Hump Day Hotties: Emily Blunt and The Young Victoria

Remember when The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) was filming and people were so excited about how gorgeous it was going to look? Italian locations, Anthony (English Patient) Minghella in the director's chair, Law & Paltrow & Blanchett & Damon as the luscious quartet in front of the camera (only PS Hoffman was spoiling that particular pretty party). The finished film looked even more scrumptious than a lot of people were hoping for once it finally arrived. I'm not quite sure why my mind leapt back there while looking at the cast list of 2008's The Young Victoria --aside from a quartet of attractive actors, the projects aren't similar -- but it did so I decided to go with it...


I hope The Young Victoria is worth waiting for. She stepped before cameras last week. I'm not normally wild about biopics but I do enjoy a good costume drama. More to the point I'm eager to witness the gamble whenever an actor I like a lot --in this case 24 year-old Emily Blunt of My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada fame -- makes their first big leap into star vehicles.

Those two films suggest that Emily is a young actress of fine range, at home in both sensual drama and bitchy comedy. In the next few years, make or break ones for her, she'll have ample opportunities to prove her worth elsewhere too. She's got seven films coming out in the next couple of years.


There's more on Blunt in the new issue of Mean magazine if you wanna read about it.

But returning to The Young Victoria, this royal beauty won't have to carry it alone. She'll have handsome older men swirling around her supporting some of the weight. Thomas Kretschmann (45) who excelled as an unexpectedly humane Nazi in The Pianist and got smooshed by dinosaurs in King Kong will play Victoria's uncle. Paul Bettany (36) will play Victoria's advisor. I'm happy he's getting to play something other than the creepy villain role but I do hope someone gives him another chance at light romantic dramedy. He was better in Wimbledon than he gets credti for.

Finally there's Rupert Friend (25, left) as Prince Albert, Victoria's eventual hubby. Chances are you won't actually see the 'prince albert' on Rupert but the rest of him is worth watching anyhow, wouldn't you say? We last saw Rupert as the romantic red herring in Pride & Prejudice. In real life he wasn't such a red herring for Keira Knightley

Around the edges of this fine quartet, even better actors are lurking. TFE favorite Jim Broadbent appears as does the woefully underutilised Miranda Richardson. It pains me greatly to see her in hideous thankless roles like Mrs. Claus in Fred Claus (coming soon. I must have been naughty rather than nice). How can Hollywood continue to waste the woman who can do what this woman did in Dance With a Stranger (1985), The Crying Game (1992), Damage (1992) and Spider (2003)? An Oscar nomination for the latter was never going to happen given the nature of the film and that idiotic one week qualifying release in LA in 2002 but please know that her work ran circles around most of the women that were nominated that year. Ugh. Let's not even discuss it!
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