Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/69212
Emily Blunt plays "Violet Barnes" in Nick Stoller's the five year engagement which was released in cinemas this month. Q A: It had been a while since I'd read something that really captured how shape-shifting relationships can be with people who are young. There are a lot of patterns involved and what I loved was how it dealt with the dynamic changing between two people in a relationship and how if one is happier than the other, that affects the feelings in the relationship. I thought it was really smart to have the guy be happier at first then seeing what happens when the girl becomes happier and how that emasculates the guy. Then it shows how her success starts to have a bad effect on him. I just thought it was very true to life and that there was a lot in it that made a lot of sense. I've met couples that have been together, engaged for seven years, and never been married. They seem to deal with some of the similar issues we deal with in the film. What were your first impressions of the script? Q Q A: Actually it is. I hadn't done one before and I'd never done anything in this tone before. There was tons of improvisation and a very freewheeling atmosphere. It's really exciting to work like that and with people who are just born to do comedy. Is this your first romantic comedy? improvisation component? A: Well my first film was all improvised, but it was a drama. It was a little independent movie called MY SUMMER OF LOVE. That was terrifying because I had no idea what How challenging did you find the 22 SHEILA MAY 2012 VIOLET LIGHT Q I was doing. It was quite a dark little film, so it was a different environment and atmosphere for sure. Then I did an improvisation film for two weeks last year but again it was different in that it was all improvisation. I found that very challenging. With this movie, the script was so fantastic. Rhys Evans said it the best when he described each scene as being so juicy. There was so much to play with on the page. They write very much with the actor in mind, so it felt very specific. There was nothing vague or underwritten about the script. It was really fun to just stretch the scenes around a bit. I don't think we did endless takes of improvisation. It was just shifting and changing little pieces of the scenes. That made it feel incredibly safe, easy and comfortable. Everyone's just been so much fun. All of us have been very lucky in doing this. A: Violet studied Social Psychology at University and she's really waiting to hear if she's got this job. She's had no luck in San Francisco and has been getting turned down by various colleges. She eventually gets a call from Michigan, after being pretty unhappy for a while. Violet and Tom make a compromise and decide to move to Michigan together. That's when things What can you tell us about your character, Violet?