Carey Mulligan on her #MeToo-inspired role in Promising Young Woman

From Academy Award-nominated work in films to critically-acclaimed performances on stage, Carey Mulligan’s career has seen her play a diverse range of female characters, always alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest leading men (think Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling).

But in her latest film, Promising Young Woman, Mulligan takes center stage with a female-led team that includes director and writer Emerald Fennell and the Margot Robbie co-founded production company LuckyChap Entertainment.

“It’s funny, because the reaction I first had when I read the script was, ‘This is soooo romantic’,” the 34-year-old said to Porter. “There’s this gorgeous ’80s rom-com in there, with this really believable relationship in the middle of it.”

But the comedic thriller’s plot is more #MeToo than meet-cutes, as her character pretends to be blackout drunk in an effort to lure (and punish) would-be rapists.

“Emerald was very deliberate about not putting anything in the film that we haven’t seen in a rom-com or bro-comedy in the past 20 years,” Mulligan told PORTER Magazine in a recent interview.

“Emerald’s [point] was: if [you] take someone home and they are really drunk, and then that person reveals they are not drunk, and you feel guilty, then you know what you are doing isn’t right,” she explained.

“What we reflected on, making this film, was the amount of real-life stories like this we know. A lot of this film is stuff that pretty much every woman I know has experienced in some way.”

For Mulligan, 34, Promising Young Woman also presented her the opportunity to work with her longtime friend, Fennell, whom she first met on set for the television series Trial & Retribution in 1997.

“My female friendships have become increasingly important – particularly the ones with friends I made when I was 14 at school,” Mulligan shared.

“It’s something about doing stages of life together and supporting each other. Every year, we do our birthdays together, because all our birthdays are within six days of one another.”​

To see the full interview with Carey Mulligan read Porter online or download the NET-A-PORTER app for iPhone, iPad and Android.