On a New York Times profile in December, Carey Mulligan was asked about initial reactions to her film “Promising Young Woman” during her debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January last year. After Mulligan “winced” at the question, she answered.
“I read the Variety Review, because I’m a weak person, ‘”she told the Times. She characterized the criticism as saying that she was not “hot enough to use this kind of ploy”, but said she was not mentioning it because her feelings were hurt: “Yeah it wasn’t some kind of thing that hurt the ego – like, I can see perfectly well that Margot Robbie is a goddess. ”(The analysis suggested that perhaps Robbie, a producer of“ Promising Young Woman, ”might have been a better choice for the role of Cassie.)
Since the film Emerald Fennell specifically espouses femininity as a performance, writing critically about Mulligan’s appearance in “Promising Young Woman” seemed like a particularly absurd film to be so deaf. “It made me crazy,” Mulligan told the Times. “I was like, ‘Really? For this film, are you going to write something so transparent? Now? In 2020? ‘I just couldn’t believe it. ‘”
Although the review, written by freelance critic Dennis Harvey, was positive, the Variety newsroom agreed with Mulligan. Variety ended up adding a note from the editor at the top of the review, which says: “Variety sincerely apologizes to Carey Mulligan and regrets the insensitive language and innuendo in our review of ‘Promising young woman ‘ which downplayed its bold performance. “
During Mulligan’s conversation with Zendaya for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, presented by Amazon Studios, Zendaya asked her about connecting Variety and the subsequent apology from our magazine. “Very well said, ”Zendaya said after Mulligan was finished.
We also agree with that. Here is Mulligan’s answer in its entirety:
“I think it is important that the criticism is constructive. I think it’s important that we’re looking at the right things when it comes to work, and we’re looking at art, and we’re looking at performance and the way a film is made. And I don’t think it depends on an actor’s appearance or his personal preference for what an actor looks like or not, what that article looked like.
“Which was disappointing to me, because obviously the film is addressing issues around our perceptions and preconceived ideas about people. In the broadest sense, I think there is an element in which we have idealized women on screen for so long that I think we have started to lose sight of what women really are. When I worked with Steve McQueen on ‘Shame’, he said, ‘Seriously, what we’re all doing is holding a mirror. That’s what we do as storytellers. ‘
“And I think if women look at the screen continuously and don’t see each other, it won’t be useful for women or anyone, really – we’re not going to tell authentic stories. So I think that criticizing or kind of lamenting the lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it was not a personal contempt, it was not something I felt. It didn’t hurt my ego, but it worried me that in such a big publication, an actress’s appearance could be criticized and it could be, you know, it could be accepted as a completely reasonable criticism.
“I think it’s important to call these things, because they seem small and they seem insignificant. People around me at the time said: Oh, you know, get over it. Whatever. It’s great – it’s a great review. As you wish: People love the movie.
“But it stayed with me, because I think it is these moments of everyday life that add up – that means that we started to edit the way women appear on the screen and we want them to have a certain appearance. We want to airbrush them and make them perfect. Or we want to edit the way they work, how they move and how they think and behave. And I think we need to see real women portrayed on the screen and in all its complexity. So I thought it was a small thing to point out that it could be useful.
“I was really, I think, surprised, just because I felt like I didn’t know what the reaction to my saying that would be. I certainly didn’t want to – kind of desperate to rock the boat with a big post. But at the same time, it seems that you have to stand up for these things. Otherwise, it continues and you are essentially part of it.
“I was very, very surprised and moved, and happy to have received an apology. I kind of found it moving, in a way, to draw a line under it in a good way, and to know that it had an impact in a way. So it was positive. “
See the full conversation below.