Snapped by photographer Patrick Fraser, The Devil Wears Prada diva Emily Blunt channels Isabella Rossellini circa 1986’s Blue Velvet in Blackbook’s Hollywood/Spring Fashion issue, on stands today.

Inside the mag, the 25-year-old actress opens up about how she “resigned herself to a corset” to be authentic to her character in the upcoming flick, The Wolf Man. “I had to run and scream while wearing it!” she says. “But it helps your posture, and certainly makes your boobs look fantastic. My internal organs now loathe me, however, so it might be good to do something in jeans and T-shirts. After all, I don’t want to be typecast as the ‘English rose’—that’s boring, isn’t it?”

Emily on her femme fatale photo-shoot: “I adore film noir style. Blue Velvet is so dark and ethereal. It’s brooding yet artistic — I love it.”

Emily on acting being a last-ditch therapy for a childhood stutter: “It was an anguished disability — not fun. But I overcame it. In acting, I could be someone else and escape being a child who doesn’t talk. It became an out-of-body experience.”

Emily on The Devil Wears Prada: “That film opened so many doors. I wasn’t pigeonholed as the corset-bound, bonnet-wearing English period film girl. I’d rather be brave and make a choice that frightens me a bit. I don’t mind looking like a wanker: I mean, that character was on the edge of fashion — and had really keeled off it.”

Emily on her personal style: “I’ve had so many style blunders! You literally have to pry the baggy sweaters off me, but I am trying to discover life away from my Converse sneakers. I have a great stylist who’s always encouraging me to be more fashion forward, but I’m always afraid that she’ll send me down the carpet in an ice sculpture or something.”

Emily on being a Brit living in L.A.: “English people have a faux snobbery towards L.A. It’s bullsh*t! Trust me, we all secretly love it! L.A. is a very seductive place. If you have friends and cafés, you can survive here.”

[Photography by Patrick Fraser]