Carey Mulligan, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
(laughs) Hi. How you doing?
I'm doing as good as can be expected
considering everything that's happening in the world.
The question is, how are you doing?
'Cause you're in the U.K. right now,
and you have the new variant of corona out there
that's just shutting everything down.
So how are you doing, and how is everybody around you?
Yeah, it's, um, you know, I think we all anticipated it...
something getting worse for a little bit
before it got better, but it's obviously,
we're in lockdown, so we're all home-schooling,
and it feels like we, you know,
the beginning of March last year.
So, uh, but no, we're very lucky.
We live in the country, so we've got space.
I feel like, in the hierarchy of things,
people have said, you know, essential workers,
it's the people helping to keep everybody alive.
It's the people who are providing food
and keeping grocery stores open,
and just the teachers who are still out there,
trying to educate kids through some of the toughest times
we've ever experienced.
After all of that, my top thing is
anyone who comes out with a good movie during the pandemic.
-Yeah. -I'm so excited
when a new movie comes out that's actually amazing,
and that is what you have given us with Promising Young Woman.
I will say, though, I was shocked
at how dark and yet funny it is.
And am I allowed to even feel that?
Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, it was very much kind of written
as a dark, very dark comedy.
I mean, it's full of comedians, the whole cast is...
pretty much everyone, apart from Connie Britton and I,
are kind of people who are very comfortable in comedy.
So, uh, it was definitely, yeah...
And that's also part of what I think the shame is--
you know, and it's such a small thing by comparison
to world events-- but the loss of having that experience,
you know, for a lot of people in the cinema,
of being around other people, it sort of,
in these very dark comedies,
I think it's an audience around you
that gives you permission to laugh
in moments where you're not sure if you can laugh,
and that's kind of part of the tension and release
-of a film like that. -As a comdeian--
I think most comedians will agree with me in saying that--
if you say "comedy and sexual assualt,"
everyone pauses-- we go like, "I-I don't know.
"I'm gonna... I'll talk about escalators first,
and I'll try and get to that."
What made you think that you could be part of making a film
that used comedy as a tool to discuss one of the issues
that has, I mean-- from the #MeToo movement,
and even before that--
been one of the most important conversations
to have in society?
Well, it was really the strength of the writing,
and meeting Emerald Fennell, who was our director.
You know, the hardest things in life,
we often can only get through by using humor.
You know, some moments of your life that are completely tragic
are marked by moments of, you know,
kind of comedy and hysterical giggling.
You know, the kind of...
part of me that wants to laugh at a funeral,
'cause you just don't know how to cope with your...
-Right, yeah. -It feels very much like life,
and I think the main thing with this story is
that it's not a fantasy-- it's based on experiences
that so many of us know people who have been through them,
and trying to be honest about that,
but also recognizing that there are,
that if you want to talk about this kind of stuff,
and you want people to think about this kind of stuff,
you know, there are ways of doing it
that entice an audience.
You know, this is a film that I think you want to see,
as opposed to one that feel like you should see.
You play a character who, um, whose friend is the victim
of-- childhood friend, really-- is the victim of sexual assualt.
And it... it leads us into a story
of revenge and justice, really.
Do you think there's a sense of catharsis
that was intended in writing the script?
Is it... is it meant in some ways to be
the movie for people who say, like, "You know what?
"I've experienced this, I've got a friend who's experienced this,
"and this, this helps me feel a different way about it,
or see my feelings from a different point of view"?
I mean, definitely, from talking to people,
um, they've, you know, there's been a sense of catharsis.
I think, also, just, like, you know, for me,
(laughs): smashing up a car, which you see.
Uh, it's pretty fun.
And it, um, definitely helps.
But I think, no, I mean...
if that's people's experience, I think that's, you know,
that's great, but I think the conversation
I think that Emerald was sort of hoping to create
would be something that went further
into the cultural conversation.
And, you know, these situations that happen in our film
have happened in so many comedies,
bro comedies, you know, films where a guy will try
and lose his virginity in a nightclub
-Right. -at any expense,
or, you know, try and identify the most drunk girl, or...
You know, so these are things that we've watched
and we've kind of laughed at, and they've been so normalized
in our culture for so long.
Um, so it's not so much as sort of--
of course it touches on that stuff--
but it's not so much pointing blame,
or sort of assigning people villainous roles--
it's more: how have we all been complicit in this?
It does give people an opportunity
to sort of experience this stuff through a different lens,
'cause we're so used to seeing this kind of stuff
told from the perspective of the boy or the man,
-or, you know, and... -Right.
get through, you know, the perspective
of the very drunk girl in the corner,
except in this situation she's actually stone-cold sober.
You know, we-we... we've been taught to believe
that somebody who has classically unattractve features
is going to be the bad guy, or it's someone who looks menacing,
acts menacing, and in this movie, what was really fantastic
is seeing "nice guys," "good guys," being the "bad guys."
Seeing the "good guys" doing the bad things.
That was a really interesting choice,
not just in the characters but in the casting as well.
Because, I mean, you're seeing Bo Burnham in this movie,
and you're like, "I love Bo Burnham!"
And then I watch the movie, and I was like,
"I don't know if I like Bo Burnham."
-(laughs) Yeah. -That's a really...
it's a really interesting way to tell a story,
and it seems like it's a... it's a core tenet
of what the story is about.
Why do you think that was so important?
Yeah, well, it was all very intentional.
I think, you know, Emerald wanted people
that we feel comfortable with
and that we have a sort of sense of nostalgia about,
because, you know, I think if you see somebody
who looks sort of inherently villainous,
and you associate them with playing the baddie
in a bunch of films, like, you immediately distrust him.
I think the point about this was that you would enter
into one of these situations and feel comfortable momentarily
with this person, and you'd feel safe.
And it goes to the casting of Connie Britton as the dean.
This is someone that you know, Connie's like,
everyone's favorite person and you would go to her
if you were in a crisis and... so I think, you know,
subverting our expectations around that stuff,
was really important.
And also the way that Emerald directed was so brilliant,
because she told each of the men-- Adam Brody
and Sam Richardson and...
uh, at the beginning of the scene, you know, this is,
"this is a romantic comedy and you’re the lead.
"You know, you've just met the love of your life.
-Wow. -That's how you play the scene."
So they were all entering into it with this sort of amazing,
earnest, committed, kind of, I'm the hero here
and I'm gonna save this girl, you know?
So the approach, I think it highlights
what it feels like when this is not happening
to someone that you, that you don't like
or don't know, this is what it feels like,
you know, what if-- it's a very different situation
if someone you know gets accused of something like this.
So casting these very, kind of photogenic, sweet, lovely
people that are genuinely lovely in real life,
I think puts a different twist on that.
I will say it's, uh, it is dark,
it is thrilling and it is funny in moments
where you-you genuinely do not expect it to be.
Uh, but most importantly, it's, uh,
easily the best film of the year.
I know the year just began, but it's, uh, still gonna be
one of the best films of the year-- thank you so much
for joining us on the show and, uh, congratulations once again.
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.