Mulligan: Schoenaerts has brought balance

Carey Mulligan credits Matthias Schoenaerts with helping to “balance” her out on set.

The 29-year-old BAFTA-winning actress stars alongside the 37-year-old Belgian actor in Far from the Maddening Crowd, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel.

Carey thoroughly appreciates working with Matthias because he had a remarkably calming effect on her.

“I tend to get stuck in my head and anxious when I'm working. I'm a real stickler," she told USA Today. "Matthias has an amazing way of taking you out of that. He can access his emotions very easily, but he has a constant source of fun on set. Which you need for a story like this. You can't spend eight weeks in the dark Thomas Hardy world.

"We balance each other out in a good way. We had some miserable things to do."

Carey developed a strong bond with several members of the Far from the Maddening Crowd cast, which also includes Juno Temple, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge.

The star is happy the entire ensemble enjoyed each other’s company so thoroughly.

"People can hate each other and still do great stuff. It was an added bonus that we all got on very well," Carey noted. "We could have a decent conversation and be friends. We'd meet in the pub and talk.

"We did the whole movie in eight weeks. Mainly, it was up at 5:30 — they wanted to shoot the sunrise. So there was not a huge amount of socialising."

Far from the Maddening Crowd reaches American theatres on May 1.