Quotes

I'd love to be exciting and say that I was the rebel at school, but sadly I wasn't.

(On her manipulative character in My Summer of Love (2004)) "Whether they like to admit it or not, everyone's got a bit of "Tamsin" in them".

(On being an actress) "You feel very much like a puppet, but it had been what I was accustomed to - so you just get on with it and try to find something that rings true."

(On why she is often cast as the bad-girl) "I have sly eyes. When I was in school they always said, 'Emily can never be elected Head Girl because you never know what she's thinking."

(On Susan Sarandon) "She's just a force of nature. Amazing to work with. We just had such a laugh. And, she's frighteningly smart".

(On becoming a successful actress) "It was just crazy. It just sort of fell into my lap. It's an awful story for people who've struggled and waited. It's a horrible thing to hear. It was just incredibly fortunate. And now I can't believe I was so casual about it, because I really wouldn't want to do anything else."

(On her childhood) "My head was occupied all the time. I was confused about what I wanted to do or who I was; I didn't really feel I had an identity growing up."

(On performing period-drama dialogue) "I mean, you try to make it as real as possible but when you have lines like 'The fallen eagle is Caesar; the vulture Octavius, and there is one, yet to be decided, who will betray them all'. And you're just like, 'Great, how am I going to make that work?'."

(On accepting her Golden Globe in 2007 without a written speech) "The Globes night was a frenzy: I hadn't written anything. I looked down at the audience and Jack Nicholson was staring up at me and I couldn't even remember what my bloody name was. So I have learnt my lesson!".

I couldn't talk as a kid because I stammered all the time, so I would just watch. I'm fascinated by human behavior. People surprise me all the time. And I love being able to morph into different characters.

[on playing her second lesbian character in a film] I'm going to become a gay icon. Have I ever flirted with that side? No, never [but] I do remember girl crushes on other girls in my year group [at school]. There are these girls who are magnetic and beautiful and sooo cool. You just feel yourself shrink in their presence.

[on acting] I guess it's not really a job, is it? I was speaking to Billy Connolly the other day and we were talking about the work he's done for Comic Relief and all that he's done in Africa and I was saying 'Gosh, sometimes I just wonder if I have a worthwhile job', and he said: 'I'm going to stop you there. You have an incredibly important job. You offer people an escape, you offer people a way out and some relief from anything they might be going through and it's a very important job.' Because he was so adamant about it and spoke very passionately about why it was an important job, it's the first time I've realised that it might be that.

I wonder if I'll be alive? God knows. I'm not very good at looking that far ahead. I'd love to not have a walker at 80. I'd love to still be upright. And children and grandchildren, I'd love that. I'd love not to be a cantankerous old bat. I'd love to be a fun-loving nana. -- on what will she be like at age 80.

Yes. I heard a conversation with a studio head who said that they're willing to make an Adam Sandler film or a Will Smith film and maybe one $20m film a year and that's it. That's quite worrying that the studios are only going to be willing to spend money on films that are no risk, with the big stars that everyone is going to flock to see. So, unfortunately, there's a lot of films with a very human heartbeat that aren't getting seen or made. I think there's a great sadness in that. -- on if she worries about independent, offbeat films will struggle to get made because of the economic climate.

I think it's embarrassing to hear people talk about their process because you always sound a bit wanky. You always imagine people are reading the article going: 'Oh, get a real job.'

I learned very early on to reel everything in. Sometimes you just shouldn't do anything because the camera sees everything - like the smallest flick of your eye and it catches it and it reads as something. The performances I enjoy are the ones that are hard to read or ambiguous or left-of-centre because it makes you look closer and that's what humans are like - quite mysterious creatures, hard to pinpoint.

It's a film where human behavior is so fascinating that I could watch someone making pancakes with their child all day because of everything that's going on between them. That little boy - I want to cry thinking about it - he was just magical in it. It's the best performance by a kid I've ever seen -- on one of her favorite films, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

It's not like people say, "Oh my Gosh, are you Emily Blunt?" It's more like "Are you the girl in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)?". I'm defined by it and that's okay.

[on her parents, enthusiastic gardeners]: I've never shoveled mud before, but I should.

I just love the whole story of having faith in ludicrous ideas. Each character from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011) is on a real journey and at the end of the film, you see all their journeys collide and it's just magical.

[on filming Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)] In London everyone just went back to their own house and did their own things. We were so tired,shooting six days a week most of the time. Then we went to Morocco and it was heaven. All the crew and the cast were in the same hotel. People would have drinks at night and then we'd wander across the street to this French restaurant. It was just great. It was like being at camp.

I'm a freak for cooking shows. If I'm home on a Saturday, I can watch the Food Network all day. just thinking about it, I'm getting all giddy!

[Tom Cruise] He's got that magnetism and charisma of the old school Hollywood stars. He really knows acting. He knows what he's doing.

[Tom Cruise] People go absolutely crazy for him. He genuinely loves people. He loves meeting them. He wants to connect with them even if it's hundreds of thousands. He'd be on there for hours if he could.

He is someone willing to take risks which is unusual for an actor of that magnitude. I think the older they get, the safer they get. Tom (Cruise) is the opposite - a force of nature.

[Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman] Heaven, adventurous, spontaneous.

[Tom Cruise] He's willing to discover that whole bag of tricks. He's a character actor.

[after her competitor Anne Hathaway's first performance on Lip Sync Battle] I'm not concerned. I thought it was cheap to have done all that stuff. It's easy.

I live to give.

[she and Tom Cruise at one of three film premieres for Edge of Tomorrow all in one day] We like doing premieres this way. It's much more fun.

[Edge of Tomorrow] We hope you love the movie. We loved making it so much. We made it for you guys. We make to entertain you and to give you the best ride ever and I'm thrilled you're going to see it finally.

[when they were competitors on an episode of Lip Sync Battle] Anne (Hathaway) has a very, very secretive process. I called her once and she just picked up and went shh. She called me and said I'm doing Beethoven's 5th and I said there are no words and she hung up.

[to Tom Cruise at a premiere for Edge of Tomorrow] You're the Chatty Cathy.

[Speaking to The Telegraph about the worst thing ever to see in a script] It's the worst thing ever when you open a script and read the words 'strong female lead'. 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.

[on why she avoids on-screen nudity] I'm not so keen on doing nudity, because I'm not 22 any more. And actually it's not so much a moral thing as I've done it before and do I really want to do it again? Does it serve the film or is it gratuitous and seeing someone's t*ts for the sake of it? Because I don't think it's necessary most of the time.

[how actors should prepare to film kissing scenes with her] You gotta brush your teeth, use some mouthwash, stick some gum on the roof of your mouth, and then we can kiss.