Actress Emily Blunt: 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' is a 'hopeful movie'

• Tweet

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- British actress Emily Blunt says she signed on to star in the romantic comedy "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" because it is such a feel-good story.

"It's a very hopeful movie. We all walked away from it feeling really good, like we achieved something wonderful in a lovely story. And I made a friend: Ewan McGregor," the 29-year-old star of "The Adjustment Bureau," "The Young Victoria," "The Jane Austen Book Club" and "The Devil Wears Prada" told reporters in New York recently.

The film adaptation of Paul Torday's novel "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" earned Blunt and McGregor Golden Globe Award nods last week. It is about Harriet, a woman who enlists the help of British government scientist Alfred to establish salmon and fly-fishing in arid Yemen on behalf of the sheik for whom she works. Amr Waked plays Sheik Muhammad.

"We just played the relationship," Blunt explained of her collaboration with McGregor. "We played what was on the page, which was this really complex, humorous and then quite profound romance between them. I think you can only play what's on the page, and then hope for a fantastic scene partner, which I was lucky enough to not only get in Ewan McGregor, but he looks fantastic in khakis. But it was lovely playing that dynamic between them. It was written in a real sense, so we played it very much for real. And I think that's what people like about it: It's unusual."

She said she also loved the evolution of the central characters' relationship over the course of the movie.

"I think in the beginning of the film, she's quite baffled and amused by him. And I think as the film and as the romance unfold itself, he softens and he shows great warmth and great kindness and friendship, and he takes care of her. And there's something really tender about him in the way he does this," she noted. "And they're on this crazy dream-like, far-fetched scheme together. And I think when you have that shared passion with something, it's immediately bonding.

"And also because he looks great in some khakis," she quipped.

"Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," which is also up for the Best Comedy or Musical Film Golden Globe, is now on DVD.