It spent 88 consecutive weeks on The New York Times best-seller list — and has been published in 50 countries in more than 40 languages. And you should believe what they say - the film adaption of Girl On The Train IS this year’s Gone Girl. Dark, gripping and beautifully shot, director Tate Taylor (The Help) has done a David Fincher on the best-selling British novel, and it hasn’t done it any harm.
Taylor’s stylish adaptation of the thriller does justice to the things that make Paula Hawkins’ novel so hard to put down - the twisting internal monologues of its three female characters, the shifting time frames - but he’s also wildly improved it, with tactile storytelling and beautiful cinematography. Suddenly you can see what alcoholic Rachel can see. The way people look at her when she’s stumbling off the train, the blood pouring off her forehead when she wakes up and doesn’t know what’s happened the night before.
Of course for many fans, switching tinnies of G&T (so British) to water bottles of neat vodka (so Marisa Cooper circa 2006) was a betrayal of the original narrative. But for Emily Blunt, who I meet on the day of the GOTT’s London Premiere, it doesn’t matter so much. ‘I see the suburban commute to the city as universal, you can put it anywhere in the world and people will relate to it’ she offers, in her own friendly British accent. ‘I think what happens is when people read a book is their imagination is more potent in some ways than what you can realise on screen.’
It’s true - Taylor, Blunt and her fellow cast members - Justin Theroux, Hayley Bennet, Rebecca Ferguson and Luke Evans - deftly bring the book to life without losing any of its appeal. ‘I actually feel that this film captures all the elements of the book that people fell in love with’ offers Blunt. ‘That voyeuristic element, the blackout drunk, the flashbacks, what you think you see and don’t see, the domestic bliss, the seemingly perfect couple and the underbelly of all of that.’
Ah, the blackout drunk. The storyline that’s led scores of overindulgent twenty-somethings to say, after a big night out, not ‘how bad was I last night?’ but now ‘was I the* Girl On The Train* bad?’. And despite cultural differences, the drinking problem does translate with ease to the US. ‘I think it’s frowned upon a little more in the States’ suggests Blunt. ‘In the UK it’s seen as part of life, as part of our culture. But that’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of people that suffer from severe addiction in the US.’
Blunt, who grew up in the UK, now lives stateside with husband John Krasiniski and their two children. Blunt actually filmed GOTT while pregnant which only adds to the impressiveness of her performance. Seeing the story and it’s themes from the perspective of someone who’s lived both sides of the pond can only have helped when it came to translating the book into its American setting.
I ask Blunt if she’s worried about the reactions of the books’ die hard fans. ‘My recollection of the book becomes a bit blurry, so I don’t recall the real differences’ she says, admitting to not having read it before she got the call up to star in the film. ‘But I’m sure the die-hard fans will tell us’ she adds.
Another popular GOTT topic surrounding the films’ imminent UK release was over the decision to even cast Blunt as the down and out Rachel in the first place. Some - Hawkins included - have even suggested she’s too pretty. 'People say, "Oh, she's way too beautiful to play her," ' Hawkins told The Hollywood Reporter. 'But that doesn't matter. The thing about Rachel is her self-loathing, about what she feels about herself, and Emily really brought that out in the way she carries herself. All that damage is visible.'
As you watch Justin Theroux (who’s scarily good as evil ex-husband Tom Watson) and Emily Blunt struggling to come to terms with their inability to conceive you’ll agree; their good looks don’t lessen their ability to portray the incredible sadness their characters are feeling. And Blunt once again proves her range as an actress: from The Devil Wears Prada to Young Victoria to Girl On The Train, she’s now very much a key Hollywood player.
And, naturally, I had to ask - does she have a miracle hangover cure? ‘Gatorade, I like the yellow Gatorade, to be specific. Or maybe just a Bloody Mary.’
You can take a girl out of Britain…
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
Girl On The Train Actress Rebecca Ferguson: 'I Was Thinking, God, What Have I Done?!'
Podcast: Listen To Us Get Drunk And Talk About Paula Hawkins' New Book Girl On The Train
Should Girl On The Train Really Be Set In The US Instead Of The UK?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.