Emily Ratajkowski: Star Of ‘Blurred Lines’ Music Video Headed For Hollywood Breakout
Emily Ratajkowski is best known as the topless model featured in the music video for “Blurred Lines” music video, but now she is turning the controversial role into a Hollywood breakout.
The actress and model, who is best known for flirting with singer Robin Thicke in the 2013 music video, has just been cast as the female lead beside Zac Efron in the movie We Are Your Friends.
Emily Ratajkowski has already turned her revealing stint in “Blurred Lines” into acting work before. Last year she joined the cast of the Ben Affleck movie Gone Girl, playing Andie, a college student who has an affair with Nick Dunne (Affleck).
The stretch of movies could likely mean a breakout for Ratajkowski, who before “Blurred Lines” was best known for a two-episode stint on Nickelodeon’s iCarly. She has already made a name for herself in the modeling world, but now has a chance to prove herself as a leading lady in Hollywood.
It also represents a chance to move beyond the label of “music video model” that Ratajkowski said she wanted to avoid. The 23-year-old noted that even in “Blurred Lines,” a music video that shows her and other models topless while flirting with fully clothed male singers, was meant to show her as more than just eye candy.
“We’re directed to have a sort of confidence, a sarcastic attitude about the whole situation. That eye contact and that attitude really puts us in a power situation,” she told Esquire last year. “The director, Diane Martel, is a woman, and so is the DP. We really worked on that and tried to convey that in the video. The way we are annoying them, being playful and having a good time with our body — it’s something very important for young women today to have that confidence. I think it’s actually celebrating women and their bodies.”
Even though the video generated quite a bit of controversy not only for the nudity but the lyrics that many saw as sexist, it helped to launch Ratajkowski’s star. In October she was named “Woman of the Year” by Esquire, beating out Jennifer Lawrence in fan voting. Earlier his year Sports Illustrated named her as one of the 12 rookies for the 50th anniversary Swimsuit Issue.
Emily Ratajkowski will now get started on what could be the next phase of her career. Her first project as a lead actress, We Are Your Friends, stars production on August 18.
