When she got the call about portraying Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns, Emily Blunt thought it might have been about James Bond.
During a recent appearance on British daytime talk show This Morning, the actress told hosts Rochelle Humes and Phillip Schofield she "knew something big was in the pipeline."
"Hilariously I think I was about to play a blackout drunk in Girl on the Train when I got approached about Mary Poppins," she said. "I was in Los Angeles and [MP director] Rob Marshall called me and I knew there was something quite big coming down the pipe because it was such a charged voicemail that he left."
"Didn't ever think it would be Mary Poppins," she continued, "but of course [I was] just completely overjoyed and overwhelmed. It's like, 'either he's asking me to be James Bond or Mary Poppins.' I was just really shocked."
In October, Bond franchise executive producer Barbara Broccoli put any hope of a female Bond character to rest.
"Bond is male. He’s a male character," she told the Guardian. "He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male. And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women. Let’s just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters."
But maybe a star like Blunt showing consistent interest in the role could change Broccoli's mind. The actress would be a badass Bond, and in the end, it doesn't really matter what gender Bond is as long as the character's core qualities are well-depicted.
It also doesn't hurt that, for years, women have been saying Blunt should be the next Bond.
Following the success of films like Wonder Woman and Ocean's 8, there's a compelling case to cast women in major action films.
Let's hope studios take the clue.
