NET-A-PORTER announces the launch of a new podcast series, Incredible Women. Season one, Celebrating Togetherness, invites you to listen in on conversations between pairs of Incredible Women talking about the unique ties that bind them.
Debuting on November 10th and running weekly until early December, the first episode sees actor Carey Mulligan and director Emerald Fennell give an intimate glimpse into their close relationship as they discuss working together on the film Promising Young Woman and how their friendship has evolved since they first met as teenagers. Further episodes will feature Yara and Keri Shahidi, Sandra Choi and Mimi Xu and (plus more to be announced) in conversation about their relationships and the importance of keeping connected at this time. At the heart of these conversations are the powerful relationships these women have with each other and their loved ones, the unbreakable bonds, even from afar, and what it means to be together.
Close friends and creative collaborators Carey Mulligan and Emerald Fennell bring their stellar talents to one of the most audacious and surprising movie releases of the year, Promising Young Woman. Fennell’s feature debut in the writer/director’s chair is a pitch-dark revenge thriller about consent and contemporary rape culture, laced with a seemingly sugary rom-com and a slightly quesy-making candy-hued aesthetic. The film boasts a mesmerizing lead performance from Mulligan as rage-filled Cassie: “I don’t think I felt at risk in terms of telling this story at all. You know, women have been talking about this stuff for millennia. There’s nothing new here,” says Mulligan.
Those familiar with Fennell’s oeuvre (she was head writer and showrunner for the second season of Killing Eve) will not be surprised to discover that Promising Young Woman is a tale told through a dark – but distinctly comic – lens. And humor flows back and forth between the director and her muse as they catch up for our podcast – Fennell from her study in West London; Mulligan from her husband Marcus Mumford’s recording studio in Devon.
Listen in to hear the pair talk about bonding over cake and an unfortunate pair of PVC pants, Mulligan’s erstwhile The Great Gatsby co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, and a shared passion for all things Christmassy.
Highlights from the podcast below:
Emerald on their first meeting: “We had both been in an episode of (Lynda La Plante TV series) Trial and Retribution as teenagers, I think. Certainly, it was my first job. And I was playing – big shocker – a nightmarish posh girl. I have to say it was a real stretch!”
On rekindling their friendship
Carey: “We met up for tea and you were on your way to the Killing Evewrap party, wearing a pair of extraordinary trousers…”
Emerald: “PVC! And they’d split at the crotch. I think the first thing I said to you was, ‘What happened to my crotch?’ And then I said, ‘Let’s just eat cake’, so we ate cake.”
Carey on Promising Young Woman: “I had no idea how I would do Cassie, but when you sent that playlist, and showed me the references, and I understood your sense of humor and your wit and your intelligence, I was like, ‘Oh, this is a no brainer’. I wasn’t ever remotely nervous of how the film would turn out.”
Emerald on the unapologetic female pop soundtrack to Promising Young Woman: “There’s just something so wonderful about those songs. There’s something so thrilling about female pop artists in particular. There’s a moment in our film when you hear Toxic by Britney Spears. Certainly, the reaction at Sundance [Film Festival] was that all of the women of our age suddenly sat up. It gives you this sort of primal response, somehow.”
On celebrating the holiday season this year
Carey: “It’s going to be ‘rule of six’-ish… It’s going to be little. But don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas.”
Emerald: “My whole family is Christmas-crazy. The stocking situation has gotten so out of hand now; [my sisters and I] have to do it secretly, away from our partners, because it’s too embarrassing to see. We get things for each other’s stockings all year round!”
To listen to this and future episodes of Celebrating Togetherness, subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and many more.
