acknowledging that that thing happened, but feeling very
differently about what it was, and this gap in experience
and knowledge and empathy that can’t get breached. I
didn’t want to do a horrible, violent film that focused on
that stuff, because it’s completely triggering and horrible.When you’re a woman watching films, you know
about this. And you either know first hand or you
know someone who’s been through it. You don’t
need to see it. No, and I didn’t want it to be lascivious
or titillating. I think that I had to come at it from the point
of view that, nobody wakes up and thinks they’re a bad
person, and nobody looks back and thinks they’re a bad
person.How did Carey Mulligan come to the role of Cassie?
What I wanted from Cassie was somebody surprising,
not somebody we’d seen do a part like this before in any
way, so not someone from horror or comedy. I wanted
somebody who felt enigmatic at the centre of this and
who also felt slightly apart from it. And what I love about
Carey is she’s an unbelievably talented actress, but I don’t
know very much about her. She’s really private, she’s a
real shapeshifter and her performances are always well
rounded and challenging. It helped enormously that she's
British and everyone else is American; obviously you
can’t tell in the film, but there is a sense of otherness
about her. I should say, she’s literally the kind of funniest,
warmest, coolest person, but she’s just brilliant at keeping
her personal life out of it. I’d seen Wildlife and she’s so
fucking good, but she’s just not like anyone else. And also,
like, she fucking shows up. She didn’t drop a single line
in any scene. There are lots of geniuses who need space
and time, but she is there immediately.You’ve cast these archetypal nice guys as the sort
of villains of the piece: Adam Brody; Bo Burnham;
Christopher Mintz-Plasse. I feel like it’s a clever
way to subvert the idea of what a villain looks like.
Or that they think they’re villains. I wasn’t interested in
making a preachy, didactic film because I just wouldn’t
wanna watch one myself, so I wanted to cast people that
I think are genuinely brilliant and talented and funny andengaging and charismatic. But also, part of it is saying,
isn’t it easy to judge men we don’t know. When and if it
happens to someone you love, it’s amazing how much
more complicated it is. I said this to all the actors all the
time: ‘You absolutely believe you are right and you are a
good person. If you don’t all of the arguments fall apart.’
And there are characters here who have said things that
I’ve heard people say, or that I might have even said,
honestly. And I can’t believe the talent I was able to get.It was great to see Jennifer Coolidge playing
Cassie’s mother. Yes! There’s something also very
feminine about Jennifer. Of course she’s unbelievably
talented, but I really wanted to emphasise that, just
because people have had a hard time of it, that doesn’t
mean they don’t care, or that they don’t take great
pride in the way they dress. Cassie doesn’t schlub
around – she’s very particular, very precise, because
she’s good at diverting attention away from herself and
shapeshifting. Also, she doesn’t want anyone to ask any
questions. Anyone who’s had any self-harming behaviour
themselves, will know that the last thing they do is look
unwell – they go the other way. But also, often we mistake
things that are intrinsically female as being kind of silly.Like the Paris Hilton song, ‘Stars are Blind’.
Absolutely. I love that song, I’ve loved it for 15 years, ever
since it came out. In Steve Martin’s autobiography, ‘Born
Standing Up’, he talks about living next door to Disneyland
and that he worked there as a teenager. There’s a passage
where he talks about going there for the last time before
he moved away, and he sees a trendy photographer
taking photos of the Disneyland castle, and he wonders
if she’s doing an ironic photoshoot or if she feels the way
he does – that it’s beautiful. Someone decided things
that were cool and not cool, things that were to be taken
seriously and not seriously, and it’s bullshit. I genuinely
care as much about Cassie’s manicure as I do about the
bigger picture. It’s all details. It’s all important.We contain multitudes, we’re allowed to care
about our nails and our appearance. It doesn’t make
you not serious. And I think we’ve just been brought up“THAT’S THE TENSION OF EVERYTHING,
ISN’T IT? MISUNDERSTANDING.”
016 The Promising Young Woman Issue