Carey Mulligan Responds to Magazine's Apology for 'Promising Young Woman' Review
Generally, movie critiques deconstructe the technical elements of a film and its performers, meaning they evaluate acting, scriptwriting, character construction, etc. However, Variety recently apologized for a controversial review of Promising Young Woman from early 2020, near the original release date, which the film's star Carey Mulligan characterized as questioning whether she was attractive enough for her role.
The review, written by veteran Variety writer Dennis Harvey, suggests that Margot Robbie, a producer on the film, would have been a better fit for the role, as she is aesthetically better suited to play a "femme fatale" character. Harvey wrote, “Mulligan, a fine actress, seems a bit of an odd choice as this admittedly many-layered apparent femme fatale—Margot Robbie is a producer here, and one can (perhaps too easily) imagine the role might once have been intended for her. Whereas with this star, Cassie wears her pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on."
Speaking to the New York Times almost 11 months after the review's publication, the Oscar-nominated actress shared her take on the piece. “It felt like it was basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough to pull off this kind of ruse,” said Mulligan.
Following this interview, Variety apologized to Mulligan for the article's "insensitive language" used to describe her "daring performance."
In a coversation with Zendaya for Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, Mulligan said that criticism should be "constructive" and that physical appearance should not be a factor. Although the actress said she did not feel personally despised by the comments, she does take issue with what reflect in a broader sense. "I think that in criticizing or bemoaning the lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it wasn't a personal slight," Mulligan explained. "But it made me concerned that—in such a big publication—that an actress's appearance can be criticized and that can be accepted as completely reasonable criticism."
