Into the Woods actress Emily Blunt will be working on a Western movie called Bronco Belle, where she will play a spirited heroine who dreams of becoming a champion bull rider - a sport that has been dominated by men.
Bronco Belle will be written and directed by Khurram Longi, who is now actively seeking other actors to round up the cast. His lead actress Blunt will take on the role of Raylene Jackson, a woman described to have "a chip on her shoulder" and harbors a dream of being a champ in the field of bull riding. In order to achieve her dream, she will be teaming up with an old trainer who is seeking redemption and deal with a "shameless hustler of a promoter" to get to the top, according to Empire Online.
Longi shares to Screen International how he came up with the idea for Bronco Belle: "We were driving down from New York and ended up in Texas where by chance we stumbled across the world of rodeo. I had never been to one before. We started to follow the rodeo trail and the world inspired me to write this script."
And while writing the script, Longi was heavily influenced by films such as Thelma and Louise and The Color of Money.
"For me this is a female Rocky-on-a-bull type of film. I thought it was a great hook. After seeing Emily in Edge of Tomorrow I thought she would be perfect so had her in my mind as I was writing it," he added.
Embankment Films will be taking the project to Cannes to sell the rights before they start shooting the film in autumn. This will be another Hollywood bull-riding movie following the critically acclaimed Dallas Buyers Club and The Longest Ride, the recent movie drama for bestselling author Nicholas Sparks.
As for Blunt, she will be appearing in the crime drama Sicario soon, as well as the sequel for Snow White and the Huntsman called The Huntsman. She also lent her voice to the indie animated film Animated Crackers.
The Huntsman, which will be released in 2016 will have a different director and leading lady, since director Rupert Sanders and actress Kristen Stewart had an illicit affair during production. Producers have decided to move on with the sequel without them, and directorial duties have now been given to Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. Other lead characters such as Charlize Theron's Ravenna and Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman will still be in the sequel. As for Blunt, no word has been provided about her role in the film.
