Carey Mulligan Discusses Her Character In Far From The Madding Crowd

The fourth film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel, Far From The Madding Crowd, is due out at the beginning of next month and its lead actress, Carey Mulligan, has been discussing her character, Bathsheba Everdene.

Carey Mulligan's character has her pick of the men in Far From The Madding Crowd

Mulligan plays the central role in the film and her role as Ms Everdene, an independent farm owner, sees her undertake the trials and tribulations of three very different men who wish to be her suitor.

Of Bathsheba, Mulligan is very complimentary and describes her as "ambitious, independent and strong-willed."

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The story sees sheep farmer Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), reckless Sergeant Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge) and mature bachelor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) all become entangled with Bathsheba throughout the plot and charts the difficulties the characters experience with one another.

Mulligan also talks about the importance of the landscape within the film, which Hardy placed utmost emphasis on in his book.

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She said: "You can’t remove the characters from their landscape and so much of the story is about the lanes and the fields and the way the people meet over hedges and under bridges and while walking.

"We all just felt we were in this perfect landscape of Hardy."

The film has been directed by Thomas Vinterberg and will appear in cinemas on 1 May. View the trailer here.