Newsweek's Q&A: Carey Mulligan

There's a new Q&A/interview of Carey Mulligan from Newsweek...

Mulligan plays Jenny, a '60s British teenager who grows up fast, in An Education. She spoke with Ramin Setoodeh.

What kind of education did you get while making this movie?
From Peter [Sarsgaard], I'm less of a nervous actor now. He doesn't get nervous. He doesn't mind making mistakes. He'll try anything, even if it's terrible. I used to be very camera-shy. I'd be nervous of trying some-thing unless I was sure it would work. I told Lone [Scherfig, the director] I'm a little phobic of cameras. If the camera comes toward me in a tracking shot, I'll look away. We had this whole joke that she would educate me on being camera-friendly. Even in the end, when the camera pans toward me and I had a plan to do a brilliant Billy Elliot moment where I smile and the audience would love me, I look away right at the end.

Have you been recognized?
No. Twice in my life.

When?
I was going on holiday. Keira Knightley and I stayed good friends after Pride and Prejudice. We went skiing. We were in security at the airport and I was standing next to Keira, and this woman comes up to me and says, "I know you." You know me?! Keira is right there. She's like, "How do I know you? Are you friends with my daughter?" I was like, "Uh, no." And the other time was when I was with the guy who was in Bleak House with me. It's never been on my own. But I never look the same on most of my jobs.

Are you on Facebook?
I left Facebook. People contact you and they're out of your life, and I don't know why they want to come back in. It's weird.

Read more.

Also, there's a video interview with Carey below...

[sources: Newsweek | video by Ramin Setoodeh, K Ryan Jones, John Groat | cm photo

Ray Tamarra / Getty Images ]

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Carey Mulligan's Disbelieving Parents

Carey Mulligan's parents thought she was lying about working with Dame Judi Dench.

The British actress - who first found fame when she starred alongside the legendary actress, Keira Knightley and Rupert Friend in 2005's 'Pride and Prejudice' - struggled to convince her parents she would be working with famous co-stars.

She told Britain's The Times newspaper: "I told them, 'So, I'm going to be in this film with Judi Dench,' and they thought I'd made the whole thing up."

British actress Carey Mulligan tipped for Oscar after premiere

Although they did not accept her she was eventually cast in a small role in the film version of Pride and Prejudice with Dame Judi Dench and Keira Knightley, and in the BBC’s acclaimed Bleak House. On stage she dazzled critics in London and New York as Nina in The Seagull in 2007 and last year, but landing the lead in An Education was still a shock. She now lives in New York and has a film star boyfriend (Shia LaBeouf, of Transformers) but has not quite come to terms with the weirdness of her rapid rise.

“I have Googled myself but it’s horrible because you think, ‘oh that’s really nice’, and then you read the next thing and it’s horrible so I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’d never been to a film festival before Sundance and I’d never played the lead in a film. Then it got picked up. That was huge and everything since then has been even more huge.

“I would never have had access to the parts I’ve been able to play this year. That’s been amazing.”