NEW YORK -- British actress Emily Blunt says she and Anne Hathaway took turns sweating bullets opposite acting powerhouse Meryl Streep.

The two co-star with Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, the comedy opening in theatres today.

"We both had the sweaty palm syndrome, like hands imprinted on the table," said Blunt, best known for her breakout performance in 2004's British indie flick My Summer Of Love.

"We were overwhelmed, and I don't think either of us ever got over it. We'd occasionally say very stupid things in front of her and then go (mouths expletive)."

In other words, life pretty much imitated art. Blunt and Hathaway play the terrified assistants to Streep's high-octane and difficult New York fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly.

"It's a huge deal -- it's the biggest deal in the world," said Blunt of being in a movie with Streep. "Meryl's a force of nature and I don't think there's anyone like her, male or female.

"Nobody is as chameleon-like and as versatile as she is and nobody has as much class and dignity within this quest for success that everyone seems to have."

Blunt describes Streep on set as approachable and accessible. "It wasn't like Meryl had a kind of cement-like wall around her, and she would join in and have a laugh with us sometimes. But I think in order to maintain this soul-less character, she had to adopt a certain reserve."

On the other hand, Blunt says she and co-star Stanley Tucci, who plays Priestly's right hand man, took delight in playing up the cartoon-like aspects of their characters.

Blunt describes her character, also named Emily, as "deranged, excruciating, and on the edge of a nervous breakdown," but she is wonderfully sarcastic and bitchy and gets off some great one-liners.

"Stanley and I were having competitions as to who could be more hammy and I think I pretty much won -- hands down," she said with a smile. "He told me one day that he could assume my close-up in a Greek amphitheatre. I was, like, 'Thanks.' "

Super-model Gisele Bunchen has a small role in the movie as one of Blunt's co-workers in the fashion magazine offices.

Blunt is, well, blunt about her.

"We were bit intimidated by working with her. You don't know what to expect. You think, 'Supermodel -- is she going to be a pain in the ass?' And she walks in and she's so gregarious and fun. She fills a room with personality. And the woman's like a racehorse. She's like the sexiest thing I've ever seen. She comes in and everybody instantly feels short and fat."

After Prada, Blunt filmed a Shining-like love-story-thriller-tragedy called Windchill co-starring Ashton Holmes (A History Of Violence), that will come out in February.

She swoons for her crooner boyfriend

NEW YORK -- When Blunt met Buble it was a match made in entertainment heaven.

British actress Emily Blunt says she first met Vancouver crooner Michael Buble backstage after one of his U.S. concerts two years ago.

"I was with a large group of people, so I wasn't the only loser who went backstage," said Blunt. "I just told him I saw him perform and that I thought he was great."

And no, he didn't immediately start crooning to her.

"You musn't mistake him for a schmoozy wooze," said Blunt, whose own musical tastes run from Aretha Franklin to John Mayer to Daniel Powter. "This is a guy who drinks scotch and plays poker. It's not like I get serenaded every night."

The couple now live together in Vancouver when they're both there.

"I love it, it's become a home from home," said Blunt, who recently accompanied Buble to the Juno Awards in Halifax where he was the big winner of the night.

And making the relationship work isn't as hard as you might think, she said.

"If I had a nine to five job it would never work," said Blunt.

"But we both live these very transient lives and I have time off and he has time off from touring -- I think I have more time off than he does. So I'll go and be tour bus groupie for awhile."