The author of best-selling novel The Girl on the Train said filmmakers did their best to make Emily Blunt look "a bit shit" ahead of her lead role in the movie adaptation.
Paula Hawkins' comments come in the wake of criticism that 33-year-old Blunt was incorrectly cast for the role of overweight, alcoholic divorcee Rachel Watson.
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Trailer: The Girl on the Train
Rachel witnesses something shocking on her daily commute and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds.
"I love Emily Blunt. Mostly, I thought of her as like a comedy actress," Hawkins told an audience at the Chiswick Book Festival in the United Kingdom this week.
"I remember her sort of scene-stealing role in The Devil Wears Prada, but she does the most extraordinary job in this. She really does.
"Everybody moans about, 'Oh, she's too beautiful to play Rachel' and she is. But the thing about Rachel, the key part of her, is her self-loathing and how bad she feels about herself.
"They've done their best, I mean to sort of make her look a bit shit, but you know..." Hawkins said.
The role is hardly a transformation for Blunt, who simply dyed her hair a mousy brown for the film.
Readers of the 2015 New York Times best seller also expressed their anger with filmmakers for changing the novel's original location from London to New York.
![Emily Blunt as overweight alcoholic Rachel Watson in the film adaptation of <i>The Girl on the Train</i>.](/web/20160923234233im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/k/z/b/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grkymp.png/1474452951062.jpg)
On Twitter, dozens of fans said how the decision was annoying and detrimental to the original meaning of the psychological thriller.
"Is anyone else really annoyed that The Girl on the Train film was relocated to the US? London commute was so central to novel," tweeted one fan.
![Emily Blunt poses at the 68th Cannes Film Festival.](/web/20160923234233im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/5/f/5/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grkymp.png/1474452951062.jpg)
"I've just finished reading The Girl on the Train and become irrationally angry when learning the film has changed location to New York," wrote another person last week.
The plot follows divorcee Rachel Watson as she becomes entangled in a missing person investigation. The book spent 13 weeks on top of the New York Times' best seller fiction list and has sold an estimated 11 million copies worldwide.
![Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson in <i>The Girl on the Train</i>.](/web/20160923234233im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/h/0/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grkymp.png/1474586582391.jpg)
The film hits Australian cinemas on October 6.
Every time I see a trailer for The Girl on the Train I get RIDICULOUSLY upset that they changed the setting from London to New York.
— Lauren H (@MissLaurenAndry) August 9, 2016
Sad to see that 'The girl on the Train' movie will be set in New York rather than the books location of London. Why?!
— Alex Osipczak (@alexosipczak) November 6, 2015
I want to see Girl on the Train. I just hate they changed the setting in the book London to New York.
— Steel A Bastard (@Cheekey_bruh) September 13, 2016
I've just finished reading The Girl on the Train and become irrationally angry when learning the film has changed location to New York
— Adele Butler (@adele_ejohnson) September 9, 2016
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