Blunt Instrument

Emily chats breastfeeding, ballsy roles and baddies...

You took on Sicario four months after giving birth. Were you reluctant to do it?

Denis came to my house when Hazel was five weeks old. I was exhausted, breast feeding, overweight, and I was just like, ‘Are you sure you want me to do this role?’ It was so not what I was ready for or looking to do. But I loved him. He’s an incredibly persuasive man: charming and brilliant.

Did you ever envision that, in your career, you’d be making films like this and Edge Of Tomorrow?

No. I don’t tend to plan out what I want to do or who I want to be next. I have quite a hard time compartmentalising or generalising the kind of people I want to play. So when

Edge Of Tomorrow came along, I was like, ‘Oh, I haven’t done this before, it’ll be interesting.’ And it really was. It was quite a hard thing to do; I remember feeling a bit restrained by the lack of emotion that this character had.

There’s a lot of talk in Hollywood about male/female inequality. What’s your opinion?

I honestly find it so nauseating that I try not to engage too readily with it… the industry is not your friend, you cannot trust it. It’s not your pal. It’s a very precarious job. But I think sometimes I feel that we can exacerbate the problem of the divide between genders by talking about it too much and not doing enough.

You’ve just shot The Huntsman, with Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Who do you play?

I’m a villain, the Ice Queen! It’s very different from this. I wear very nice dresses. It’s a really great script, funny and dark and I love Cedric [ Nicolas-Troyan] who’s directing it. He’s a very visionary guy. JM