Breakout Star: With two Sundance films, Carey Mulligan reveals herself to be the next Winona -- or maybe Audrey

Here's the latest and a very nice Carey Mulligan article and interview from The Salt Lake Tribune:

Park City » When you see Carey Mulligan's pixie haircut and easy smile in the Sundance Film Festival entry "The Greatest," you think you're seeing the next Winona Ryder.

But when you hear Mulligan speaking in her normal British accent -- in person or in her other Sundance drama, "An Education" -- you think you're seeing the next Audrey Hepburn.

Either way, the 23-year-old Mulligan is emerging as the breakout star of this year's Sundance.

Even without Sundance, Mulligan's career is taking off. In 2009, she will appear in Michael Mann's gangster drama "Public Enemies," starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as Eliot Ness -- and she has a supporting role

in "Brothers," Jim Sheridan's remake of the acclaimed Danish drama about siblings torn apart by the Iraq War.

"She's just starting to happen with the press due to the wow reception to ['An Education']," Jeffrey Wells wrote on his movie-industry blog Hollywood Elsewhere. "But the talent community has been on to her for a while now."

"The Greatest" centers on a married couple, played by Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, grieving over their teen son's death -- and dealing with the son's pregnant girlfriend, played by Mulligan. In "An Education," Mulligan plays a London teen in the '60s who is intrigued by a much older man, played by Peter Sarsgaard.

Mulligan took her first look at Shana Feste's script for "The Greatest" after finishing her work on "Public Enemies." "I was just reading a bunch of scripts, and I got this one through, and they said they were having a hard time finding the girl," Mulligan said after a screening of "The Greatest." "It was the biggest American part that I had auditioned for, and it was a little bit nerve-wracking."

Feste gave Mulligan the part and gave the cast plenty of rehearsal time. Mulligan said the time allowed her to "get over the terror of working with people like Susan and Pierce."

Another challenge for Mulligan was the American accent. "I think it's just a case of relaxing," she said of the American accent. "A lot of time it's just your inhibition about sounding silly. If you let go of that, and you're around people you're comfortable with, the inhibition goes and the accent sort of flows a lot easier. And there were an awful lot of Americans to copy."

More Carey Mulligan related articles below:

• Carey Mulligan: she won’t let it go to her head
• An Education’s Carey Mulligan on Not Playing a Lolita
• THE NEW AUDREY?
• Carey Mulligan makes her mark
• Smart "Education" boasts breakout performance
• Sundance Review: An Education

Also, Carey, The Greatest...



Meeting 'The Greatest' cast: Sarandon, Brosnan, Mulligan and more...


How do you have fun in the midst of a film about losing a beloved son? Cast Johnny Simmons.

Previously seen in "Evan Almighty" and the new film "Hotel for Dogs," Simmons shows great range and laugh-out-loud comedic timing in first-time writer/director Shana Feste's film about a family coping with the sudden death of their eldest son Bennett (Aaron Johnson).

Playing opposite Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan may seem daunting to young actors, but both Simmons and British television star Carey Mulligan (who appears to be 2009's indie film queen) handle it with grace, humor and heartbreaking emotion.

Read full article here.



Variety.com Review: The Greatest

A Barbarian Film Group presentation of a Silverwood Films/Irish Dreamtime production. Produced by Lynette Howell, Beau St. Clair. Executive producers, Pierce Brosnan, Aaron Kaufman, Doug Dey, Ron Hartenbaum, Douglas Kuber, Myles Nestel, Anthony Callie. Co-producers, Amanda J. Scarano, Katie Mustard. Directed, written by Shana Feste.

Allen Brewer - Pierce Brosnan
Grace Brewer - Susan Sarandon
Rose - Carey Mulligan
Ryan - Johnny Simmons
Bennett - Aaron Johnson
Ashley - Zoe Kravitz
Joan - Jennifer Ehle
Lydia - Amy Morton
Jordan Walker - Michael Shannon

Far from a remake of the Muhammad Ali biopic, "The Greatest" is a well-observed study of an affluent family's grief and rebirth after a tragic accident. Writer-director Shana Feste displays impressive control over all aspects of her feature debut, which deals in a nuanced manner with the different ways those affected by the loss deal with it. As demonstrated by the recent "Revolutionary Road," this sort of grim material with agonized characters emits serious noncommercial vibes, suggesting a hard road ahead in a marketplace in which solid reviews will have to help the star names in selling it.

Feste was inspired by the psychological insight into family disruptions of "Ordinary People" in making her film, and one critical result of this influence was her recruitment of that picture's cinematographer, John Bailey, whose work here is superlative; the compositions are bold and strong, the lighting exquisite, making "The Greatest" a visual pleasure.

Opening sequence comes out of nowhere to slug you in the gut. A young couple tenderly makes love, then are seen in the fellow's Karmann Ghia, which he impulsively stops in the middle of the empty road at night to say something important --and Wham!, the car is smashed by a speeding truck.

The teenage boy's funeral is followed by a minutes'-long take that bluntly observes the mother, Grace Brewer (Susan Sarandon), father Allen (Pierce Brosnan) and remaining teen son Ryan (Johnny Simmons) mourning in their own ways in silence in the back of the limousine.

Outwardly taking things hardest is Grace, who begins bawling the moment she awakes in the morning and soon develops an obsession for knowing what her son Bennett (Aaron Johnson) might have felt, thought or said during the 17 minutes he remained alive after the accident.

Allen, an advanced mathematics professor, holds it all in, although he does tell his gorgeous mistress (Jennifer Ehle) at school not to expect to see him, since he must do everything he can to support his wife.

The wild card is Rose (Carey Mulligan), the woman who was in the car with Bennett. Shesuffered only mild injuries and is, lo and behold, pregnant. As disclosed in short flashbacks, Rose and Bennett were longtime classmates who had slept together just the one time. Without resources or family to support her, the attractive, strong-minded young lady intends to keep the baby, a decision Allen supports but surprisingly does not please Grace, who maintains a resentful distance from Rose even after she moves into the Brewer's lovely rambling house (the pic was shot in and around Nyack, N.Y.).

These initial positions undergo tectonic shifts through the nine months of the story, as Allen's grief eventually bursts out, Ryan finds a way to articulate how he feels and Grace at long last can speak with the rough character (Michael Shannon) who rammed into her son. It's all done with intelligence, sensitivity and credibility, even if the emotional trauma of parents losing a child is not the sort of thing most people, especially other parents, want to spend much time grappling with.

Thesps do admirable, potent work, with Brosnan coping well with the sort of heavy dramatic lifting he only occasionally undertakes; Sarandon channeling a mother's distressed obsession with complete conviction; and Mulligan, a British newcomer who proves a revelation in another Sundance entry, "An Education," bringing a bracing resilience to a teenager for whom one night changed the rest of her life. Simmons comes into his own impressively when given the opportunity in the latter going.