Emily Blunt nearly cried singing to Christopher Walken in Wild Mountain Thyme

Emily Blunt had to avoid looking at her Wild Mountain Thyme co-star Christopher Walken too much during an emotional scene as she was close to crying.

The English actress stars alongside Walken, Jamie Dornan, and Jon Hamm in John Patrick Shanley’s romance drama, which follows a pair of star-crossed lovers in Ireland who get caught up in their family's land dispute.

Blunt is no stranger to singing on film, having shown off her vocal talents in Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns, but she found singing for her “icon” Walken a nerve-wracking and emotional experience.

“It was more singing for Christopher Walken that probably had my knees knocking because it was just such a moving day for me,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was such an icon for me growing up, and I was supposed to sing this song for him. It’s me (as Rosemary) singing a song to remind him (as Tony) about love, and his character was supposed to get very emotional listening to it. So when you’re staring into those iconic blue eyes and they start to cry, it was so moving. And I’m one of these people that as soon as I see someone cry, I will instantly cry. So I had to try not to look at him too much because it was so emotional.”

When asked if she was more nervous about singing this time around because she had to perform in an Irish accent, she replied, “Not really because I was so used to doing the accent by then that I didn’t think about it that much.”

The cast has received some criticism for their Irish accents, and during the interview, she admitted they were “tricky”.

“You just do your best and that’s all you can hope for,” Emily added.

Wild Mountain Thyme is out in the U.S. now.