Carey Mulligan: Schoenaerts is so masculine

Carey Mulligan thinks Matthias Schoenaerts is "effortlessly manly" as an actor.

The British actress stars alongside the Dane in Far from the Madding Crowd. They portray Bathsheba Everdene and sheep farmer Gabriel Oak, and Carey knew straightaway he was the right man for the part.

"The minute I saw Rust and Bone I called [director] Thomas [Vinterberg] and I was like, 'That's who I want!'" she recalled to Total Film. "He's brilliant - one of those effortlessly manly actors."

The 29-year-old also stars alongside Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge in the adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel. Carey has also starred in other period dramas during her career, including The Great Gatsby and her film debut Pride & Prejudice. But she admitted making a conscious decision to avoid taking on the genre repeatedly for fear of being typecast.

"I haven't really done a costume drama for a really long time. I kind of avoided them a little bit," she said.

For Carey, it's always been about the character she's playing and finding a strong female role. She feels like she's hit the jackpot with Bathsheba and thinks Far from the Madding Crowd can be seen as a feminist novel for its time.

"Bathsheba starts out the story with no intention of getting married. She has no desire for that. She's rich and complex," she explained. "She takes pride in being one of the rare women who has her own farm and runs things herself. She's a very practical person. Such a great female character is very rare, so you have to take it when it's there."