Carey Mulligan recently realized that she's spent much of her professional career holding back.
That might be surprising to hear for an actor with two Oscar nominations, a Tony nod and . She just didn鈥檛 get precious about it and preferred the old Laurence Olivier adage 鈥渨hy don鈥檛 you just try acting?鈥�
But that changed in the past several years, in no small part because of Bradley Cooper and 鈥� ,鈥� an all-encompassing project that would push her out of that comfort zone to play Felicia Montealegre, the elegant actor and wife of Leonard Bernstein.
As with 鈥� ,鈥� 鈥淢aestro,鈥� on Netflix, would prove to be a transformative experience for her understanding of herself as an actor and what she鈥檚 capable of. And it's likely to earn her another Oscar nomination and possibly her first win.
Mulligan spoke to The Associated Press about the journey to becoming Montealegre, and the people who helped her get there.
THE VOICE
Mulligan had become used to only ever getting a few months of prep for most of her roles. Suddenly she had years, which was both wonderful and daunting after Cooper approached her about the role in the summer of 2018. In addition to learning everything she could about Montealegre and even giving herself over to 鈥渄ream work鈥� with Cooper, she immediately got to work studying her character鈥檚 unique dialect. Montealegre was born in Costa Rica, raised in Chile in a multilingual household and educated at British school in Santiago.
Luckily, there were long recorded interviews which Mulligan listened to over and over. She also worked closely with famed dialect coach Tim Monich, who had actually met Montealegre once.
鈥淪he was just as you see her in the Murrow Person-to-Person interview. I was a rube-ish 26-year-old and I had never met anyone as easy, relaxed, and elegant as she,鈥� Monich wrote in an email. 鈥淚n a room with her, what a voice. And Carey has that, too鈥� Carey鈥檚 voice is one of her glories, and over quite a few roles we have played and altered it for different characters."
His process, Monich wrote, includes something he calls Language Lab, 鈥渋n which we listen to the real voices and then imitate them, riff on them, and play with them until they are the actors鈥� 鈥榬eal鈥� voices, too.鈥�
Mulligan and Cooper would often meet and just talk as the characters so that by the time they got onto set they wouldn鈥檛 have to think about it which proved especially helpful for their epic Thanksgiving argument.
THE PAINTINGS
Felicia was a painter and Mulligan was not. An earlier script included scenes of her painting on camera, and Mulligan promptly signed up for a few months of classes. During a bout of COVID-19, in which she found herself quarantined in Santiago after having visited Montealegre鈥檚 extended family there, she asked Netflix to send her an easel, paints and canvas and would spend the next 10 days copying her paintings.
Though the scene didn鈥檛 end up in the movie, her paintings did. Kind of. Mulligan laughed that production designer Kevin Thompson put them in the 鈥渄eep, deep background.鈥�
鈥淭hey were dotted around the set. I don鈥檛 know if you can see any of them though. To be honest, they鈥檙e not very good,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淎nd the one that is in the hallway is NOT me. That was original Felicia.鈥�
THE LOOK
鈥淢aestro鈥� spans decades and would require Mulligan to play her from age 24, in 1946 when she met Bernstein at a party, to her death in 1978 at age 56. Hair and makeup would thus have to make Mulligan, 38, look both younger and older as well as depicting her evolving, and famous, clothing and hair styles through the 鈥�50s, 鈥�60s and '70s.
In the early scenes, shot in black and white and on film, she learned that costumes that pop in that format might not actually look great in real life 鈥� but Oscar winning costume designer Mark Bridges (鈥淭he Arist鈥�) was proficient in both. Her favorite of the many looks, though, was probably the dramatic blue dress she wore for the performance of 鈥淢ASS.鈥�
鈥淚t was the best dress for walking away,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淚 was like, this is amazing because she just can鈥檛 bear to be there to watch him receive the accolades.鈥�
It was an interesting experience seeing herself age, through makeup and prosthetics, too.
鈥淚 absolutely loved being in my late 50s. I don鈥檛 know why, I just thought, This is probably my sweet spot. Like, I think this is where I feel in my soul,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he makeup was so unbelievably real, but it sort of presents this slightly odd mortality crisis that you look at yourself go, well, this is exactly what I will look like if I ever got incredibly sick. It鈥檚 a little trippy.鈥�
One time it even confused a doctor who had come to set to prescribe her some antibiotics and didn鈥檛 believe that she was 12-weeks pregnant asking her 鈥渁re you sure鈥� and 鈥渉ow do you know?鈥�
鈥淚 was like why is this doctor being so weird? Then I looked in the mirror and realized oh, it鈥檚 because Sian (Grigg) and Duncan (Jarman) made me look 56 and it would have been a miracle baby,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淚 went to makeup and said 鈥榓 doctor has just looked at me and thought I was in my late 50s. So kudos because that鈥檚 pretty good makeup.'鈥�
THE CONNECTION
For Mulligan, a review that calls her 鈥渓ovely鈥� is just about the worst thing that a person can write. She was sad to learn that that鈥檚 exactly how most critics described Montealegre's work.
鈥淪he got a lot of 鈥榮he鈥檚 lovely鈥� and this sort of patronizing, mediocre, middle of the road reviews,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淚 just thought, oh, gosh, you know, to be married to Leonard Bernstein, who鈥檚 like touched by God and then get a review that鈥檚 like 鈥榮he鈥檚 fine.鈥欌��
But something else resonated too. On one of the recordings, Mulligan said, 鈥淪he was talking about the Actors Studio and she was saying she finds it just so embarrassing that these actors are throwing themselves around crying and telling all their secrets and pretending to be animals and how ridiculous."
She has a theory that like herself, Montealegre was just nervous to fully commit because she didn鈥檛 want to fail. 鈥淢aestro鈥� gave Mulligan the space to finally give herself over to it.
鈥淪he just never could quite do it. That really hit me.鈥�
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
