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Carey Mulligan covers the new issue of WSJ. Magazine. I just read through the whole piece and to say that Carey receives some of the most glowing press of any young actress in the world would be an understatement. WSJ. Magazine absolutely fawns over her, as did Vogue Magazine. It’s a reminder (to me) that Carey largely flies undercover by choice, but when she wants to turn it on and remind people that she’s got a new project, she can really turn it on. In this interview, Carey talks about how dorky she is (she wrote letters to Eminem!!!), how her parents didn’t want her to become an actress, and how she decides on what projects to take. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

She wrote letters to celebrities as a teenager: “I was such a weird, geeky kid. I wrote to Eminem and told him I thought his songs were amazing.”

Her husband, Marcus Mumford, keeping her down-to-earth: “It’s always nice to come home to someone who will tell you when it’s all bollocks. Because the minute you get to be like, ‘Oh, God, I’m nailing it, look how famous I am,’ you should give it up.’”

Making it a rule to never accept a part in the first meeting with a director: “I used to be so eager and overenthusiastic that I would take jobs in the room. But that got me into a world of trouble. It got messy.”

The confidence she’s gained over the years: “I used to walk into every rehearsal room and think, I hope I don’t get fired. Now I feel like I’m allowed to have an opinion.”

Regretting the decision to pass on the role that Rooney Mara played in Spike Jonze’s Her: “I’d just done four jobs in a row; I was about to collapse. But I watched it and thought, Dammit, that was brilliant. I won’t let that happen again.”

How she chooses roles: “The role has to be a female that has been written really well, or is strongly representing some aspect of femininity—otherwise, I’m not really interested in it.”

She regrets taking a role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: “It was a lesson to me that if I don’t have enough to get ahold of, it doesn’t work for me.”

[From WSJ. Magazine]

I have mixed feelings about her bold (?) statement about the only parts she’ll play, that “the The role has to be a female that has been written really well, or is strongly representing some aspect of femininity.” On one side, I think it’s great that she holds herself to such high standards and she’s willing to say no to stuff that she doesn’t feel is worth her time. On that, good for her. That takes balls. On the other side, not every actress can do this. In fact, very few actresses can do this. Most actresses – even the good ones – have to take roles for various other reasons, like they need a paycheck or they want to mix up their resumes with commercial hits and indie films. While Carey’s position works for her, it feels like she’s one of the only actresses out there who can manage to pull this off.

And writing to Eminem? Epic.

Photos courtesy of WSJ. Magazine.
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