Carey Mulligan for InStyle Magazine

Carey Mulligan graces the June 2020 cover of InStyle magazine. Days before the world as we knew it came to a screeching halt, the actress posed in Paris and later chatted with Editor in Chief Laura Brown over FaceTime, opening up her committing to art on keeping calm and carrying on.

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On shooting this cover right before the world went into lockdown: “At that point the train stations were still jammed, no one was wearing masks, and they weren’t advising people not to travel. But once I got to Paris, it felt odd. I brought one of my best friends, and we were like, ‘What if we get stuck here? What if someone has it in the hotel?’ A week later, none of us would have gone. But I have to say, Paris was still fun. We stayed up late and watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in French.”

On her definition of ambition: “I get whiplash thinking about the last 16 years. My dream was to be a working actress, but my expectation was maybe I’ll be in Casualty or The Bill. And then suddenly I got really lucky and just kept it up. For me, ambition is testing myself. As an actor, you’re always trying to prove that you can do different things. I have a fear of recognition and celebrity, though, so I don’t have ambition to be well known. But I want to be really good at my job. I always want the next thing I do to be more nuanced, more interesting, more complicated.”

On how having a family changed her mindset: “I have the best job in the world, but I’ve learned that it isn’t the be-all and end-all. As someone who finds the public side of this quite intimidating, having a family has made me feel that if I wear a dress that people hate, or if I say something stupid, or if people don’t like a film I’ve been in, it doesn’t matter as much as it used to. It’s freeing, in a way.”

On her upcoming film and #MeToo: Emerald [Fennell, Promising Young Woman director] wrote it before the movement started, but the conversation has become more nuanced in the last couple of years. Everything in the film, you’ve seen in a bro comedy, where the guy tries to get the girl really drunk. And it’s all been like, ‘Ha ha.’ But then you suddenly look at it through this different lens and go, ‘Actually, no. That makes me uncomfortable.’”

On what she’s been doing at home: “I’ve been using Houseparty with my two best friends every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. We’ve all got kids, so we put the TV on for them and sit in bed with a big cup of coffee and catch up, which has been quite nice.” “We’ve gone back into comfort mode and started to eat more casseroles. When the world is chaotic, you need warm food. [laughs] Variations on casseroles. That will be my cookbook.”

The June issue of InStyle, available on newsstands, on Amazon, and for digital download May 15.

[Photo Credit: Horst Diekgerdes/InStyle Magazine]

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