Carey Mulligan feels "very lucky" she was cast in 'Promising Young Woman'.

The 35-year-old actress leads the cast of Emerald Fennell's acclaimed thriller and admits that she was extremely fortunate to star as Cassie Thomas - who seeks to avenge the rape of her best friend - and she now wishes the movie had been released when she was a teenager.

Carey said: "I just felt very lucky to work on this as an actor. This is the kind of story I wish had come out when I was 18."

Despite this, the film star feels sad that so much of the movie reflects "regrettably commonplace" issues in society.

Carey told the Metro newspaper: "What was sort of so immediately obvious to me reading the script, was how regrettably commonplace so much of this was.

"Of course it's important to have a broader understanding, but really, it felt like such a tragically familiar story. There are countless examples of things like this happening to people that you know, people you love, and every woman has a connection to somebody who's been through something close to this."

Carey also rejected the notion that Cassie is seeking "revenge" with her actions in the movie, as she hunts down those who dismissed Nina's rape case.

She explained: "I don't think that's a word that would come into her vocabulary with what she's doing.

"She's simply putting something right that was so wrong. She can't live with a world where such an injustice could be sort of casually ignored."

Carey admitted that the role also fulfilled her ambition of appearing in films that spark conversation.

She said: "I am interested in being in films that when you leave the cinema, you can't stop talking about it."