Emily Blunt is used to training hard for roles, especially the more physically demanding ones. In her spare time the mother-of-two stays active, but enjoys a sense of balance and harmony in her wellness regimen (there’s nothing she loves more than a traditional Sunday roast lunch!). Blunt, 40, is refreshingly honest about the work it takes to get into shape for certain movies—here’s how she does it.
Blunt’s trainer Monique Eastwood has worked with the star for over 10 years. Eastwood first trained Blunt for her role in Edge of Tomorrow. “I had to get her stunt ready – to make sure that she had good muscular endurance and cardio fitness to cope with the demands put on her body daily while filming,” Eastwood says.
Blunt continued to train throughout her pregnancy. “She was pregnant [with her eldest daughter, Hazel] whilst filming Into the Woods, so we had to adapt her training to focus more on keeping her strong and healthy,” Eastwood says. “The priority was to make sure we did not exhaust her, as she had a singing and dancing role whilst being pregnant.”
Blunt had to learn ballet for her role in the Adjustment Bureau. “I had to learn to do ballet for the role, which was terrifying,” she says. “There’s something very exposing about dancing in front of people. It’s like asking someone to look you in the eye and sing without any sense of irony.”
Blunt works hard, but knows when to relax and enjoy herself. “For Emily, it’s all about balance,” Eastwood says. “She loves to stay fit so that she can play hard too! She really enjoys eating and drinking with friends, but she understands what is required for her to stay active and fit… We do like to laugh a lot during our sessions, she likes to rebel, but I always win her over!”
Blunt loves cooking a traditional British Sunday roast meal of meat and vegetables for her friends and family, especially with classic roast potatoes. “The usual routine is that you start at around 2 p.m. if you want, and it goes on until 7,” Blunt told Ina Garten. “It is a long meal. You do not rush through it. It is long. It is wine-fueled… I couldn’t believe it when everyone loved the roast potatoes I did on your show because I was like, ‘Have people never had these before?’ This was like a staple of my diet.”
Blunt says she had to run nonstop for her role in A Quiet Place Part II. “There’s so much running in that film!” she says. “Cillian [Murphy] and I would laugh about that a lot. I’m running from a creature constantly. And I haven’t got any shoes on! I remember running barefoot on the most uneven terrain with a baby in a box, and carrying things like oxygen tanks, and John [Krasinski] going, ‘Em, can you do a fake stumble?’ And I did and botched up my knee.”
Blunt says it’s a myth that actresses are constantly dieting. “Not true,” she says. “I think that’s your choice. Obviously, if I’m doing a part where I need to be in really good shape, I can’t eat this [fried fish sandwiches]. But I’m about to play an alcoholic so we’re good. And I’m specific about when I choose to be healthy and when I’m not, because it’s so dull to be healthy all the time.”