One of the big casting ‘could have been’ hires of the past two decades was that of Emily Blunt being cast as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in “Iron Man 2”.
The “Edge of Tomorrow” and “The Devil Wears Prada” actress was the original choice for the role, but she ended up having to pass on it due to a scheduling conflict as she was contractually stuck doing “Gulliver’s Travels” at 20th Century Fox.
She dubbed missing out on the Black Widow role a “bit of a heartbreaker” for her a few years back whilst talking with Howard Stern.
Out doing press for “Oppenheimer” prior to the strike, she sat down with Happy Sad Confused podcast and seemed more upbeat about it, saying: “Come on, the best girl got it” before adding that the actually cast Scarlett Johansson was “amazing”.
Johansson ended up playing the role in nine films overall, including two “Captain America” films, four “Avengers” films, a cameo in “Captain Marvel,” and her own standalone movie.
Blunt was also asked about all the other roles in the MCU she’s been rumored for, from Captain Marvel to Peggy Carter to Sue Storm. Of those, she says: “Rumors. Talk. Queries. That kind of thing” before adding that she never met with producers or directors of any of the films.
Finally, Blunt also offered an update on the progress of the full third instalment of the “A Quiet Place” franchise. Her husband, John Krasinski, co-starred with her in the first film, and he both co-wrote and directed the two films thus far.
A spin-off is currently in the works that is separate from a more straightforward third-part film which is also in development. She reveals she and Krasinski have been figuring out the third one, which he intends to write. At last report, he was going to let someone else direct, but Blunt doesn’t want him to:
“Cillian [Murphy] and I were having a chat with John [Krasinski] about it last night. We were sitting on a rooftop all together drinking wine and… ‘You know what would be great? Is if we keep this thing going…’ I think there’s… it would have to be that we would all do it together. I don’t want it to be with a different director if we did it again”
Murphy co-starred with Blunt in “A Quiet Place Part II” which Blunt has previously discussed as very much being a second chapter in a larger story.
The spin-off, “A Quiet Place: Day One” starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn and Alex Wolff, had begun production but has been halted by the strikes. It’s not clear if it’ll make its planned March 8th 2024 release.