-Our first guest tonight is an Academy Award-nominated actress
you know from her work in films such as "An Education,"
"The Great Gatsby," and "Mudbound."
She is both an executive producer
and the star of "Promising Young Woman,
which is in theaters now and on demand this Friday.
Let's take a look. -I just thought that you were --
-Drunk? -Yeah.
-Really drunk? -[Bleep], yeah.
-Well, I'm not. But that's good, isn't it?
-i think you should leave. -Oh.
Now you want me to leave? -No.
I just -- I'm really high.
Like, I'm really [Bleep] high right now.
I don't know what I'm doing. I think you should go.
-But a second ago, you were determined for me to stay.
You were pretty insistent, actually.
-I'm a nice guy. -Are you?
-Please welcome back to the show Carey Mulligan.
How are you, Carey? -I'm good, thanks.
How are you? -I'm good.
This movie -- that clip really gets across.
This movie has an excellent score.
It's one of the many things I loved about it.
Very dramatic.
A lot of scenes with great tension.
Are you happy with how this film turned out?
-Yeah. I mean, I'm so -- I'm so proud
just to have been in it, to get to witness
what Emerald Fennell, our director, has done.
She's just a genius -- a sort of mad genius, but a genius.
-It seems like she knew exactly the movie she wanted to make.
You were obviously involved early as an executive producer.
Were there a lot of conversations about tone,
or did she know exactly the way she wanted to present it
from the beginning? -I think it was --
I think the film was in her head.
I think she had -- I mean, when I signed on to the film,
in the same moment that she sent me the script,
she also sent me a playlist, and on that playlist was
Paris Hilton's "Stars are Blind"
and Britney Spears' "Toxic," twice.
And you know, but, like, there was so much of the film --
the wit of the film was in the music choices
and the production design and the costume,
and all of that was stuff
that she presented along with the script.
So it was very much she was the captain of the ship
and we were along for the ride.
-I've long been a fan of Britney Spears' "Toxic."
I will admit to not being as familiar
with Paris Hilton's work as a singer.
-Really? -Yeah, I will admit it.
But there's a wonderful sort of --
I guess you guys are in sort of a pharmacy karaoke scene
with you and Bo Burnham. -[ Chuckles ]
-Are you an actual karaoke fan?
Because you were very good in that scene.
-I've done -- Yeah, I do a very good
"(Everything I Do) I Do It For You."
Yeah, that's my sort of go-to. And Meat Loaf.
A little bit of Meat Loaf on a special occasion.
-I like it. If you go --
That's the thing about karaoke. If you're gonna get your shot
and then wait for everybody else,
you got to do one of those eight-minute Meat Loaf songs,
just get your time up onstage.
-You've got to do the duet.
Play the woman, the dude, you know, really get into it.
-i mean, that really speaks to ego
that you won't let someone else come out with you
and split the parts up. [ Chuckles ]
-No. The only one I ever do.
Those two are my numbers. -Yeah, I agree.
I think people should drill down on one or two they're good at.
Nobody wants to see somebody do a giant catalog of songs.
I want to be careful talking too much about this film,
because I would hate to give it away,
because for as much as it seems like it was in such safe hands
insofar as what it was trying to do,
there were so many turns that I did not see coming at all.
And there were times where I thought, "Oh,
this would be a film that would be a great experience
to see in a theater with other people
having these same realizations at the same time.
Do you think that, ever? -Yeah.
I mean, we were lucky enough that we had that.
We had a sort of first screening at Sundance,
and we got to sort of sit amongst an audience and feel...
You know, I'm so used to being in sort of dramas,
where the best you can hope for is a pin-drop silence.
You just want -- you want nothing.
And with "Promising Young Woman,"
we were getting gasps and we were getting laughter
and we were getting people, like, yelling.
And it was so exciting. So, it's definitely a shame
that more people won't see it in the cinema,
but I think it's also one of those great things
about independent film, when it gets --
sort of when people take notice of it,
then we get such a bigger audience,
and maybe more people will watch it at home.
So who knows? -Is it true
that there was a fight, an actual fight, broke out
at one of the Sundance screenings?
-[ Laughing ] Yeah.
It was actually -- I wasn't there.
It was in L.A., but it was off a screening
showing Focus, the distributors, the movie finished.
And there was a test, an audience there,
to sort of give it an audience. And Emerald was sitting
with all of the executives around her,
our director, and, yeah, a fight broke out
between two audience members who were disagreeing
about what was happening in the film.
And one was saying sort of, "No, no, stop, stop, stop."
And the other person was saying, "Look,
If you don't like it, just get out!"
And this whole thing kind of broke out.
And Emerald was sort of creeping, melting into her seat.
But, luckily, I missed it. -Those were simpler times,
when we fought over what was happening in movies.
[ Chuckling ] I miss those days.
-I miss that, too.
-Last we talked, you were telling us
how you guys live on a farm
that is often muddy, often a little wet.
I think that one thing people have had to deal with,
as they do more and more from home is slow Wi-Fi.
How is the farm's Wi-Fi?
Because you're coming across crystal clear for us now.
-It's taken a lot of work.
It's been my main project for 2020,
because I had nothing else to do,
so I focused on Wi-Fi troubleshooting.
It's pretty sad that it's the only thing
I've taken away from that year, but I feel like
I put my all into it, so I'm pretty proud of myself.
-Well, for those of us with talk shows
who enjoy having you on as a guest,
I want to say, on behalf of all of us,
thank you for upgrading your Wi-Fi.
Congrats on the film. It is really something special.
And thanks so much for being here.
-Thank you. Thanks for having me.