Carey Mulligan felt a "weight of responsibility" to Harvey Weinstein's victims in her new film 'She Said'.

The 37-year-old actress stars in the new movie as Megan Twohey - one of the New York Times journalists who exposed the sexual abuse allegations against the disgraced movie mogul - and felt the pressure to tell the real story on the picture.

Carey told PEOPLE: "I think we felt that weight of responsibility, and I felt that on other jobs. I think particularly when you play a real person, you have that, but the stories that we were telling are so real and so recent, and not just to people that were involved in the film, but to viewers, to an audience.

"You're aware that this story will impact people who go and see it in the cinema, so I think we all felt like it was a big task and we took it very seriously."

The star revealed how Twohey "gave unfettered access to her life" as she reflected on the rare opportunity to meet with the character she was playing on screen.

Carey - who shares children Evelyn, seven, and Wilfred, five, with husband Marcus Mumford - said: "I've never played a person who's still alive. I played real people, but I've been reading autobiographies, so this was really exciting, and she's just the coolest person. So I wanted to be her friend, I wanted her to like me."

The 'Promising Young Woman' star continued: "Our kids hung out together. We had play dates. She brought her daughter to my son's birthday party, and she was just so generous. She was amazing."