Emily Blunt faced her fears of both flying and failure, to play literature's most beloved nanny in Mary Poppins Returns. Here she talks about taking over the role from Julie Andrews, doing her own stunts and how motherhood changed her life.

She's the British star of The Devil Wears Prada who takes over the role from Julie Andrews in the sequel Mary Poppins Returns, 54 years after the original film was in cinemas.

But the perfect posture she needed for the role has come at a cost.

"I had shin splints the whole way through this film," Blunt confides. "You know that feeling where you go for a run and you haven't run for a while? That is what I felt throughout Mary Poppins."

So much pain came from maintaining the governess's immaculate silhouette as she makes her first appearance in the film just as Andrews did, descending from the clouds holding aloft an umbrella, her feet turned out in a perfect first position.

"I was so worried I was going to fall," she said. "I was worried the wire would break and I would be that person, like, 'Can you believe how Emily Blunt died?'

"I really thought about it for a second. I was like, 'This could be how I go'."

Her fear is surprising when you consider the more daring roles the 35-year-old has taken on in the past.

Most notably she starred opposite Tom Cruise in the action film Edge Of Tomorrow, which required much more strenuous stunts, but she attributes her new nerves to the arrival of her daughters Hazel, four, and Violet, two, with her American husband John Krasinski.

"I didn't have children when I did Edge Of Tomorrow. So I was just more gung-ho, and I think when you have children you lose your confidence.

"I remember my mum always saying that to me and it's so true."

"But now they think I can fly, so that is awesome."

Has she confessed the truth yet?

"I did have to say that I couldn't but then Hazel was like, 'How did you do it then?' and I said we had cables.

"They actually put a little harness on her and they floated her around when she came on set."

It has long been a source of regret to her that her little girls are growing up with American accents, but now she is hoping that Poppins' influence will rub off on them.

"I don't think I have a prayer though," she says ruefully. "Because they live in Brooklyn surrounded by American children with an American dad."

Regardless of the impact it has on her kids, she knew it was going to be a huge undertaking when she signed on to play the character.

"I was quite scared," she admits, "but I quite like being scared by something, that is usually why I want to do it.

"I will say I was probably more scared than I have ever been, to play this part, but hey, I like the challenge!"

Indeed when director Rob Marshall approached her about the role, he did it with a certain amount of ceremony.

"It was like he was about to propose to me! Then when he said it's Mary Poppins, I was like, 'Oh my god'.

"I like to imagine he got down on one knee. But Mary Poppins is a big deal for all of us - we all had to approach it with a sense of courage.

"We have waited 54 years to see her come back out of the clouds so we very much wanted to walk that fine line between paying homage and being the next chapter and bringing the spirit of the first one.

"We had to think how we make our version our own and a standalone spectacle on its own, that people can watch for generations to come."

She was particularly adamant that she would make the role her own, rather than imitate Julie Andrews, who won the best actress Oscar for the part in 1965.

In fact, while original star Dick Van Dyke makes a cameo in the film, Julie Andrews is notably absent.

"I really understand why she didn't want to be in it and it means a lot to me that she chose to not do it in the way that she did. She said she just didn't want it to be her show, she wanted it to be my show, and I thought it was so gracious and so sweet and I understand that need to preserve and treasure that iconic image we all have of her. I really get that."

She adds: "She wrote Rob Marshall the most beautiful email about it and loved it, so that meant a lot to all of us."

But making the role her own involved revisiting the original books, written by PL Travers.

"I just wanted to do my own version of her and, in the books, she is rather different and terribly eccentric and funny and very rude and very mysterious and unknowable really.

"I love PL Travers and I read everything I could about her. She kind of is Mary Poppins - it's like an autobiography.

"Mary Poppins is a little bit frightening but that is how she is able to bring order to chaos."

Mary Poppins Returns is in cinemas across Kent.