Girl on the Train's Emily Blunt: ‘Why do female characters have to be likeable?’

Emily Blunt has criticised the way actresses are judged on their looks — and the importance placed on female characters being “likeable”.

The star said she enjoyed not having to worry about her appearance in her latest role, as an alcoholic in The Girl On The Train.

She wore prosthetic under-eye bags and varicose veins to simulate the effects of her character’s drinking in the film, adapted from the novel by Paula Hawkins.

The writer has said Blunt was “too beautiful to take the role”, but the actress, 33, told the Radio Times:

“It can truly just be about the internal understanding of the character, as opposed to trying to keep a peripheral awareness of how you might be looking.

"There’s this façade, because we want women to be likeable — my least favourite word in Hollywood right now. Actually, I want to play people who are less about being likeable, more about being credible.”

Blunt, pictured, said she often received scripts saying: “She’s blonde and vivacious and very attractive.’ And I’m like, ‘Cool. What’s she like?’ That always irritates me.”

By contrast, she said, a leading man “gets a rather insightful introduction as to his deeper being”.

But she defended female nudity, saying: “I heard someone say the other day, ‘I can’t believe all those girls on Game of Thrones who just get their tits out.’ Well, they want to work and that, maybe, is all they’ve been offered and they’re happy to get a job.”