. This morning I wasn’t in a Chris Nolan movie and suddenly I’m apparently in a Chris Nolan movie.” But I found the script, and actually the script is the movie. So, you think because of all the interweaving narratives and the intercutting and complicated, chaotic, and incredible it is, that he might’ve built it in the editing room, but it is as the script was.
I haven’t seen it myself, but Most scripts, not all of them, most of them would say, “Kitty is angry at whatever such and such says,” or, “Oppenheimer walks to his left,” or just whatever. Is it that detailed or is it more of a narrative conversation?
They’re trying, apparently [to release it]. So, it’s written from Oppenheimer’s perspective. So, instead of saying, “Oppenheimer walks into the room,” “I walk into the room and I see this person and this person. I quickly move across the room towards that.” It’s very intense reading it that way. Everyone else is written as Kitty or Jean or Groves, but whenever it’s Oppenheimer, it’s “I and me,” and it was very clear that this was a singular perspective for this movie.
As an actor, I’m assuming when you were performing, you always had to think, “I’m doing this from his perspective. It’s not what I think the character is, it’s what he thinks based on that perspective”?
No, no. No. Very much it was always completely free-spirited for you to create your own character out of this, not simply a reactionary one. You want to create someone who is unique to whatever environment they find themselves in, whether it’s from his perspective or not. And Chris is endlessly curious about what you might do with the role, which again is quite unusual for a writer because sometimes there might be some previously formed concept or idea of how you might do it, and you’re a bit straight-jacketed by that. But he’s really curious, really open-minded, kind of excited to see what you might throw against the wall.
Is he someone who likes to do rehearsals or read through or just discover it on the set?
Discovery on the set mainly. I know when we were doing camera tests, I think we would each come in and we’d read a scene or a couple of scenes and it’s always terrifying doing the voice for the director for the first time if you’ve created a character on your own. And Cillian and I both are very similar. We wander around in our houses by ourselves just talking out loud until you find something that works, like a couple of crazy people. I usually actually go away for a few days, just two or three days and just walk around for hours and hours by myself until something sticks. But then it’s the terror of doing it for Chris for the first time. And I remember Cillian and I read that scene, you know when they go horseback riding?
Yep.
It’s her backstory and everything, and I just felt him watching me do it. And then at the end, he went, “Wow. Yeah. Love the pace. Yeah. O.K., good. Yeah.” And then you’re done and then he likes it and then that’s it.
When you’re first watching the movie, I’m going to be honest, I was like, “Why is Emily playing this role? I don’t get it. I don’t understand why she’s doing this.” And then there is that scene, one of the most powerful scenes in the film where Kitty is testifying and she lets them have it. When you read that for the first time as an actor, do your eyes widen with glee?
When I read the script, I knew something was building towards hopefully a reclamation of that brilliant brain of hers. You need someone to come in and just rip the face off Jason Clarke’s character who has just been raking him over the coals. And at that point, she’s so unpredictable and she’s so volatile and she clearly has a drinking problem. When I read it and then when I started working on it and building towards that scene…I don’t love approaching scenes like, “Oh, this is a big boy.” I try not to do that because I think you’ve got to let it transcend or take whatever shape it wants to on the day. So, I’m open to it. But I did love the setup that you think she’s going to choke and she’s not even walking in a straight line going in there. And then I found the scene really exhilarating. I had a great dance partner in Jason Clarke who’s the most horrible bully as that character. He’s so good. He’s so good. It was exhilarating to do the scene. It really was.
You have one of my other favorite moments somewhat after that when Kitty refuses to shake Edward Teller’s hand. And you have this look in your eye. I keep thinking it’s going to be a meme. But it’s so good and it’s what the audience wants. They want Oppenheimer to be like her. They want her to be angry and he’s not. Was that her role in the movie in a way?
Yeah. I think that even though she appears from the outside to have lost all dignity, she is full of it actually and full of an authentic fire. And she was pretty remorseless about things, by all accounts. He was riddled with guilt and shame and she wasn’t. And maybe it’s just that she disassociated from it in a different way. Maybe it’s just in her DNA of who she is, but she had a big justice meter as well, and she was fiercely protective of him. And so apparently, Benny Safdie told me this today, apparently when he read about it, she did do that to him, and just witheringly hated on him in that moment. And apparently, in real life, he did go home and cried hysterically, which I didn’t know. It made me laugh so much today, the thought of this guy going home and just weeping at the hatred that he’d been on the receiving end of. But I remember doing one take because there was that line before where she goes, “I would’ve spit in his face,” and I think maybe she would’ve liked to have done [that if she could].
Maybe she would’ve. Talking about Christopher’s process in general, you’re doing that scene with Jason and you block it, you get ready to do it. Is he a one, two take director guy? Does he go longer?
It’s whatever you feel you want or need. I think you can tell when he’s happy. I feel like he gives people at least four. I feel four is a bit of a magic number. Sometimes it’s two. I think with a scene like the testifying scene, there’s quite a lot to mine, whereas I think with maybe some of the simpler scenes, he was a little quicker at moving on. But I think he just wants you to have space to play. He really does. He likes that. I’m sure he was holding a storm in his head every day. I don’t know how he kept all the chaos away from the actors. But you feel none of it, nothing.
So as someone who has been in your own blockbusters before, all sorts of different-size films, were you concerned when this whole Barbieheimer thing was going on? Do you think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing? Or do you think something like that can happen again?
We have to make it happen again. We have to because look what it did for cinema. Look what it did for people. It was joyous and such a celebration of the diverse range of movies out there. And why do they have to be pitted against each other? Just go see both. I want it to happen more and more and more. It’s fantastic.
And actually, your next movie is with Ken himself.
I know. Ken and Kitty.
Ken and Kitty! So wait, when you shot that, did he tell you anything at all? Because you shot that after.
When we shot Fall Guy together, it was before people joined our two movies together as the double. So we had just shot two very separate films, but he was full of such high praise for Greta, Margot, and the whole experience he loved.
I saw the extended preview of “The Fall Guy” that they showed at CinemaCon that has not been released to the public. It was much longer and super fun. If you could tell someone why they should get excited about “The Fall Guy” coming out [next year], what would it be?
Well, it’s going to come out in the summer now because it’s definitely a summer movie. It feels like a summer movie. It is wild and bonkers and stunningly beautiful. It’s romantic and… Say sexy. I’m not saying sexy. It’s fabulous. I am so proud to be in it. I just love it.
Oh, good. Well, I can’t wait to see the final thing.
You’re going to love it. Oh, it’s so much fun.
“Oppenheimer” is available on digital download services and Peacock.