Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Carey on writing great TV roles for women
Collateral star on films break
CAREY Mulligan says actresses are increasingly turning down films for TV so they can land bigger and better female roles. The Hollywood star spoke at the launch of four-part BBC2 police drama Collateral, in which she plays the lead.
She said: “For most actresses it is about going where the better writing is.
“Films have tended to provide a lot for men in terms of great leading roles and not so much for women. When you can do Big Little Lies and have four, five or six extraordinary roles for women where there would be one or half of one in a couple of films, it has been led by the writing.
“That is the case for me, I want to play the most interesting, complicated real person. And interesting, complicated people in film are rare.”
Bafta-winner Carey, who starred in BBC period dramas before hitting Hollywood, got the Collateral script while expecting her second child.
She wanted the job so much she and the crew rushed through planning and filming so she could play DI Kip Glaspie, alongside John Simm and Billie Piper.
Asked about the hardest part, Carey said at the screening in London’s Southbank: “It was the night scenes towards the end. I was seven months and driving around London and the baby was just going mental kicking me.”
Writer David Hare, who worked with her previously, said: “She is incredibly good on script, there were scenes that were infinitely improved by what she wanted to do with them.”