Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
car free

L.A. and Hollywood: Turning the Carfree Into Drivers

9:32 AM PDT on September 24, 2010

Carey Mulligan, we hardly knew you.

Mulligan and LeBouf discussing how cool a Metro Bus/Transformer would be.  Photo: INF Daily via Daily News

Just in time for the release of Wall Street II: Money Never Sleeps, comes news that formerly car-free movie star Carey Mulligan has been converted to a car driver because of a scene where she's driving a car and how easy it is to get a license here in Los Angeles.  From Entertainment Weekly (page 125 of the Fall TV issue "Carey Mulligan Learns to Drive":

"[In London] I took an intensive course - two weeks, five hours a day, in a manual car.  Then I took the test, and within three minutes of leaving the test center, the instructor had to use the emergency brake, which means you've failed.  Then we had to do 40 more minutes of driving around, when I knew there was no way I could pass."

"I still can't drive in London, but I finally got my license in L.A.  I've got an automatic there, and they're not quite so rigorous in the test.  I've got it down in L.A.!"

Back in the days of yore (otherwise known as December, 2009), it was common to see Mulligan and her on-screen and real life boyfriend Shia LeBouf sharing a bus bench or riding the bus here in L.A.  LeBouf's presence is surprising.  I thought he preferred cars that turned into giant talking robots.

No word on whether she switched to driving because her bus route was cut.

(H/T to Clarence Eckerson)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Guest Opinion: Ten Years In, CA Active Transportation Program Lays Bare a Tale of Two Agencies

L.A. County needs to embrace physically-protected bikeways, robust traffic calming around schools, and similarly transformative, safety-focused projects

September 29, 2023

Eyes on the Station: Metro Fortified Turnstiles at MacArthur Park Station

Metro fortified turnstile entrances at MacArthur Park in order to curb fare-evading riders; sometimes this has adverse impacts on fare-paying riders

September 27, 2023
See all posts