Carey Mulligan for W Magazine January 2012

Carey Mulligan covers the January 2012 issue of W Magazine, shot by Michael Thompson. The cover shoot is inspired by Mulligan's new movie, Shame, in which she plays a "deeply troubled girl with an almost incestuous attachment to her brother (Michael Fassbender), a sex addict." More below.

On why she was attracted to the project Shame: "When I read the script, I found it terrifying. My English agents sent it to me and said, “There’s this amazing part.” For me, as an actor, it was sort of scary. I’d always wanted to work with Michael Fassbender, who had been cast as the brother. So, I asked to have a meeting with Steve McQueen [director] to pitch myself for the job."

On her full-frontal nude scene in the film: "I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of nudity. I’ve done only seminude, very innocent things in the past, and I’ve always been of the quite British mind-set that I won’t do gratuitous nudity. When it came to this, it just seemed so obvious that she is the sort of person who would have no trouble being naked in front of any family member, especially not her brother. She’s an extrovert and wants to be seen. More than anything, she wants someone to acknowledge and help her. I thought I had a week before the nude scene to go to the gym, but we shot it on my first day of filming.

Weirdly, it was fine. You take your clothes off, and you’re like, “Ah—all of you are wearing clothes, and I’m naked, ha, ha, ha.” It’s kind of fun—not that I would continue to do it. The nudity helped me dive into who she was. Once she’d been naked in front of her brother, I could go from there."

On singing in Shame: "I’ve never sung in a movie before. The point wasn’t really that Sissy was a great singer—it was more that she attracted people. I sing “New York, New York” in the film, and Steve wanted it live. We did 15 takes—because every time I made a mistake or my voice fell out of tune or I lost my breath, we’d have to cut, and Steve wanted to do the whole thing in one go. At one point he wanted Sissy to sing something else and asked me to make up a song. He said, “You’re an artist, aren’t you? We can’t afford the rights to a famous song, so make one up.” I was walking around the room thinking, How do you write a song?! Eventually I made up this really bluesy song and sang two lines."

Louis Vuitton silk organza collar and leather dress. 

Mikimoto gold and Akoya cultured pearl earrings.

Jean Paul Gaultier cotton top and skirt, Etro bag

Prada silk chiffon dress

Rochas sweater. Tom Ford sunglasses

Miu Miu cream canvas top

Courtesy of W Magazine