Carey Mulligan has been 'campaigning for 10 years' to star in a romcom

Carey Mulligan has been campaigning for Richard Curtis to cast her in one of his romantic comedies for 10 years.

In a new interview with Porter magazine, the British actress, who has starred in films such as An Education, The Great Gatsby, and Suffragette, revealed there is one movie genre she has been actively campaigning to appear in.
"I have always wanted to be in a rom-com," she said. "I've been campaigning for Richard Curtis to write me something for about 10 years!" referring to the Love Actually and Notting Hill writer.

When she received the script for Promising Young Woman, a black comedy exploring the dark side of romance, with themes of revenge, sexual assault and toxic masculinity, she thought she'd landed upon a romantic movie.

"It's funny, because the reaction I first had when I read the script was, 'This is soooo romantic'," she continued. "There's this gorgeous '80s rom-com in there, with this really believable relationship in the middle of it."

However, the manipulation throughout Emerald Fennell's film soon becomes apparent and, while the subject matter is tough, Carey found it easy to identify with her character Cassie Thomas as "a lot of this film is stuff that pretty much every woman I know has experienced in some way."

Promising Young Woman, also starring Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, and Adam Brody, was originally set to be released on 17 April, but has been delayed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.