Emily Blunt is feeling less than fantastic about superhero movies these days.
Putting it, well, bluntly in a new interview this week, the British actor, who many fans have long hoped to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, firmly quashed rumors that she and her husband, John Krasinski, were in talks to star in the studio’s upcoming “Fantastic Four” film.
“That is fan-casting,” she said on “The Howard Stern Show” on Wednesday. “No one has received a phone call. That’s just people saying, ‘Wouldn’t that be great?’”
Fans had indeed hoped that the much-in-demand couple would be suiting up as Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) and Sue Storm (the Invisible Woman) in the Jon Watts-directed movie, given their well-established chemistry and undeniable physical likeness to the comic book characters.
But the idea was always a bit of a stretch. Blunt and Krasinski have already logged plenty of hours on set together thanks to the burgeoning “Quiet Place” franchise, and they have a steady string of projects in the pipeline.
Blunt, however, was quick to dispel the notion that superhero films were somehow “beneath” her, explaining that once upon a time she was close to joining the MCU as Black Widow, a role that would later go to Scarlett Johansson.
“It’s not that it’s beneath me … I love Iron Man, and when I got offered Black Widow, I was obsessed with Iron Man,” she explained. “I wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr. It would’ve been amazing … But I don’t know if superheroes are for me. They’re not up my alley. I don’t like them. I really don’t.”
“It’s been exhausted. I think it’s just that we are inundated. It’s not only all the movies, it’s the endless TV shows as well,” she continued, before giving herself a bit of wiggle room should a meaty superhero role ever come her way. “It’s not to say that I would never want to play one ― it would just have to be something so cool, and like a really cool character, and then I’d be interested.”
But “in general, I don’t race to see superhero movies,” Blunt added. “They leave me feeling a bit cold. I can’t explain it. I can’t get in there.”
Still, Blunt said missing the opportunity to play Black Widow stands out as “a bit of a heartbreaker.” At the time, she was forced to turn down the role due to her “optional picture deal” with 20th Century Fox, and star in what would be the critically derided flop “Gulliver’s Travels” instead.
“I take such pride in the decisions that I make, and they mean so much to me, the films that I do,” she said. “I care very deeply, very, very much, about the choices I make. That’s all I have, the choices that I make.”
For what it’s worth, Krasinski ― who once auditioned for the Captain America role that would ultimately go to Chris Evans ― seems considerably more open to the idea of starring in a Marvel project. He told Total Film last year that “if they are considering me for Mr. Fantastic, continue to consider me because I would love it.”
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