Carey Mulligan receives apology, opens up about 'Promising Young Woman' review: 'It stuck with me'

Carey Mulligan has explained why she publicly called out a film review for her black comedy "Promising Young Woman" that suggested she wasn't attractive enough for the role.

Mulligan and the awards-contending film, which focuses on the trauma inflicted after a close friend's rape, received a mostly positive Variety review last January after its Sundance Film Festival premiere. But one section focused on Mulligan's physical attributes, in comparison to producer Margot Robbie, and suggested the lead role of revenge-seeking Cassie was miscast. The publication has apologized for the comments.

"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," the review states. "Whereas with this star, Cassie wears her pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on."

Mulligan was first asked about the review during a December New York Times interview and "winced," according to the account.

Our review: Carey Mulligan in 'Promising Young Woman'

"I read the Variety review, because I’m a weak person," Mulligan said. “And I took issue with it." She added that it "felt like it was basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough to pull off this kind of ruse."

"It wasn’t some sort of ego-wounding thing – like, I fully can see that Margot Robbie is a goddess," Mulligan added, saying she was concerned that people would simply accept the critique of her physical appearance in a film that takes on cultural expectations and predatory behavior. "It drove me so crazy. I was like, ‘Really? For this film, you’re going to write something that is so transparent? Now? In 2020?’ I just couldn’t believe it."

Following The New York Times piece, Variety added a contrite editor's note to the top of the review.

"Variety sincerely apologizes to Carey Mulligan and regrets the insensitive language and insinuation in our review of 'Promising Young Woman' that minimized her daring performance."

Zendaya asked Mulligan about the issue again during an actor video roundtable, part of Variety's Actor on Actors series, that published Jan. 26.

Mulligan said it was important for film criticism to be constructive. "I don’t think that goes to the appearance of an actor or your personal preference for what an actor does or doesn’t look like, which it felt that that article did," she said.

She added:

"If women continually look on screen and don’t see themselves, that’s not helpful for women or for anyone, really – that we’re not going to tell authentic stories. So I think in criticizing or sort of bemoaning a lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it wasn’t a personal slight, it wasn’t something that I felt. It didn’t wound my ego, but it made me concerned that in such a big publication, an actress’ appearance could be criticized and it could be accepted as completely reasonable criticism.

I think it’s important to call out those things, because they seem small and they seem insignificant. People around me at the time said, 'Oh, you know, get over it. Whatever. It’s great – it’s a great review. People love the film.' But it stuck with me, because I think it’s these kind of everyday moments that add up – that mean that we start to edit the way that women appear on screen, and we want them to look a certain way. We want to airbrush them, and we want to make them look perfect. Or we want to edit the way that they work, the way they move, and the way that they think and behave. And I think we need to see real women portrayed on screen and in all of their complexity. So I felt that it was one small thing to point out that could be helpful."

"Beautifully said," Zendaya said after Mulligan finished.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Promising Young Woman's Carey Mulligan receives apology for review