Carey Mulligan: How 'Gatsby' era women inspired me

Leading Women connects you to extraordinary women of our time -- remarkable professionals who have made it to the top in all areas of business, the arts, sport, culture, science and more.

The Great Gatsby, the film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, shows the glamorous and decadent lifestyles of fashionable, high society Americans of the Roaring Twenties.

Set in the prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922, the novel portrays the so-called "flapper" culture, fun-loving young women who wore their hair and their skirts short, listened to jazz music, drank and smoked in public, and were far more sexually liberated than previous generations.

Watch: 'The Great Gatsby' hits Cannes

But who were the real women of the Great Gatsby era? CNN asked actresses Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki, the female stars of Baz Luhrmann's film, to tell us who gave them inspiration for their characters.

Ginevra King

A wealthy debutante and Fitzgerald's first love, Ginevra King is widely believed to be the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan, James Gatsby's love interest.

Fitzgerald met King in 1915 in his hometown of St Paul, Minnesota, when he was a 19-year-old Princeton student home for Christmas vacation and she was a 16-year-old boarding school pupil.

Though they dated for two years before both going on to marry other people, Fitzgerald never forgot his first love, who is often described as his muse.

In 2003, Princeton University acquired the letters to Fitzgerald from King's family, allowing biographers to learn details of their relationship for the first time.

Carey Mulligan, who played Daisy Buchanan in "The Great Gatsby" film, went to Princeton to study the letters while researching her character.

"The way that she writes is absolutely incredible," Mulligan told CNN. "Her way with language is so reminiscent of the way that Daisy speaks. She came from a very wealthy family and shared so many biographical [details]."

Read: A century of blooming color at Chelsea Flower Show

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald

Letters between Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald also provided rich material for Mulligan's research.

"One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was the time just before we started shooting when I got to look at the people who inspired Fitzgerald," said Mulligan. "It was amazing to go to Princeton and to get to read letters between Zelda and Scott, and between Ginerva King and Scott, and see where he'd directly drawn parts of Daisy to put her together."

Zelda, a Southern belle, met Fitzgerald at a country club dance, but was unimpressed with his wealth and status and refused to marry him until his first novel, "The Side of Paradise", was published in 1920.

The newly-wed Fitzgeralds became a celebrity couple, known for their partying lifestyle.