Carey Mulligan has revealed her prosthetics when playing Leonard Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre in Maestro were so convincing that her doctor didn’t believe she was pregnant.
The London-born star, who is nominated for an Oscar for her role, spoke about her transformation with the help of prosthetics, as she joined co-star and director Bradley Cooper, 49, on the Graham Norton Show.
During the interview, which airs on Friday, the 38-year-old, who was pregnant with her third child during filming, recalled how she fell ill on set and a doctor was called to administer antibiotics.
She told Norton: “When I told him I was 12 weeks pregnant he was not at all convinced. I then realised I was still made up to look 57-years-old.
“I couldn't wait to tell the make-up artists how good they were.”
Carey and husband Marcus Mumford shared daughter Grace, seven, Wilfred, five, as well as a second daughter who she welcomed following filming on Maestro.
In the same chat, Cooper revealed how prosthetics helped him go from the age of 24 to 67 to portray the legendary conductor in the Netflix biopic.
He said: “The makeup was amazing. It was also interesting that on young Lenny filming days I was popping all over the set and when I was the older Lenny, we had much slower days.
Maestro was Carey and Bradley's first project together, although they had known each other for years.
Asked about their first meeting, Cooper, who appeared on the sofa with her, admitted it resulted in a visit to A&E.
“It was dramatic,” the Star is Born actor recalled.
“Carey was in a one-woman show, and I went backstage to meet her and realised something was not right and I insisted on taking her to the emergency room.”
Mulligan added: “During the show a bit of set hit me on the head, I carried on but when it was over, I started crying and thought I was a goner.
“I was sobbing on the floor when Bradley turned up and, realising I wasn’t okay, he took me to hospital.
“You can imagine how delighted the nurse was!” she quipped.
