It’s hard to imagine her with anything but the eloquent, biting wit she showed off in The Devil Wears Prada, but as a child Emily Blunt’s stuttering problem was nearly debilitating; it took the encouragement of a drama teacher for The Adjustment Bureau actress to overcome her disability. “He said, ‘Well, why don’t you try it in a different voice? Try to do a funny voice or an accent. Maybe that would help.’ But it really did, I was actually able to speak fluently,” Blunt, who is now on the board of the American Institute for Stuttering, says. “Once you’re able to hear yourself speak fluently, albeit in a ridiculous accent, you gain the confidence to think this could happen again and again. It was easier after that night, of that school play. It all became a bit easier.” And that’s why she’s pretended to have that English accent ever since. Oh, no wait, that’s real. Supposedly.
Blunt also loved The King’s Speech and her soon-to-be costar Colin Firth for his accurate depiction of the illness, saying “He really managed to capture that hesitancy, that vocal-cords-locking-out syndrome that happens. What’s exciting about what Colin did was he actually put a face to stuttering, actually opened up people’s minds around the world to the plight of someone who has one.” Blunt will also be starring in The Muppets movie, where we can only assume she will be excellent as the Swedish chef.
[Photo: Splash News Online]
