When talking to Zendaya on Variety’s Actors on Actors, the actress playing Cassie Thomas in Emerald Fennell’s comedy thriller explains why she felt it was important for her to call out on the film review.
- Jan 27, 2021
AceShowbiz – Carey Mulligan has accepted Variety’s apology for “Promising Young Woman” review. Having called out the publication for suggesting her not attractive enough to play the lead role in Emerald Fennell’s comedy thriller, the Cassie Thomas depicter admitted to having found the mea culpa “moving.”
The 35-year-old addressed the matter when speaking to Zendaya Coleman on Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series. “I was really, really surprised and thrilled, and happy to have received an apology. I kind of found it moving, in a way, to have drawn a line under that in a good way, and know that that had an impact in a way. So it was positive,” she said.
During the chat, Carey also explained why she slammed the outlet. “I feel it’s important that criticism is constructive. I think it’s important that we are looking at the right things when it comes to work, and we’re looking at the art, and we’re looking at the performance and the way that a film is made,” she elaborated.
“And I don’t think that goes to the appearance of an actor or your personal preference for what an actor does or doesn’t look like, which it felt that that article did,” she went on. “I think in criticizing or sort of bemoaning a lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it wasn’t a personal slight, it wasn’t something that I felt.”
“It didn’t wound my ego, but it made me concerned that in such a big publication, an actress’ appearance could be criticized and it could be that, you know, that could be accepted as completely reasonable criticism,” she continued explaining. “I think it’s important to call out those things, because they seem small and they seem insignificant.”
In the review published by Variety, Carey was described as an “odd choice” to play the femme fatale character. It continued to read, “Margot Robbie is a producer here, and one can (perhaps too easily) imagine the role might once have been intended for her. Whereas with this star, Cassie wears her pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on.”
Carey first weighed in on the sexist review in a profile for the New York Times in December 2020. “I read the Variety review, because I’m a weak person… And I took issue with it,” she claimed. “It felt like it was basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough to pull off this kind of ruse.”
“It wasn’t some sort of ego-wounding thing – like, I fully can see that Margot Robbie is a goddess,” she added. “It drove me so crazy. I was like, ‘Really? For this film, you’re going to write something that is so transparent? Now? In 2020?’ I just couldn’t believe it.”
Variety later issued an apology to Carey. Adding an editor’s note at the top of the review, the outlet penned, “Variety sincerely apologizes to Carey Mulligan and regrets the insensitive language and insinuation in our review of ‘Promising Young Woman’ that minimized her daring performance.”
Source: Movies - aceshowbiz.com