Emily Blunt is The Young Victoria

Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt discusses her role in film about Queen Victoria produced by Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York
By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 11/2/2009 – “I identify with her hugely,” says The Young Victoria star Emily Blunt. “I couldn’t help but be attracted to this remarkable, high-spirited, feisty girl. It appealed that it was an opportunity to play someone who’s a contradiction to people’s preconception of what she was like. Everyone knows her as the mourning Queen who was wheeled around in black with a hanky on her head and was kind of repressed. But, she was just the polar opposite when she was younger. That was exciting to me, that I could change people’s opinion of what Victoria was like.”

The Young Victoria, choosing between power, Viscount Melbourne and Prince Albert

In Young Victoria, it’s 1837 when a 17-year-old Victoria (Emily Blunt) discovers she’s the object of a royal power struggle. Victoria is kept from the court by her overbearing mother (Miranda Richardson) and her ambitious advisor Conroy (Mark Strong). Victoria hates them both. Victoria’s handsome cousin, Albert (Rupert Friend) is invited to visit by her mother. The nephew of her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium (Thomas Kretschmann), it’s obvious that Albert has been coached to win her hand. Annoyed, Victoria has no intention of being married. After being crowned Queen of England, she reconsiders.

“I was blown away by how remarkable she was and she seemed like a very modern character, a very 21st century sort of woman,” says Blunt. “The script was very exciting, as the public and private Victoria are very different and you realize what a performance it was to be a queen. We all know what it is like to be a teenager, to stubbornly think we know it all and to actually be in a job which is way over your head, not to mention being deeply in love for the first time. Victoria had such zest for life at a young age.

Emily Blunt exhibited a Victoria-like determination to be cast to play the title role, a task that would require winning over producers Graham King and Martin Scorsese. “Before I had really had time to think about who would play Victoria, I got a call from Emily Blunt’s agent saying she would like to meet me,” says The Young Victoria producer Graham King. “She came over and said she had read the script and she was desperate to play this part. She had a huge passion for the role. After that I watched everything she’d been in and realized she was perfect. She’s the real deal as an actress. Shortly after my meeting with her, Marty and I were at the Golden Globes and as we watched Emily accept her Globe [for Gideon’s Daughter], Marty said, ‘That’s Queen Victoria’.”

The Young Victoria was filmed on location in England and at Shepperton Studios during a ten-week shoot starting in August 2007. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée from a script by Academy Award-winning Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair). King and Scorsese won Best Picture and Best Achievement in Directing Oscars respectively for The Departed. Producer Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, brought the project to production company GK Films.

The Young Victoria

Distributor: Apparition

Release Date: Dec. 18th, 2009 (USA)

Duration: 1:40