Emily Blunt lived in Vancouver for several years before moving away in 2008, but because those years were spent with her ex, CanCon crooner and die-hard Canucks fan Michael Bublé, she’s not keen to share any Vancouver memories.

In an interview with theGeorgia Straight in a downtown hotel room during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, the 26-year-old British actor—best known for her role inThe Devil Wears Prada—explains, “I think when you move on from a chapter of your life, you just move on to the next one, so I’ve never been one to reminisce that much.”

In The Young Victoria, which opens Friday (December 18) in Vancouver, Blunt plays the title character in a story that begins just before Victoria became a teen queen at age 18. The film, a mix of love story, political intrigue, and family drama, was scripted by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) and produced by the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. It seems like the perfect BBC–sponsored costume drama—but the director was Quebec’s Jean-Marc Vallée, making for a totally out-of-left-field follow-up to his smash hit C.R.A.Z.Y.

“Jean-Marc created an atmospheric set that was really transporting,” Blunt says. “Just the way he had the set: he’d have music playing, but modern music… I think he wanted this to be a relatable film, and I think often period films can distance people, as they’re quite stuffy. So he was wonderful in that way.”

Blunt says the spark for the film came from Ferguson. “I think she had very much been within that world, so [she] understood it and understood the pressures of it—feeling like an outsider. I think she very much had a certain sympathy with [Prince] Albert, or empathy with Albert and what Albert went through by not being entitled. He was never allowed to be king and was constantly being usurped by his wife. But I think she [Ferguson] was really excited to have the idea and then hand it over to us.”

For Blunt, the excitement came from having the chance to play a character who not only ruled but defined her country. “I really was intrigued by seeing this side of Victoria which I’d never heard about, and I’d had no knowledge of. I was expecting the younger version to be similar to the older, which was sour-faced and po. But when I started reading about her, I was surprised by the joie de vivre that she had and the rebellious quality of her, and that she was strong and vivacious and loved to dance and party, loved to laugh and to eat. Obviously, I was really surprised, and hoped I could surprise other people.” • Continue Reading?

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The British actress’ royal turn as ‘The Young Victoria’ leaves her marveling at the power of love.

The diamond ring on Emily Blunt’s finger is so blinding, it appears she might have ransacked the Crown Jewels during her recent stint playing the teenage queen of England in her new movie “The Young Victoria.”

Wearing a skin-tight, black Roland Mouret mini-dress, long hair loose around her shoulders, Blunt, 26, described by her colleagues as “warm, friendly, funny and down-to-earth” enters the lounge of the Four Seasons Hotel looking cool and glamorous, more ’60s Mod than 19th century empress. It turns out her ring doesn’t come from the royal stash in the Tower of London, but courtesy of boyfriend John Krasinski (NBC’s “The Office”), who just asked her to marry him.

“What really resonated with me was how wonderful that commitment that they had to each other was, and how important that is,” the newly engaged Blunt says of Victoria and Albert, the famous royal couple who married in 1840 and loved each other ferociously. When Albert died suddenly at age 42, broken-hearted Victoria put on black to mourn him, never took it off and went on to become England’s longest-serving monarch at 63 years and seven months. “People quit on jobs. They quit on marriages. They quit on school. There’s an immediacy of this day and age that doesn’t lend itself to being committed to anything.” • Continue Reading?