Margot Robbie and Carey Mulligan as an orgy in ‘Babylon’ and why Barbie will be ‘everything I’ve ever dreamed of’

Carey Mulligan and Margot Robbie know each other, having worked together on Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, in which Mulligan starred and Robbie was produced through her company LuckyChap Entertainment. So when they sat down to discuss their latest projects—Mulligan’s role in “She Said” as Megan Twohey, the New York Times reporter whose investigative work with Judy Cantor helped bring down Harvey Weinstein, and Robbie’s portrayal in Nellie Laroy’s “Babylon,” a self-destructive silent-film star— It’s like watching two old friends chat. During the conversation, Mulligan talks about getting to know Toohey, and Robbie offers insight into working with Damien Chazelle on the unbridled provocation that is “Babylon.” Naturally, Robbie’s upcoming summer movie “Barbie” by Greta Gerwig also appears.

Carey Mulligan: I have a lot of questions about “Babylon”. In fact, on “The Maestro,” which I just finished, I was talking to Steve Morrow, the voice guy, and he was like, “I worked on ‘Babylon.’ It’s incredible.”

Margot Robbie: It’s crazy! I mean, when I read the script, I was like, ‘La Dolce Vita’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ I’ve had a baby — and I love it. But I was like, are we allowed to show that? Are we allowed to appear? that? I mean, there were a lot of scenes where I was like, a) I have no idea how to do this, and b) are we going to get away with this?

Mulligan: How close was the finished movie to when you first read the script?

Ruby: Close enough. As with a lot of writers and directors, Damian didn’t find that in editing; He has a vision. And because he’s so musically talented, I think even her beat sounded clear on the page, and then it was completely translated.

Mulligan: The music is so amazing I watched it with my mom, and it was…

Ruby: What did she think? My God.

Mulligan: It’s nice to see her with your mom.

Ruby: Everyone should see “Babylon” with their parents. It wouldn’t be embarrassing at all.

Mulligan: I sent my mother, years ago, with my boyfriend of probably two months, now my husband, to go see Shame together. Yes, it was tough.

Ruby: This is an icebreaker.

Mulligan: But she loved “Babylon”, no. So the entire first sequence is a giant party – with an elephant. How much of an elephant was real? Cinema does not spoil me.

Ruby: The elephant was not real.

Mulligan: To be clear, the entire opening sequence is this wild, slutty, crazy party thing. A lot of people wear very little or nothing.

Ruby: It’s very much a slanting orgy. It kind of turns into an orgy.

Mulligan: It’s Porgy! So who were all these background actors? Because they are all great dancers.

Ruby: Lots of dancers. And I also asked some of my friends, because it was important to have a party vibe throughout the entire movie. I always had friends in the trailer. Base camp was a bit of a nonstop party. I was like, I need him for Nelly; I need her to never have a quiet minute, never believe herself.

But, yeah, speaking of immersing yourself in a character, can we please talk about you and this movie,” she said? It really stuck with me after watching it. I was reliving different moments from the movie in my head. While I was watching, I was like, “Oh, I’m so excited. I’m going to watch Carrie!” But I don’t think of you as an actor when I watch; I think of you as a real human being. You bring so much humanity, you don’t seem to act at all. Except then she does these crazy crying scenes, or yells at the guy in the bar, and I’m like, “She’s acting her pants, but it’s not like acting.” I was blown away.

Mulligan: Oh, my friend, thank you. So when I first read the script, we were still doing all our press for “Most Promising Young Woman,” which I produced. I was behind the camera.

Ruby: You were our glorious star. It’s strange, correlation.

Mulligan: And of course, you’re talking about really delicate things with “She Said.” our The story – “A Young Woman of Promise” – was a kind of fantasy based on things we all know and experience, but it wasn’t real; We didn’t talk about someone’s real testimony. But Megan Tuohy and Judy Cantor are very real, very alive, still working in the world, incredibly talented, and amazing journalists. And the story that they wrote, is very loaded material. It’s just an extra responsibility. And I was so fascinated by Megan – who she is and how her brain works.

Ruby: looks badass. What you did is crazy.

Mulligan: something amazing. And the work they did in developing these relationships with the survivors who eventually came forward — whether they registered or not — it felt like, oh my God, there’s a group of women that really did this heroic thing. I’ve been prescribing it to my kids because they see billboards. And they’re like, “What is ‘she said’?”

“We can watch it when you’re 40, but it’s about these women who were bullied by a man. And they’d been bullied for a long time. And it was really unfair, and they decided they were going to do something about it. So they all got together and stood up to him. He was held accountable.” “.

Ruby: That’s a great way to explain it.

Mulligan: And I just thought, “That’s it.” More examples of this, please. More examples in the world of how women can truly unite and be strong.

Ruby: And did you spend time with Megan?

Mulligan: Loads, actually. We did a lot of “zoom” at first, then moved the family to New York, and spent a lot of time with our kids. Megan was really open. She was really honest about her experience with postpartum depression and many things that were going on in her home life.

Ruby: I remember when we went to you in Promising Young Woman to play Cassandra. I was like, “We’re never going to get a Carey Mulligan.” And I was totally eating my words. I’ve told you this before: I hold you, like Meryl Streep, in this rarefied air of prestigious casting. And I was like, I want to see a legit prestige actress in a spandex dress with mascara dripping down her face, getting drunk at a bar.

Mulligan: The dream was that if we could turn even one of her costumes into a Halloween costume that women would wear…and they do.

Ruby: I always thought to myself, I will know I really made it when a legitimate rapper uses my name to rap.

Mulligan: This must have happened.

Ruby: It’s actually Jack Harlow. I was so excited. My friends all sent it to me because they were like, “It happened. It worked.”

Mulligan: I want to ask about Barbie. So Greta Gerwig, I didn’t meet her right. It’s the best – that’s from a distance. But she does “Barbie” and you do “Barbie” and Ryan Gosling does Barbie – oh my gosh.

Ruby: Of course, I’ve worked with…

Mulligan: I worked with Ryan the other day on “Drive”.

Ruby: Isn’t he the most beautiful person?

Mulligan: The sweetest, kindest guy in the world and an incredible actor. So you both do “Barbie” with Greta – it’s so funny.

Ruby: I’ve seen a lot of similarities between Greta and Damien. They pointed to the same things. They both love the “Umbrellas of Cherbourg”. I mean, a lot of directors do that, but oddly enough I find them referring to similar things. And I asked, and I said, “Have you ever chatted before?” She’d say, “No, we’ve never met.”

Mulligan: It was a wild swing for Greta.

Ruby: I’ve been working on it for about four or five years – it’s a LuckyChap project. And we went after Greta. There were probably three people we’d like to make a Barbie movie with, and I was like, If she says no…. So thank God she said yes. It’s just wonderful.

Mulligan: Do you make giant Barbie houses in the movie?

Ruby: Dream homes? You will see some dream homes. And it will be everything you dreamed of.

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