Emily Blunt’s latest film, Sicario, is already getting some great buzz. One thing people won’t be buzzing about, however, is any nudity on Blunt’s part, even though a nude scene was originally in the script.
In an interview with Howard Stern, when he (in his ever charming way) mentions that her being naked in Sicario would be the only thing that could make it even better than it already is, Blunt mentions that there actually was a nude scene written in, but that she nixed it after consultation with two of her most important advisers on the subject:
Blunt: [A nude scene] was in there originally but it came out because we didn’t agree with it.
Stern: Who?!
Blunt: My tits!
So, after a confab with her tits, the ladies realized they weren’t into it. But apparently, she wasn’t the only one who found the scene unnecessary. Her scene partner did, too:
Benicio [Del Toro] backed me up. It was a scene between he and I.
Good for Blunt for speaking up, and good on Del Toro for backing her up. From the sound of the interview, it doesn’t sound like she’s inherently against nude scenes (I’m not sure if she’s ever done one, though), but that she carefully considers the material and the narrative. I hope that Hollywood and its filmmakers are listening. Because every actor has a right to when they choose to display their body in a story, and when they don’t. Someone having done it once elsewhere doesn’t mean they have to do it for your film. And while, yes, Emily Blunt has a certain amount of pull now, and is in a position where she can speak her mind about certain things, I hope that actors coming up in the ranks start doing the same. Agency shouldn’t be reserved for those at the top.
And honestly, nudity doesn’t necessarily = gritty or real. So let’s stop using it as a shorthand for those things, and maybe start infusing film with substance instead. Kthxbye.
(via Uproxx; Image via Gage Skidmore on Flickr)
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