Today I had the privilege of attending The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend talk with award-winning actress Carey Mulligan.
For over an hour, New York Times journalist Charles McGrath spoke to the young star about a career, which has included a string of highly, regarded roles on both stage and screen.
Hers is a journey of a girl who had a theater in her blood and despite no formal theatrical training, found herself making her film debut as a supporting player in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice.
From there, she went on to co-star in well-received The Seagull first at the Royal Court Theatre (UK) then on Broadway. McGrath and Mulligan then went on to discuss at great length some of her most popular roles to date – her breakthrough performance in An Education; the largely under-appreciated Never Let Me Go; and two critically acclaimed films of 2011 – Drive and Shame; each discussion was accompanied by a clip from the film being discussed.
At the tender age of 26, Carey Mulligan finds herself in an enviable position that many other actors could only dream of. Clearly she is a fan of the medium because, as she says, partly what attracts her to the roles she seeks is the opportunity to work with people whose work she greatly admires. This was the case with Drive (director Nicholas Winding Refn) and Shame (director Steve McQueen and actor Michael Fassbender).
Ms. Mulligan came across as an affable person who is passionate about her craft and seeks to challenge herself at every possible opportunity. During the audience question and answer period, she was very open and engaging.
She mentioned a couple of her upcoming projects as well: finishing touches on Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated The Great Gatsby and preproduction on the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis.
Red says
January 9, 2012 at 12:09 amThis is wonderful. How much time did she spend talking about The Seagull? The film adaptation – starring the same players – has been in and out of production for a couple years now. I hate to look at movies strictly from an awards perspective, but if this movie ever gets made, it’ll be an awards monster.
iluvcinema says
January 9, 2012 at 12:30 amHi Red. I would say there was a good amount of time spent on it. But strictly about the stage productions. No mention of a film adaptation that I can recall. But she did express her obsession with the character of Nina.
Scott Lawlor says
January 9, 2012 at 6:40 amAs they say over here at the moment I am ‘WELL JELL” (which translates as Well Jealous). I would love to have seen Miss Mulligan in the flesh, she is a great actress and I have a little crush on her, which is a bit wrong considering my age……
Thanks for this one
iluvcinema says
January 9, 2012 at 10:45 amA couple of years ago, I walked passed her on 47th Street in Manhattans; she is quite adorable.
It was so cute – when they were showing her clips, she did not watch them; instead she put her head down. She was especially so when they played her singing “New York, New York.”
Castor says
January 9, 2012 at 11:26 pmNice! Lucky you Iba for attending this. She is certainly one of the most interesting young actress in the business these days.
iluvcinema says
January 10, 2012 at 12:50 amDefinitely and she seems quite pragmatic about all of it.
Dan says
January 10, 2012 at 11:41 amShe comes across as a very grounded individual – intelligent, charming. I think she’s a wonderful actress and potentially has a great career ahead of her.
iluvcinema says
January 11, 2012 at 8:10 amYes indeed!