Emily Blunt on Decision to Take a Year Off From Acting: “I Just Felt That in My Bones”

The actress opens up about a brief break from the big-screen, being Brooklyn neighbors with “beautiful” ‘Oppenheimer’ co-star Matt Damon and loving a certain reality TV singing competition.

Emily Blunt is on a break from the big-screen.

During an appearance on Bruce Bozzi’s iHeart podcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, the A-lister opened up about a decision to spend more time with her children in 2023.

“This year, I’m not working. I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is nine, so we’re in the last year of single digits,” she explained. Blunt shares two daughters, Hazel and Violet, with husband John Krasinski. “And I just feel [like] there are cornerstones to their day that are so important when they’re little. And it’s, ‘Will you wake me up? Will you take me to school? Will you pick me up? Will you put me to bed?’ And I just need to be there for all of them for a good stretch. And I just felt that in my bones.”

The interview comes just days ahead of the release of her newest film, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in which she plays Kitty Oppenheimer, the wife of Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer. Blunt, who recently starred in the limited series The English, also has a slate of projects on deck including David Leitch’s The Fall Guy opposite Ryan Gosling and David Yates’ Pain Hustlers opposite Chris Evans.

The latter film follows Blunt’s character as she seeks to build a better life for herself and her daughter only to wind up working at a pharmacy and getting caught up in a dangerous racketeering scheme. “I feel strongly that most female characters in Hollywood are usually held up to some sort of feminine ideal,” she said talking about her Pain Hustlers character. “And I’m always hearing this like, ‘Is she likable?’ I like, I don’t give a fuck if she’s likable, you know? And no man has ever asked that. Like, those guys in The Big Short or Wolf of Wall Street, we were never concerned if they were likable and they were doing terrible corrupt things.”

Aside from spending time with her family, Blunt also revealed that she happens to share quality moments with another Oppenheimer co-star, Matt Damon, who lives in the same Brooklyn building.

“Matt [Damon] is just the most easygoing, beautiful person. Lucy is even more beautiful — sorry, Matt. But we all became friends and then they moved to Brooklyn and they said, ‘We found this amazing building.’ And of course, we were like, ‘We’ll live in the same building!’ But there’s really lovely, cool people living in Brooklyn and we have Sunday night dinners…the kids love each other.”

Bozzi also asked Blunt about the time she spends with Krasinski. “It’s usually the morning. We [rescued] a puppy who’s absolutely beautiful. … I wasn’t wanting to get a dog, but the kids were pushing for it and John was up for it,” she noted. “I don’t mind getting up early with this puppy because it means that John and I can kind of talk in the morning and catch up and really talk before the kids are up and everything. … I love watching things like The Voice. I mean, we love The Voice.”