Who knew sitting on a train was so exciting?
Not this guy. Iâve sat on a lot of trains before, and the most exciting thing is when the person sitting next to you leaves and you can put your bag on their seat. Itâs thrilling.
But that has nothing on what happens to Emily Bluntâs character, Rachel, in âThe Girl on the Train.â In the movie, based on the best-selling novel, Rachelâs usual train ride somehow gets her entangled in a possible murder, and thanks to her (spoiler) alcoholism, you donât know who to believe.
The movie is full of mysteries, and, after seeing it, we have some unanswered questions of our own, such as, âWas there a âDevil Wears Pradaâ reference?â or, the most puzzling mystery, âHow does Rachel get the same seat on the train every day?â
Thankfully, The Huffington Post recently chatted with Blunt, and the actress cleared a few things up.
At one point on the train, Rachel is drawing a womenâs shoe, which kind of looked like the âDevil Wears Pradaâ shoe. Whatâs the reason behind it?
Originally in the book, she was drawing a shoe, and thereâs this voiceover that I donât think made it into the film talking about how she had a very overactive imagination. She sees this discarded shoe and she can only imagine, âWhereâs the other shoe and what happened with it? Whereâs the foot that was put into it?â It was not a little nod at âDevil Wears Prada.â [Laughs]
There have been a lot of âDevil Wears Prada 2â rumors. What are your thoughts on a possible sequel?
I think if everybody did it, we would entertain it. I think the story would have to be really good and really worth it because I sometimes feel that if you do a sequel thatâs not as effective as the first, it almost dilutes the first, which would be so bad.
Rachel draws on the train and somehow gets entangled in possible murders. What do you do to pass the time while traveling?
I have an overactive imagination. I do like to look at people and wonder about their lives. That was a side of Rachel that looked familiar to me â that voyeuristic side.
What was your biggest challenge with this movie?
It was such an alien skin to wear for a while. Iâve never played somebody as tortured as this. What a challenge to play somebody in the grips of an addiction but also somebody whoâs afraid of themselves, and youâve got the heightened environment with a potential murder. That combination is like a real character piece with the combination of a thriller, so itâs really unusual. It is a rarity in Hollywood to have a mainstream film with such a flawed character, especially the female character.
The film is getting a lot of comparisons to âGone Girl.â What do you think about those?
I understand why those comparisons occur because you have the unreliable narrator and youâve got a thriller set in a domestic environment, so I understand, but I do feel that the main protagonists are very different. Youâve got one whoâs a sociopathic lunatic â Amy in âGone Girlâ â and then youâve got Rachel, whoâs a tortured alcoholic, whoâs a victim until sheâs not.
Thereâs a scene where Rachel is yelling at a mirror, and itâs scary. How did you prep for that?
Well, that was one of those scenes that stuck out in the script. Iâm sure a lot of people were nervous about it because itâs a big moment, and itâs sort of the pinnacle of her rage and pinnacle of her drinking problem [that are] evident in that scene. For me, when youâre doing a high-octane emotional scene, I canât plan them out, so I donât rehearse them. I donât quite know whatâs going to happen, and I can only describe it as you sort of go somewhere else. I said to [director Tate Taylor], âIs it OK if I donât walk it through? I donât quite know what Iâm going to do,â and he said, âGreat.â We just rolled, and we did three takes of it. And it was just wonderful and spontaneous. Yeah, it was a very intense scene to shoot.
OK, biggest question: How does Rachel get the same seat on the train every day?
She doesnât! [Laughs] Well, listen, maybe she actually does get the seat most of the time because she wants to get the perfect box to see her favorite house, but I think maybe youâre led to believe sheâs really living out in the sticks, so by the time she gets on the train, itâs not very busy. Maybe sheâs at the end of the line, sort of an empty deal at that point.