‘Rafe Spall was like a dangerous Ferrari’
Hollywood star Emily Blunt, 39, on starring in her first Western
How did you come to be part of this project?
I was sent the pilot and I knew it was a Western, which I’d never done before, so I was compelled to read it. I read the first page and
I knew I was doing it from Cornelia’s [my character] first monologue.
Describe the plot in 15 seconds. It’s Alice in a Wild West Wonderland. Cornelia Locke arrives to seek revenge for her son’s death. She seeks the help of a Pawnee warrior [Eli] played by Chaske Spencer, and together they go on this epic adventure. Tell us more.
It is an epic romance, and at the same time, it’s this propulsive chase thriller, so the whole experience of watching it is heart racing and very romantic. Cornelia is seeking a blood revenge, and Eli is seeking a land claim. They both see these end goals as being a part of reclaiming their identity, and an awakening for themselves. Does Cordelia face many challenges?
She looks like a complete fish out of water when she first arrives. She’s in this beautiful pale, lacy, pink dress. She is gussied up and looks ill-prepared for what awaits her in this dust-ridden, violent, masculine world. When you first meet her, you think “Oh, she is never going to make it, it’s over”. By the end, she’s had this remarkable transformation.
What does she find out about herself?
That she’s a force to be reckoned with. It is a voyage of what she’s truly capable of; the violence, the revenge, the physical duress and trauma that she can overcome. There are certain scenes I remember being particularly fevered, which were the ones I had with Rafe Spall, who plays the baddie. He was just so dangerous in the scenes that I remember finding them very transporting and hard to shed afterwards.
How was it working with Rafe? I’ve always been such a fan, but Rafe came into this show like a dangerous Ferrari. It was just lights out, brilliant. His character is very lethal, he’s scary.
Where was it filmed?
We shot in Spain, which was where they shot all the old spaghetti Westerns, and you can see why. The landscape is vast, and we needed different landscapes because the journey they go on starts in Kansas – in the flats, the dust – and it goes through Wyoming, into rocky, beautiful formations.
How did you find shooting in Spain?
It was so hot. I have never been hotter than that in my life – and I’ve shot in Atlanta in the middle of the summer and thought I’d never experience heat like that. We were warned about it, but the corset acts like a heat trap, your skin doesn’t breathe. I’d be in a corset, wool pants, a skirt, shirt, waistcoat, jacket. I don’t think I ever got used to it.
Why do you think The English will resonate with a global audience?
Because don’t we all need that wide screen epic adventure classic? I think we all look for that kind of escapism, to be swept away and kidnapped by a world, and this is that world.