Emily Blunt says she's 'out' of a project if she sees three specific words in a script

Emily Blunt revealed the three words in a script that will make her turn down a role.

The 40-year-old star has got a lengthy and impressive CV, with roles in Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place, Mary Poppins, and The Girl on the Train.

But the British-born actor admits that seeing three words appear on a script is an automatic cause for her to turn it down.

She opened up about it last year when she was promoting her TV show The English, in which she played Cornelia Locke, a woman who embarks on a revenge mission in the 1980s USA and runs into Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), an ex-American army officer who sets off on his own plans.

But if there was a certain phrase in the script, Blunt may not have taken on the role whatsoever.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Blunt said: “I love a character with a secret. And I loved Cornelia’s buoyancy, her hopefulness, her guilelessness.”

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“It’s the worst thing ever when you open a script and read the words ‘strong female lead’. That makes me roll my eyes - I’m already out. I’m bored,” she admitted.

The actor believes that characters attributed to her disliked phrase are expected to have almost no emotion.

She said: “Those roles are written as incredibly stoic, you spend the whole time acting tough and saying tough things.”

Earlier this year, Blunt announced she was taking an entire year out from acting to spend more time with her family.

She shares two children with husband John Krasinski - Hazel, nine, and Violet, seven.

Speaking on the Table for Two podcast, she said: "This year, I'm not working. I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is nine, so we're in the last year of single digits.

"And I just feel there are cornerstones to their day that are so important when they're little.

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"And it's, 'Will you wake me up? Will you take me to school? Will you pick me up? Will you put me to bed?' And I just need to be there for all of them for a good stretch. And I just felt that in my bones."

Blunt then spoke on how taking on big projects impacts her relationship with her kids and the 'guilt' she subsequently feels.

"I had a beautiful time on the projects I did last year," she said.

"Some were more tense than others, some were harder than others. Some were more time consuming than others.

"The ones that are time consuming, I think for me are becoming few and further between because of just the emotional cost on me, on the kids, on balance.

"And I'm very prone to guilt, I think all mothers are. You're just prone to feeling bad for, god forbid, wanting something outside of being a mother."