USA TODAY International Edition
‘ I just wanted to be different’
Delevingne tells what makes her tick
If you judge Cara Delevingne by her prolific social media posts, you’d assume she spends her days being styled by Karl Lagerfeld and her nights party- hopping with Kendall Jenner and Taylor Swift.
In actuality, the British supermodel- turned- actress is a fan of the block- stacking game Jenga.
“That’s what we did last week,” Delevingne says as she devours sushi. “I hang out, chat, talk. Dance. I love dancing so much.”
It’s one way she releases the stress that comes with having a slightly mad work schedule.
She’s the alluring, elusive Margo, who captivates her neighbor ( Nat Wolff) in Paper Towns, based on John Green’s beloved book. In October, she’s a mermaid in the Neverland update Pan. And next August, she’s Enchantress, who’s both superhero and supervillain, in DC’s madly anticipated
Suicide Squad.
For Delevingne, modeling was a lucrative stopgap — it never had her heart, she says — until she could pursue her true love: acting. “I cared, but this, I have to do it right,” she says.
None of her roles qualify as an easy transitional choice: the pretty girlfriend or the requisite action- movie eye candy.
“For people who don’t know me, that probably seems like the obvious thing,” she says of making the switch from modeling to acting. “But for me, it’s not. That would be the surprising thing for me to do, from my perspective. If I don’t do it my way, I can’t.”
She auditioned to play Margo and nailed both the American accent and Margo’s illusory allure.
“When people look at Margo, they don’t see her. They see a reflection of themselves,” Green says. “People pay attention to her without listening to her. Cara un- derstands that better than anyone I’ve met in my life. She started out being known for her looks. People have all these associations with models and party girls. They think they know her. People think they can make broad conclusions.”
In fact, Delevingne goes to great lengths to make sure no one idolizes her. In her real life, she doesn’t wear makeup, and she goes around in sneakers and jeans. She says she’s a beast when she’s PMSing and points out the flaws in her makeup- free skin.
“People say, ‘ You’re so perfect.’ I’m like, ‘ Dude, this has been three hours of hair and makeup. I’m really not this pretty.’ It’s a thing, a facade. I’m a normal person.”
Delevingne, whose godmother is Joan Collins, was raised in posh surroundings by a property developer father and socialite mother who battled heroin addiction. “When I was a teenager, I felt so alone, going through stuff, not being able to talk to anyone.”
Now, tapping into her inner storminess helps, especially for shooting Suicide Squad. “There was so long where I was being a really nice, happy person all the time and projecting that because I had no time to be a real person. ( But) you can’t be happy and good all the time,” she says. “We’re all taught to be nice as kids. After so long of forcing this niceness, there’s this deep, dark evil person that starts to grow inside of you. This is eventually going to come out, and I’m going to beat someone up or something.” Delevingne goes one step further: “I always feel like there’s a demon inside of me.” Is there really? “But then again, that’s my character talking.”
By her own admission, Delevingne has trouble sitting still and says she’s a terrible sleeper. She’s fidgety and doesn’t make much eye contact, unless she’s making a point. “I’m an attention seeker. Everyone is to a certain extent. I’m definitely ADD,” she says. “In school, I used to pull pranks — I love making people laugh. It wasn’t that I wanted the attention, it’s more that I love to distract people. I also just wanted to be different.”
That’s Delevingne in a nutshell, says Suicide director David Ayer.
“She’s so uncensored. She’s this strange combination of someone who’s new in the acting business who has incredible talent,” he says. “She has no bad habits. No filters. She says what she’s thinking. She’s one of the most in- themoment people I’ve met.
“Her acting ability will surprise people. A lot of people try to jump into this industry. ... She’s a natural- born actor. She’s a bro. She’s down.”