Courtesy of Focus Features
Variety apologized for using “insensitive language” about Carey Mulligan in its “promising young woman” review.
“Variety sincerely apologizes to Carey Mulligan and regrets the insensitive language and innuendo in our ‘promising young woman’ analysis that downplayed her daring performance,” the Hollywood professional said in a statement.
Mulligan released Variety’s criticism of his new film, saying he focuses on how he looks and compares them to Margot Robbie.
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“I read Variety’s review because I’m a weak person,” Mulligan told the New York Times in an interview on Wednesday. “And I questioned that.”
“Promising young woman” focuses on her character Cassie’s mission of catching men trying to sleep with her when she is apparently very drunk. The problem, as men inevitably learn, is that she never got drunk and even though they positioned themselves as a “nice guy”, in their words, they were about to rape her, not save her by taking her home.
Variety’s critique, written by Dennis Harvey, addresses the cast of Mulligan in his final paragraph:
“Mulligan, a good actress, seems like a bit of an odd choice as this seemingly multifaceted apparent femme fatale – Margot Robbie is a producer here, and one can (perhaps very easily) imagine that the role may have been meant for her. Whereas, with this star, Cassie uses her pickup bait equipment as a dredging; even her long blond hair looks like a fake.
“It looked like it was basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough to use that kind of ruse,” Mulligan told the Times.
“It made me so crazy. I was like, ‘Really? For this film, are you going to write something so transparent? Now? In 2020? ‘I just couldn’t believe it, ”she added.
Mulligan was on the cover of Variety earlier this month to promote the film, which opens in theaters on December 25.