Cara Delevingne defends casting in West End’s Cabaret: ‘I auditioned like everyone else’

Cara Delevingne has preemptively hit back at criticism she feels she’s likely to receive for her forthcoming role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

The British model and actor will join the award-winning West End revival from 11 March until 1 June 2024, along with Luke Treadaway who will take over as the Emcee.

In a new interview for ES Magazine, the 31-year-old spoke about the prejudice she receives as a celebrity performer.

“Even if I did the best I possibly could, and even if that was really good, people are still going to be like, ‘She doesn’t deserve to be here,’” she said.

“You know, I auditioned like anyone else [so] it’s just annoying, but I have to tune that out.”

Known for her distinctively think eyebrows, Delevingne rose to fame aged just 16 as she became the face of Burberry, Jimmy Choo and Topshop.

Elsewhere in the interview with ES, Delevingne said she moved from London to Los Angeles because “the press and journalism can be really rough [here]... You’re either a person that people want to succeed or you’re not. And I think once you are one of the latter, you can’t really get out of that. So I was like, ‘The only thing I want to do is leave.’”

Delevingne made her first lead acting appearance in the 2015 teen romance, Paper Towns.

She’s gone on to star in films such as Suicide Squad and Kids in Love, and the comedy-mystery series Only Murders in the Building.

Her casting in Cabaret was announced last month.

In a statement, Delevingne said there were “no words” that could explain her excitement for her stage debut.

“I am so inspired by the brilliant actors who have played Sally in past productions around the world and in this one in the West End,” her message read. “I cannot wait to be a part of this brilliant cast and production.”

Delevingne has also dabbled in singing and songwriting, and released a single titled “I Feel Everything” in 2017, which was produced by Pharrell Williams.

In 2022, she presented the BBC series Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, in which she explored the “orgasm gap” and taboo ideas surrounding female sexual pleasure.

Delevingne and Treadaway will begin performances at the Playhouse Theatre, which has been remodelled as Berlin’s debauched Kit Kat Club, where Cabaret takes place.

Treadway said of his forthcoming appearance in Cabaret: “I can’t wait to become a member of the Kit Kat Club and join this extraordinary production. It’s a huge thrill to be asked to take this on and I’m very excited to get started.”

Treadway won the Olivier Award for Best Leading Actor for his performance of Christopher in the National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He has also appeared as Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Harold Pinter Theatre, Karl in Over There at the Royal Court and Albert Narracott in War Horse and Saint Joan, both at the National Theatre.

The revised production of Cabaret opened in December 2021 and won seven Olivier Awards the following year.

The Broadway production of Cabaret starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin will open at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilston Theatre in April.