London-born English actress Carey Mulligan came to international prominence on the back of her Academy Award-nominated turn in Lone Scherfig’s ‘An Education,’ a role for which she earned Best Actress awards from the National Board of Review, the British Independent Film Awards and BAFTA. She recently starred in Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go,’ with Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, and also in Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,’ playing the daughter of Michael Douglas’s iconic character. She also starred as Kitty in Jane Austen’s ‘Price and Prejudice.’ Additional films include ‘Public Enemies,’ ‘The Greatest,’ ‘Brothers,’ and ‘When Did You Last See Your Father.’ In Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising), she plays Irene, a woman whose life is coloured by two different relationships with two different men…

Why do Irene and Driver connect?
Carey Mulligan: The thing with Irene and Driver was a kind of a communion. They both have these very lonely existences, he especially, and she is just struggling along and they found each other kind of peaceful. There is something not real about it. I think maybe they both know that. It is a sort of fairytale what they had. Then it is over and she is back to real life. I think it was different in that sense. She is slightly taken out of herself and I don’t know that they could function like that forever. One of my favourite scenes is driving down the river basin; it is all a bit heightened and the reality is slightly different. It is two different worlds really. Oscar and Standard, his character, are from the real world, and Ryan/Driver seem like they’re from this slightly fairytale land.

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There is no doubt that Carey Mulligan is on the fast track to a stellar film career. Known for her pixie haircut and demure personality, the 26-year old starlet has already skyrocketed to fame on both sides of the Atlantic. Even more surprising is the fact that she has managed to do so without resorting to effects-laden blockbusters or outrageous tabloid antics. Now casting agents rank her with the likes of Michelle Williams, Mia Wasikowska and Rebecca Hall, as well as up-and-comers Felicity Jones and Rooney Mara.

From part-time barmaid to award-winning actress, we chart Carey Mulligan’s stratospheric rise:

Television regular

Despite receiving rejections from three top drama schools, Mulligan made her debut in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice (2005). The ambitious teenager landed an audition for the part of Kitty Bennett after meeting the writer Julian Fellowes, via her headmistress, and persuading him to share some industry contacts. Mulligan’s persistence paid off and gave her a chance to appear on screen alongside Keira Knightley, Donald Sutherland and Rosamund Pike.

She then quickly followed this with two years of solid TV work, including mini-series of Bleak House, Waking the Dead and Trial & Retribution. Besides the predictable trinity of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, the ingénue starred in a popular episode of Doctor Who, which piqued the interest of audiences across the country (the YouTube clips have well above 45,000 views).

Mulligan also tried her hand at theatre in an acclaimed revival of The Seagull, performing first in the West End and later on Broadway. American critics were impressed enough to nominate her for a Drama Desk Award.

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Carey Mulligan loves the “brutal” honesty of director Nicolas Winding Refn.

The Oscar-nominated actress worked with the filmmaker on new movie ‘Drive’ and says it was a dream come true because he’s always been someone she’s admired.

She said: “I emailed my agent and said, ‘I just want to work with someone like Nicolas Winding Refn – anyone who makes films like he does.’

“Nick is the most brutally honest person I have ever come across and when we walked into his house he turned around and said, ‘Ah, Carey, you were much fatter last time we met!’

“He will always tell me if I’m being rubbish. And from then on we just had the best time making ‘Drive’. He was on my fantasy wish list, so I was just thrilled to be in it.”

As well as working with Nicolas, Carey loved starring alongside Ryan Gosling in the film as he was so easy to work with.

She said told the Mirror newspaper: “With Ryan it was just easy. He is such a brilliant actor. He is so prepared and he doesn’t have to warm himself up to be in a scene. He just draws you in.

“We had scenes where we stared at each other with no words for three minutes until it was, like, weird. But somehow I kinda feel like it works because the rest of the film has all these very complex, witty, intelligent and terrifying characters. And this is the part of the film where there is a little bit of hope. It is quite nice.”

source: nzcity.co.nz

American Cinematographer’s October issue has an extended feature on “Drive”. Check the scans in the gallery:

• [x014] Scans in 2011 - October: American Cinematographer

I capped a couple more comic-con interviews, check them below:

• [x212] Captures in 2011 - July 21st: Comic-Con 2011 – Vanity Fair Interview
  
• [x233] Captures in 2011 - July 21st: Comic-Con 2011 – HitFix Interview
• [Video] Appearances in 2011 – Vanity Fair interview with Carey Mulligan at Comic Con 2011

Check “Drive” Featurette with Carey talking about Irene and filming “Drive”:

• [x176] Movies: Drive – Featurette Captures

I found a brand new photo of Carey in “Drive” plus some foreign posters of the film:

• [x001] Movies: Drive – Promotional Stills
  
• [x003] Movies: Drive – Posters

Total Film has a four-pages-long feature of “Drive” in September’s issue. Check it in the gallery:

• [x004] Scans in 2011 - September: Total Film

I added some more stills of Carey in “Shame” plus some photos of her behind the scenes while filming the movie. Also the first reviews of the film started coming out, you check one here:

• [x004] Movies: Shame - Production Stills
• [x002] Movies: Shame - Behind the Scenes

I was trying to find this ever since I first saw it at comic-con signing but the best I could find was a photo of the autographed picture. Well I finally found Carey’s “Drive” solo poster! I also added screenshots of the official site:

• [x001] Movies: Drive – Posters
  
• [x003] Movies: Drive – Official Site Screenshots