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 The 28-year-old London native was thrust into the spotlight
with her breakout role as a smart but innocent schoolgirl in the
coming-of-age drama "An Education," earning her a best actress
Oscar nomination in 2010. Since then, she has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after
young actresses, most recently picked by directors Joel and
Ethan Coen for their latest film on the 1960s folk scene "Inside
Llewyn Davis," in which Mulligan plays the supporting role of
Jean alongside lead star Oscar Isaac. Mulligan sat down with Reuters to discuss singing with Justin
Timberlake, playing literature's leading ladies and her most
challenging role yet. Q: What drew you to the role of the feisty Jean? A: The reason the Coen brothers asked me to audition for
it is that they had not seen me play a part like that before,
and I had not gotten the opportunity to play a part like that.
She was just so incensed and furious and behind that, you could
see the intimate relationship between (Jean and Llewyn), she was
just brilliantly written.
 Q: You sing alongside Justin Timberlake in the film. How
was that experience? A: It was nerve-racking at first. We had a week of
singing rehearsals where we all played music together, and
that's when I first sat down with Justin and T Bone Burnett, he
orchestrated the whole thing. But they were so lovely. Justin
was so encouraging to a non-singer and he made me feel really
great. We just got really into it as our little trio, our
tribute to Peter, Paul & Mary, that I forgot about all the
nerves by the time we were doing it. Q: You call yourself a non-singer, but you also showcased
your singing talents in 2011's "Shame." Is singing something
that you want to do more of? A: No, it's just sort of bizarre. I sang in the choir at
school, that was the extent of my singing and when I was much
younger, I was into musical theater, but these jobs just came
up. "Shame" came relatively close to "Inside Llewyn Davis," and
they both happened to have singing things. It's been a great
part of those characters, but not something I would do outside
of film. Q: So no album in the works? A: No album! I'll spare everyone my album.
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Q: You've played some great literary ladies — Kitty Bennet in 2005's "Pride & Prejudice," Daisy Buchanan in this
year's "The Great Gatsby" and Bathsheba Everdene in the upcoming
film version of "Far From the Madding Crowd." Do you feel any
pressure in bringing these characters to life? A: Huge pressure. I love doing adaptations of novels
because you've got such a lot of material to work from that's so
interesting and it's so fun to bring that to life ... The
characters that are written in these great pieces of literature
are amazing and really rare. Bathsheba's the same as that, she
was such a crazy character and the things that she experiences
throughout her story are amazing. Q: What did you take away from the experience of playing
Daisy Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby"?
A: Being my first experience in a big film, I imagined it
would be different to how it was, but actually I came away having
really had great acting moments. I had such a good time acting with
Leo (DiCaprio) and Tobey (Maguire), and was so absorbed by working
with them. Q: How have you gone about selecting roles after your best
actress Oscar nomination in 2010? A: It gave me an opportunity to stop for a second and figure
out what I wanted to do. I realized that working incessantly, which
I had been doing for a long time, wasn't really good for me and
wasn't good for the work I was doing, so I just started trying to
get jobs that were really once-in-a-lifetime parts that you just
couldn't bear the idea of anyone else doing and that's how it ended
up being.
 Q: What has been your biggest challenge so far? A: My biggest challenge acting-wise has probably been "Far From the
Madding Crowd," which I just finished, only that I hadn't played a
lead role in a while. I've been doing these really great supporting
roles like in "Inside Llewyn Davis," so I had forgotten how much
work it is, and it ended up being really physically demanding. She's
a crazy character. (Editing by Mary Milliken and Andrew
Hay)
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