Emily Blunt is always ready to pour in her best efforts for her work. However, when this dedication gets a motivator like Tom Cruise, the process automatically becomes excellent. This scenario almost became true when the former gave her all to match the latter’s relentless work ethic in Edge of Tomorrow.

Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow

Given that the actress had to bear a heavy prop for her role, she had to train her body to be able to manage it all. In addition to that, working beside Cruise meant she had to go the extra mile to match his hard work. Film director, Doug Liman once shared how her intense training reminded him of Matt Damon who played Jason Bourne’s role in his directed film, The Bourne Identity.

Emily Blunt’s Hard Work in Edge of Tomorrow Recalled Director of Matt Damon

Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity

In an interview with USA Today, Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman praised the actress for giving her best opposite Tom Cruise who is renowned for his intense work ethic. He has always left everyone in awe by excelling in difficult action sequences which is even demanding for professional stuntpeople.

Talking about Emily Blunt, the former mentioned,

“She’s got more edge, in the best possible sense of the word. She’s a powerful, strong person.”

He further mentioned how her intensive training reminded him of actor, Matt Damon who did a lot of work on himself for his movie, The Bourne Identity (2002).

“But physically, she went through training on par with what I put Matt Damon through to get ready for The Bourne Identity.”

Damon went through intense training which included martial arts, boxing, and weapons training to get a ripped physique in the movie. He added how the latter’s involvement in the movie gave her an extra push to challenge her limits since the Top Gun actor is always ready to go beyond the limits for his work.

Having Tom Cruise Opposite Emily Blunt Worked in Her Favor in Edge of Tomorrow

Emily Blunt with Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

The sci-fi thriller film takes place in a future where Earth is occupied by an alien race known as the Mimics. Cruise’s Major William “Bill” Cage with Blunt’s Rita Vrataski works together to defeat Mimics and save humanity from extinction. Liman praised the action star for his intense hard work adding that having him in the film further motivated the actress to train even more.

“She had the huge advantage of having Tom Cruise as a training partner. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard physically preparing for a role as Tom Cruise. She started training three months before she even showed up in England to start rehearsing.”

Physical training was quite important for the actors since they had to wear heavy suits which weighed around 85 pounds in the movie. However, her intense workout along with her co-star’s little pep talk helped her get over it. Speaking of her acting choices she told the outlet in the same interview,

“I try and do something unexpected, something that is ultimately very challenging.”

She further added about taking an action role opposite Cruise,

“The thought of this I found intimidating. Every action movie I read, it’s the girlfriend role. I have nothing against it, but it’s not what I wanted to do. If I do an action movie, I want to do some action.”

Their efforts eventually paid off as the 2014 movie garnered critical acclaim, especially for their performance. Meanwhile, the movie grossed over $370.5 million worldwide and is now available on Netflix.