Emily Blunt is saddling up for Bronco Belle, a “Rocky on a bull” film about a woman battling prejudice to become a champion bull-rider, according to Screen Daily.
Blunt will play Raylene Jackson, a rookie steer-handler coached in rodeo by a grizzled old-timer (casting TBC). The film will be the debut feature from British writer-director Khurram Longi, who was inspired by an American road trip during which he stumbled upon the sport in Texas.
Longi has said that he wrote the part for Blunt after seeing her in sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow and that Thelma and Louise and The Colour of Money were influences when he was writing the script.
Blunt, who was nominated for her performance in Into the Woods last year, will next be seen in Sicario, Enemy director Denis Villeneuve’s thriller about an FBI agent (Blunt) tasked with taking down a Mexican drug cartel. The film, which also stars Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, will premiere at the Cannes film festival later this month.
