Cate Blanchett: There's Something About Cate

Q: How was it working with Ron Howard?

A: A classic Ron Howard moment came when we were riding up this steep slope on packhorses, and we had to keep doing it over and over again. It was getting quite rocky, and there were all these young girls on horses. I thought I'd better say something. I went down and said to Ron, "You know, it's getting quite dangerous up there." He says, "I know." And then nothing. So I finally say to myself, Well I'd better get back up there--he'd do it. I had to have this tarantula crawl on me, and there's Ron on the floor, showing me how to do it, that I shouldn't be frightened of it. He doesn't ask anything of anyone that he is not prepared to do himself.

Q: This makes three big studio films coming out, and you're playing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator. Is this a conscious effort to move to the mainstream?

A: Making movies takes so much out of you that I wouldn't make any film for such cynical reasons. You can't plan. I was going to be doing the Darren Aronofsky film The Fountain with Brad Pitt, and it just fell over. I worked with Peter Jackson on The Lord of the Rings because I thought his other films were genius. I do what attracts me at the time; there's not really any grand plan there.

Q: Does Galadriel have a big finish in Return of the King?

A: I think I'm in one shot. If you read the books, Galadriel was in it so little, I can't imagine I got much more to go.

Q: You worked on all three LOTR movies at once, when the project was a crazy gamble. In hindsight, were you all grossly underpaid?

A: Yeah, I suppose we were, but we knew it at the time. There was just a sense on the set that it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I felt that way about Elizabeth, another really risky undertaking. But the project was true to what it was, and it found its audience at the right time.

Q: Elizabeth was the film that turned heads for you in Hollywood.

A: I wish I could say I was desperate to play her. But no. I was three years out of drama school, working in the theater and really enjoying it. I'd just made Oscar and Lucinda with Ralph Fiennes, and thought, it can't get any better than that. At the point I saw the script, it needed a lot of work. I thought, this is going to be an ego trip for whoever plays Elizabeth, but I wasn't rushing headlong towards it...I just put this terrible wig on my head and did a screen test. I thought, Well, there's no way I'm getting that part. So I just laughed when I got the role. One doesn't think, Here comes my moment. Because who the fuck knows what moment is what.

Q: Still, you wonder if some actors read a script and go, This is going to be my Oscar.

A: I don't think anyone actually says that. Unless they're insane.

Q: So what was it like to get both Oscar and Golden Globe attention?

A: I just thought, God, I am 26, I don't want to peak! The whole thing was really fantastic, going from what felt like a really risky project to a confidence of how far we'd come. But just looking at how much one is scrutinized...it's very nerve-wracking.

Q: You have become a magnet for covers of high-fashion magazines. You must have a strong sense of style.

A: I don't think I've ever been dressed by anyone. I love to do photo shoots with great photographers. I just did a really fun shoot in Paris, for Italian Vogue, where it is all about creating an image. It's like art, working in a photographic medium.

Q: Do you have a closet full of designer clothes at home?

A: I had a joke with a friend about how many "dry clean only" labels I have, and how they all stay wrapped in the plastic because mostly I wear the same pairs of jeans, covered in baby yogurt. When we go out, I'll take off the plastic, but it's mostly wash and wear.

Q: I think it's safe to say you're not overly obsessed with vanity. You even willingly shaved your head for Heaven.

A: A bald cap wouldn't have been believable. As an actor, you can't really have a sense of consequence; you just always have to take the risks. There is comfort in playing it safe, but I don't see where the excitement is.

Q: You altered your hairline for Elizabeth, as well.

A: Now, that was a shocker. The makeup artist worried about me because I said, Okay we're going to bleach my eyebrows and eyelashes. She said, I don't think we can bleach those. I said, give it a go. Then in order to give me a high hairline, they had to shave back my hairline and then bleach back beyond that. On the weekend, I just looked like I had alopecia. That was a bit hard. I wore a lot of hats.

Q: You play Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. Were you attracted to the notion of playing an icon?

A: No, really simply it was Martin Scorsese. I've never watched a Katharine Hepburn movie thinking, I must play Katharine Hepburn, but I have watched his films thinking, I'd like to work with him. It's not always a character that draws you. I've found that more than anything it's the circumstances surrounding the script. Also, the film isn't about her, it's about Howard Hughes, and this is one particular strand about his disintegration. It is romantic; he was the love of her life, which is odd because we think of Spencer Tracy. The part I'm in seems a low point in her life. She is described as box-office poison. No one wanted to hire her. I had never thought of her as being unemployable, that people would say that she couldn't act. It is inspiring, because you realize that if you get a bad review, it doesn't really matter.

Q: She passed away after you got the role. Did you have a chance to meet her?

A: I didn't. I was on my way to Montreal for a week of rehearsal, picked up the paper and saw she died. It felt odd. It's a very strange thing to play an actor, because what everyone knows is her as a personality and actress. This is about trying to get a glimpse of the person. Her whole relationship with Howard Hughes was unbelievably private, and that is all going to be in there.

Q: She had a persona that is larger than life. You seem to have been able to become a movie star, without the tabloid baggage that a lot of other actresses have to endure.

A: Some people lust for the public eye. Some people find it helps them in their work, and others don't. Some get it by default, some pursue it. I guess I prefer to be quite private. It's a myth that actors are exhibitionists. I don't think all actors are. It's the research, the working with people, that fascinates me.

Q: Now that you're a Bruckheimer graduate, might you ever do one of these big action movies?

A: Well, look, I think there's a place for every type of film, and I'd never say never

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Michael Fleming

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