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Tag: Cate Blanchett

  • Blanchett slams ‘patriarchal’ awards shows after accepting best actress prize

    By AFP

    LOS ANGLES: Cate Blanchett criticized the “patriarchal pyramid” of Hollywood awards shows as she accepted the best actress gong from the Critics Choice Association in Los Angeles on Sunday.

    The Australian actor and Oscars frontrunner, whose performance as an ambitious, morally dubious conductor in classical music drama “TAR” is sweeping awards, told a packed ballroom that she wished the whole “structure” of awards shows could be changed.

    “It’s like, what is this patriarchal pyramid where someone stands up here?” she said, collecting her prize from North America’s largest critics organization.

    “Why don’t we just say there’s a whole raft of female performances that are in concert and in dialogue with one another, and stop the televised horse race of it at all?”

    “Because can I tell you, every single woman — whether it’s television, film, advertising, tampon commercials, whatever — you’re all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually.

    “So thank you. I share this with you all.”

    Blanchett has previously accepted two Oscars for her work in “Blue Jasmine” and “The Aviator.”

    She won a Golden Globe for her performance as a fictional lesbian conductor in “TAR” last week, but did not attend that ceremony.

    Several other awards shows, including the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the MTV Movie and TV Awards, and music’s Grammy Awards, have switched to gender-neutral acting prizes.

    The Critics Choice Awards, like the Oscars and most other Hollywood shows, still divides its acting prizes between male and female categories.

    ‘In the wilderness’

    Blanchett’s comments came moments after Brendan Fraser gave a highly emotional, choking speech in which he thanked voters for his best actor prize for “The Whale.”

    Fraser, a major Hollywood star in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as “The Mummy,” had endured a long fallow period before his performance as a morbidly obese teacher in his new drama drew widespread acclaim.

    “I was in the wilderness. And I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs. But you found me,” Fraser told director Darren Aronofsky.

    “If you — like a guy like Charlie who I played in this movie — in any way struggle with obesity, or you just feel like you’re in a dark sea, I want you to know that if you too can have the strength to just get to your feet and go to the light, good things will happen,” Fraser said to a standing ovation.

    The Critics Choice Awards are one of a raft of major award shows in the build-up to the Oscars, which take place this year on March 12.

    Surreal sci-fi “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won best picture at Sunday’s high-profile critic’s awards, boosting its hopes for the top Academy Award prize.

    The film finished the night with the most film wins in five, including best director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, best original screenplay, best editing, and best-supporting actor for Oscar favourite Ke Huy Quan.

    Among the night’s television prizes, the sixth and last season of “Breaking Bad” spinoff “Better Call Saul” finally claimed its first best drama series win, as well as best actor for Bob Odenkirk and best supporting actor for Giancarlo Esposito.

    LOS ANGLES: Cate Blanchett criticized the “patriarchal pyramid” of Hollywood awards shows as she accepted the best actress gong from the Critics Choice Association in Los Angeles on Sunday.

    The Australian actor and Oscars frontrunner, whose performance as an ambitious, morally dubious conductor in classical music drama “TAR” is sweeping awards, told a packed ballroom that she wished the whole “structure” of awards shows could be changed.

    “It’s like, what is this patriarchal pyramid where someone stands up here?” she said, collecting her prize from North America’s largest critics organization.

    “Why don’t we just say there’s a whole raft of female performances that are in concert and in dialogue with one another, and stop the televised horse race of it at all?”

    “Because can I tell you, every single woman — whether it’s television, film, advertising, tampon commercials, whatever — you’re all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually.

    “So thank you. I share this with you all.”

    Blanchett has previously accepted two Oscars for her work in “Blue Jasmine” and “The Aviator.”

    She won a Golden Globe for her performance as a fictional lesbian conductor in “TAR” last week, but did not attend that ceremony.

    Several other awards shows, including the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the MTV Movie and TV Awards, and music’s Grammy Awards, have switched to gender-neutral acting prizes.

    The Critics Choice Awards, like the Oscars and most other Hollywood shows, still divides its acting prizes between male and female categories.

    ‘In the wilderness’

    Blanchett’s comments came moments after Brendan Fraser gave a highly emotional, choking speech in which he thanked voters for his best actor prize for “The Whale.”

    Fraser, a major Hollywood star in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as “The Mummy,” had endured a long fallow period before his performance as a morbidly obese teacher in his new drama drew widespread acclaim.

    “I was in the wilderness. And I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs. But you found me,” Fraser told director Darren Aronofsky.

    “If you — like a guy like Charlie who I played in this movie — in any way struggle with obesity, or you just feel like you’re in a dark sea, I want you to know that if you too can have the strength to just get to your feet and go to the light, good things will happen,” Fraser said to a standing ovation.

    The Critics Choice Awards are one of a raft of major award shows in the build-up to the Oscars, which take place this year on March 12.

    Surreal sci-fi “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won best picture at Sunday’s high-profile critic’s awards, boosting its hopes for the top Academy Award prize.

    The film finished the night with the most film wins in five, including best director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, best original screenplay, best editing, and best-supporting actor for Oscar favourite Ke Huy Quan.

    Among the night’s television prizes, the sixth and last season of “Breaking Bad” spinoff “Better Call Saul” finally claimed its first best drama series win, as well as best actor for Bob Odenkirk and best supporting actor for Giancarlo Esposito.

  • Q&A: Todd Field and Cate Blanchett go deeper into ‘Tár’

    By Associated Press

    When Cate Blanchett stepped out of her first screening for “ Tár,” she wanted to immediately go back and watch it again.

    Sure, she might be a little biased considering she stars in the film ( and learned how to speak German, conduct an orchestra and play piano for the role ), but it’s not an uncommon sentiment either. Writer-director Todd Field’s dense, literate drama about the fall of an artistic genius in a #MeToo scandal is one that begs discussion and another viewing. As Field has said, he sees a new film every time he watches it.

    This weekend, “Tár,” which is sure to be a top contender this awards season, is expanding in theaters nationwide. Field and Blanchett spoke to The Associated Press about the inscrutable Lydia Tár, their inspirations and NOT showing her hands playing the piano.

    AP: The film introduces Lydia at a New Yorker Festival-type event, with Adam Gopnik reading her introduction to a big auditorium. Was that just a way to give us her bio or is this commenting on the ideas conference industry and its complicity?

    Field: The important thing was how do we meet her? You know, if you meet her at her very height, in a very public way, there’s an opportunity to see it in the same way that we’re in this interview right now, like we’re trying to have an honest conversation, but we’re performing for you.

    Blanchett: Hey! This is ME. This is who I am.

    Field: It’s an aspect of her. Then we see her sitting with her business partner, this investment banker and would be conductor (Mark Strong), and you can tell she doesn’t want to be there. Then you see her roll up your sleeves and she’s teaching, which is the thing that she truly, truly loves doing. But it’s not until 40 minutes into the film that we see her brushing her teeth. Then it’s, “Ah, she’s like me.” We learn a lot of back story about her, but it’s really about how and when we meet the person. There are all kinds of narrative rules about when we’re supposed to meet the person. Syd Field would tell you we have to know by page ten. But that’s not how this thing works. It was important to meet the character as they’re perceived in these other ways before we were allowed to have access to her.

    AP: At one of the screenings in Venice, the audience was cheering for Lydia when she’s dressing down her Julliard student for dismissing Bach as irrelevant to him, which I don’t think they’d do on a second watch. Does that response surprise you?

    Field: I don’t think it surprises me. But what you’re saying, that I don’t think that they would do that on the second watch, that’s kind of the idea. That scene can be seen through many lenses. The lens that we started with was simply the age-old question, if you could speak to younger self, what would you say? I think that this character, when she was 24 years old and in a similar position as Max is at Juilliard when she was at Harvard, she was trying to break the boundaries that were set up in terms of the German Austro canon. But she’s not 24 years old anymore. She’s turning 50.

    AP: Though she pushed boundaries, is she also a woman who maybe only achieved this kind of success by playing within the rules of the patriarchy too?

    Blanchett: That’s part of it. But she believes in the power of her being the exception. Once you surmount a mountain, you think, God, it’s beautiful up here. And the beauty makes you forget how difficult the journey was. She’s a consummate musician. And she’s a believer, a great believer in the grand narratives, in the grand tradition. She’s earned the right to play those big works. It’s the same thing that they teach at college. It’s like, sure, you can abstract, but first you have to learn how to paint the form. You’ve always got a buck against your teachers. But you forget.

    AP: This film does a good job at making you feel like an insider in the world of classical music too.

    Field: There’s not a lot of footage of conductors doing extensive rehearsals and it’s so much more interesting watching them rehearse than watching a performance. Our goal was can we take the viewer and make them feel like they’ve been in the front of the house, in the back of the house, and that they that they’re going through some kind of process with this character?

    Blanchett: I learned a lot from watching the documentaries (on the likes of Carlos Kleiber, Herbert von Karajan). There are all of these backstage moments I found really fascinating. Abbado, after his first concert when he took over the role of principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, he came off and someone went to talk to him. He was covered in sweat and he moved away and he walked way up the corridor and just stood really still and put one hand against the wall. It was such a lonely, lonely image. You felt the burden that he was carrying, the responsibility for creating the sound and carrying that orchestra to the to that audience.

    Field: We stole that image for the end.

    AP: You cast some professional musicians here, but you also made the radical choice to have your actors, like Cate and Nina Hoss, learn how to play as well.

    Field: The finest actors I have known and the finest musicians I have known are very similar because they understand very practical principles about touch and tempo and dynamics and sound. It was important that everyone who makes music on screen makes the music. There’s a kind of long-standing sort of joke, well I call it a joke, but maybe Cate feels differently about this, where she get rather bothered that I don’t show her hands at the Julliard scene playing the Bach.

    Blanchett: (laughs)

    Field: If it was Leonard Bernstein or somebody like that, you wouldn’t feel obliged to do it. If you go back and look at those Young People’s Concerts that he did in the 50s at Carnegie Hall, they’re not showing his hands. My point was that the only time we ever feel obliged to show actors hands on pianos is when they’re faking it.

    Blanchett: Or if it’s for Academy consideration.

    When Cate Blanchett stepped out of her first screening for “ Tár,” she wanted to immediately go back and watch it again.

    Sure, she might be a little biased considering she stars in the film ( and learned how to speak German, conduct an orchestra and play piano for the role ), but it’s not an uncommon sentiment either. Writer-director Todd Field’s dense, literate drama about the fall of an artistic genius in a #MeToo scandal is one that begs discussion and another viewing. As Field has said, he sees a new film every time he watches it.

    This weekend, “Tár,” which is sure to be a top contender this awards season, is expanding in theaters nationwide. Field and Blanchett spoke to The Associated Press about the inscrutable Lydia Tár, their inspirations and NOT showing her hands playing the piano.

    AP: The film introduces Lydia at a New Yorker Festival-type event, with Adam Gopnik reading her introduction to a big auditorium. Was that just a way to give us her bio or is this commenting on the ideas conference industry and its complicity?

    Field: The important thing was how do we meet her? You know, if you meet her at her very height, in a very public way, there’s an opportunity to see it in the same way that we’re in this interview right now, like we’re trying to have an honest conversation, but we’re performing for you.

    Blanchett: Hey! This is ME. This is who I am.

    Field: It’s an aspect of her. Then we see her sitting with her business partner, this investment banker and would be conductor (Mark Strong), and you can tell she doesn’t want to be there. Then you see her roll up your sleeves and she’s teaching, which is the thing that she truly, truly loves doing. But it’s not until 40 minutes into the film that we see her brushing her teeth. Then it’s, “Ah, she’s like me.” We learn a lot of back story about her, but it’s really about how and when we meet the person. There are all kinds of narrative rules about when we’re supposed to meet the person. Syd Field would tell you we have to know by page ten. But that’s not how this thing works. It was important to meet the character as they’re perceived in these other ways before we were allowed to have access to her.

    AP: At one of the screenings in Venice, the audience was cheering for Lydia when she’s dressing down her Julliard student for dismissing Bach as irrelevant to him, which I don’t think they’d do on a second watch. Does that response surprise you?

    Field: I don’t think it surprises me. But what you’re saying, that I don’t think that they would do that on the second watch, that’s kind of the idea. That scene can be seen through many lenses. The lens that we started with was simply the age-old question, if you could speak to younger self, what would you say? I think that this character, when she was 24 years old and in a similar position as Max is at Juilliard when she was at Harvard, she was trying to break the boundaries that were set up in terms of the German Austro canon. But she’s not 24 years old anymore. She’s turning 50.

    AP: Though she pushed boundaries, is she also a woman who maybe only achieved this kind of success by playing within the rules of the patriarchy too?

    Blanchett: That’s part of it. But she believes in the power of her being the exception. Once you surmount a mountain, you think, God, it’s beautiful up here. And the beauty makes you forget how difficult the journey was. She’s a consummate musician. And she’s a believer, a great believer in the grand narratives, in the grand tradition. She’s earned the right to play those big works. It’s the same thing that they teach at college. It’s like, sure, you can abstract, but first you have to learn how to paint the form. You’ve always got a buck against your teachers. But you forget.

    AP: This film does a good job at making you feel like an insider in the world of classical music too.

    Field: There’s not a lot of footage of conductors doing extensive rehearsals and it’s so much more interesting watching them rehearse than watching a performance. Our goal was can we take the viewer and make them feel like they’ve been in the front of the house, in the back of the house, and that they that they’re going through some kind of process with this character?

    Blanchett: I learned a lot from watching the documentaries (on the likes of Carlos Kleiber, Herbert von Karajan). There are all of these backstage moments I found really fascinating. Abbado, after his first concert when he took over the role of principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, he came off and someone went to talk to him. He was covered in sweat and he moved away and he walked way up the corridor and just stood really still and put one hand against the wall. It was such a lonely, lonely image. You felt the burden that he was carrying, the responsibility for creating the sound and carrying that orchestra to the to that audience.

    Field: We stole that image for the end.

    AP: You cast some professional musicians here, but you also made the radical choice to have your actors, like Cate and Nina Hoss, learn how to play as well.

    Field: The finest actors I have known and the finest musicians I have known are very similar because they understand very practical principles about touch and tempo and dynamics and sound. It was important that everyone who makes music on screen makes the music. There’s a kind of long-standing sort of joke, well I call it a joke, but maybe Cate feels differently about this, where she get rather bothered that I don’t show her hands at the Julliard scene playing the Bach.

    Blanchett: (laughs)

    Field: If it was Leonard Bernstein or somebody like that, you wouldn’t feel obliged to do it. If you go back and look at those Young People’s Concerts that he did in the 50s at Carnegie Hall, they’re not showing his hands. My point was that the only time we ever feel obliged to show actors hands on pianos is when they’re faking it.

    Blanchett: Or if it’s for Academy consideration.

  • ‘No longer feel able to fully realise this film’: Almodovar exits English film project with Blanchett

    By AFP

    MADRID: Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has withdrawn from directing his first English-language feature “A Manual for Cleaning Women” starring Cate Blanchett with production to continue without him, his brother confirmed Wednesday.

    “Pedro Almodovar is pulling out of the ‘Manual for Cleaning Women’ project which will continue with Cate Blanchett,” tweeted Agustin Almodovar who jointly runs the brothers’ film production company, El Deseo.

    The news was first broken by entertainment website Deadline Hollywood, which said Almodovar had everything in place but “he came to the decision that he’s not ready to tackle such a monumental project in English”.

    It gave no further details but said the search for another director was “under way”.

    “It has been a very painful decision for me,” Almodovar told Deadline.

    “I have dreamt of working with Cate for such a long time. Dirty Films has been so generous with me this whole time and I was blinded by excitement, but unfortunately, I no longer feel able to fully realise this film.”

    The project is an adaptation of a book of 43 short stories by American author Lucia Berlin in which the 53-year-old Australian actress — a double Oscar winner who also holds three Golden Globes — also has a producer role through her “Dirty Films” production company.

    ALSO READ | Instagram apologizes for Almodóvar film’s poster censorship

    Almodovar’s withdrawal from the project, which was to have been his first full-length venture in English, will not affect Blanchett’s role in the production.

    The 72-year-old director, who won Oscars for “All About My Mother” (1999) and “Talk To Her” (2002), made his first English language film in 2020, a 30-minute piece called “The Human Voice” starring British actress Tilda Swinton.

    Earlier this month, Almodovar wrapped up filming of “Strange Way of Life”, his first Western and second English-language short starring Hollywood’s Ethan Hawke and Chilean actor Pedro Pascal.

    Filmed in Spain’s southern Tabernas desert on the set built for Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968) which is currently up for sale, the 30-minute film focuses on the reunion of a rancher and a sheriff who had worked together 25 years earlier.

    At the weekend, Blanchett, who is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation, won best actress at Venice Film Festival for a second time for her role in “Tar”, the story of a renowned orchestral conductor accused of inappropriate liaisons with female colleagues.

    MADRID: Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has withdrawn from directing his first English-language feature “A Manual for Cleaning Women” starring Cate Blanchett with production to continue without him, his brother confirmed Wednesday.

    “Pedro Almodovar is pulling out of the ‘Manual for Cleaning Women’ project which will continue with Cate Blanchett,” tweeted Agustin Almodovar who jointly runs the brothers’ film production company, El Deseo.

    The news was first broken by entertainment website Deadline Hollywood, which said Almodovar had everything in place but “he came to the decision that he’s not ready to tackle such a monumental project in English”.

    It gave no further details but said the search for another director was “under way”.

    “It has been a very painful decision for me,” Almodovar told Deadline.

    “I have dreamt of working with Cate for such a long time. Dirty Films has been so generous with me this whole time and I was blinded by excitement, but unfortunately, I no longer feel able to fully realise this film.”

    The project is an adaptation of a book of 43 short stories by American author Lucia Berlin in which the 53-year-old Australian actress — a double Oscar winner who also holds three Golden Globes — also has a producer role through her “Dirty Films” production company.

    ALSO READ | Instagram apologizes for Almodóvar film’s poster censorship

    Almodovar’s withdrawal from the project, which was to have been his first full-length venture in English, will not affect Blanchett’s role in the production.

    The 72-year-old director, who won Oscars for “All About My Mother” (1999) and “Talk To Her” (2002), made his first English language film in 2020, a 30-minute piece called “The Human Voice” starring British actress Tilda Swinton.

    Earlier this month, Almodovar wrapped up filming of “Strange Way of Life”, his first Western and second English-language short starring Hollywood’s Ethan Hawke and Chilean actor Pedro Pascal.

    Filmed in Spain’s southern Tabernas desert on the set built for Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968) which is currently up for sale, the 30-minute film focuses on the reunion of a rancher and a sheriff who had worked together 25 years earlier.

    At the weekend, Blanchett, who is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation, won best actress at Venice Film Festival for a second time for her role in “Tar”, the story of a renowned orchestral conductor accused of inappropriate liaisons with female colleagues.

  • ‘It’s been beyond our imagination’:  Morfydd Clark on ‘The Rings of Power’

    Express News Service

    British actor Morfydd Clark tells Katie Ellis about stepping into Cate Blanchett’s shoes to play Galadriel in The Rings of Power, her fascination with elf ears, and how her Welsh roots helped her learn Elvish

    How did you feel about playing Galadriel in The Rings of Power?It was just beyond my wildest dreams. I grew up reading the Lord of the Rings books. I was 11 years old when the films came out, so this world has been a part of my life for a really long time.We have had conversations about Galadriel and now this is my job. So yeah, it was amazing to find me suddenly on the set as her.

    Cate Blanchett played Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings movies. What was it like to follow in the footsteps of someone like her?Overwhelming. I think for all of us in this cast, it’s beyond what we ever dared to imagine could happen. It’s a case of just accepting that it’s not going to feel necessarily normal or natural at first, but then just try to enjoy it all. Doing all of the amazing things we did made it easier.

    Did you speak to Blanchett about playing Galadriel?I didn’t talk to her, but I thought about her all of the time. Honestly, I was obsessed with those films, so it still feels very surreal to be here now.  

    What do you hope this show and your performance will bring to the character that we have perhaps not seen before?My intention was always to explore the serenity that Galadriel has. I wanted to show how it is hard-earned and it comes through trials. Hopefully, the audience will see that and more.

    Tell us about Galadriel’s armour.First of all, it’s like a Rubik’s Cube in terms of getting it on. There would always be at least four people working on me at one time to put it on me, but her armour is amazing. I really felt like some kind of medieval queen and that I was being prepared for something huge.It was wonderful. I got to know that costume very well.

    What about the elf ears?Everyone asks me about the ears (laughs). I never thought the ears were going to be the topic of so many conversations. The truth is that there was a whole team of people behind my ears. There was an amazing prosthetics artist, Irina Strukova, painting them day and night with beautiful tiny veins. I love my ears. The first time I got them on, I was shocked at just how flattering they are because they elongate your cheekbones. I was like, ‘This is a look’.

    Where do we find Galadriel at the beginning of this prequel series?At the beginning, Galadriel is convinced that there is an evil rising in Middle Earth, but no one else agrees with her. So she is on a quest to be believed in, even though she is one of the oldest elves. She has seen a lot of terrible things. She has lost so many members of her family and is grieving and homesick. She can’t believe that life could ever be peaceful and good. She turns out to be right.

    How hard was it to learn Elvish?As soon as I picked up The Hobbit as a child, my mum was like, ‘You’re reading that? Did you know that Elvish is based on Welsh?’ I have always been so grateful for talking in and respecting the language of my country. So I felt lucky to be Welsh while learning it.

    Of all the skills you had to learn for the show, which one was the greatest challenge?I thought the greatest challenge for me was just generally to believe that I could do those things. In the first few weeks I was like, ‘I can’t actually do any of this’, but we had amazing teachers who got us over that hump with the climbing, the free-diving and everything else.

    What message do you have for the fans of the Lord of the Rings?I would just encourage people to have an open mind and try to take the opportunity to enjoy the show. We had a wonderful group of people working on this and I’m really proud to be part of it.

    Finally, how would you sum up your time playing Galadriel?It’s been an experience like no other.

    Asia Features

    British actor Morfydd Clark tells Katie Ellis about stepping into Cate Blanchett’s shoes to play Galadriel in The Rings of Power, her fascination with elf ears, and how her Welsh roots helped her learn Elvish

    How did you feel about playing Galadriel in The Rings of Power?
    It was just beyond my wildest dreams. I grew up reading the Lord of the Rings books. I was 11 years old when the films came out, so this world has been a part of my life for a really long time.
    We have had conversations about Galadriel and now this is my job. So yeah, it was amazing to find me suddenly on the set as her.

    Cate Blanchett played Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings movies. What was it like to follow in the footsteps of someone like her?
    Overwhelming. I think for all of us in this cast, it’s beyond what we ever dared to imagine could happen. It’s a case of just accepting that it’s not going to feel necessarily normal or natural at first, but then just try to enjoy it all. Doing all of the amazing things we did made it easier.

    Did you speak to Blanchett about playing Galadriel?
    I didn’t talk to her, but I thought about her all of the time. Honestly, I was obsessed with those films, so it still feels very surreal to be here now.  

    What do you hope this show and your performance will bring to the character that we have perhaps not seen before?
    My intention was always to explore the serenity that Galadriel has. I wanted to show how it is hard-earned and it comes through trials. Hopefully, the audience will see that and more.

    Tell us about Galadriel’s armour.
    First of all, it’s like a Rubik’s Cube in terms of getting it on. There would always be at least four people working on me at one time to put it on me, but her armour is amazing. I really felt like some kind of medieval queen and that I was being prepared for something huge.
    It was wonderful. I got to know that costume very well.

    What about the elf ears?
    Everyone asks me about the ears (laughs). I never thought the ears were going to be the topic of so many conversations. The truth is that there was a whole team of people behind my ears. There was an amazing prosthetics artist, Irina Strukova, painting them day and night with beautiful tiny veins. I love my ears. The first time I got them on, I was shocked at just how flattering they are because they elongate your cheekbones. I was like, ‘This is a look’.

    Where do we find Galadriel at the beginning of this prequel series?
    At the beginning, Galadriel is convinced that there is an evil rising in Middle Earth, but no one else agrees with her. So she is on a quest to be believed in, even though she is one of the oldest elves. She has seen a lot of terrible things. She has lost so many members of her family and is grieving and homesick. She can’t believe that life could ever be peaceful and good. She turns out to be right.

    How hard was it to learn Elvish?
    As soon as I picked up The Hobbit as a child, my mum was like, ‘You’re reading that? Did you know that Elvish is based on Welsh?’ I have always been so grateful for talking in and respecting the language of my country. So I felt lucky to be Welsh while learning it.

    Of all the skills you had to learn for the show, which one was the greatest challenge?
    I thought the greatest challenge for me was just generally to believe that I could do those things. In the first few weeks I was like, ‘I can’t actually do any of this’, but we had amazing teachers who got us over that hump with the climbing, the free-diving and everything else.

    What message do you have for the fans of the Lord of the Rings?
    I would just encourage people to have an open mind and try to take the opportunity to enjoy the show. We had a wonderful group of people working on this and I’m really proud to be part of it.

    Finally, how would you sum up your time playing Galadriel?
    It’s been an experience like no other.

    Asia Features

  • Sacha Baron Cohen in talks for Alfonso Cuaron’s Apple series 

    By Express News Service

    Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is in negotiations to join the cast of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron’s Apple thriller series “Disclaimer.” If everything goes well, Cohen, who is known for films such as “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Hugo,” “Borat” and “The Dictator,” will feature alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in the series.

    Sacha Baron CohenCuaron, best known for his award-winning films “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” “Children of Men,” “Gravity” and “Roma,” will write, direct and executive produce all episodes through his production company Esperanto Filmoj.

    Based on the novel of the same name by Renee Knight, “Disclaimer” will star Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose career has been built on exposing the hidden crimes of long-respected institutions.

    When an intriguing novel written by a widower (played by Kline) appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realise that she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past. A story that reveals her darkest secrets.

    The series will be the first project to debut from a multi-year deal with Cuaron, who is developing television series exclusively for Apple TV Plus. It is also the first time that Cuaron will be writing and directing all episodes of an original series.

  • Cate Blanchett to star in, produce period film The New Boy

    By Express News Service

    Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films and Scarlett Pictures are teaming up to co-produce The New Boy. The film is directed by award-winning Indigenous Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton.

    The New Boy, set in 1940s Australia, is about a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun, where his presence disturbs the delicately balanced world. Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair also star in it.

    Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, and Georgie Pym are producing the project for Dirty Films alongside Kath Shelper’s Scarlett Pictures.

    The New Boy is set to begin filming this October and is scheduled to wrap production at the end of 2022.

  • INTERVIEW | Not a nightmare of a movie: Cate Blanchett on Nightmare Alley

    Express News Service

    Tell us about your character in Nightmare Alley.

    I play a psychiatrist called Lilith Ritter who is very interested in the life of the mind and who gets involved with a powerfully hollow man who is a carny and a mind-reader, played by Bradley Cooper. They have a fateful encounter where she tries to expose himself to himself. 

    Would it have been unusual for women to be psychologists in the 1940s?Actually, there were a lot of women involved in psycho-analysis at that point, they just weren’t recognised.

    What attracted you to this role?Getting to work with the fantastic Bradley Cooper and, of course, Guillermo del Toro. The character is secondary to that. 

    Did the experience of working with him live up to your expectations?Absolutely. I had long wanted to work with Guillermo. I admire him so much, not only as a filmmaker but as a human being. He’s so generous and while some of the worlds he creates are grotesque, nightmarish and dark, as the title Nightmare Alley suggests, he really holds the hand of actors and the audience. He is such a great person to go through the horror tunnel with. This was once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

    How was it reuniting with Carol co-star Rooney Mara?It’s so lovely. In theatre you often get to work with directors and actors again but it doesn’t always happen in film. Carol was an important film to certain people. You have got a brunette and a blonde, so they are bound to sleep together, right? (laughs) Guillermo understands that history. It’s fascinating to watch and work with a filmmaker who really gets that sense of the collective while focussing on a really singular vision. 

    What was it like to work with Bradley Cooper?It was fantastic. He’s a great actor and, as one of the producers on this, he was really invested in everything. It was a really difficult part for him to play a character so devoid of any moral compass because he is such a warm and charismatic person. Bradley is all about truth and kindness so I think it was a big stretch for him. 

    How did you go about getting into character?Much of the work was done for me by having the good fortune to work with such an amazing director, incredible production designers, costume designers and art department. I walked onto that set for the first time and I went, ‘Oh, it’s a Rorschach test.’ It was like the character physically manifested in the environment I was in. You just needed to show up and play your role because so much of the atmosphere and the internal life of the character was given to you. It was fascinating.

     still from her latest film Nightmare Alley

    Did you try any psychoanalysis yourself?I did a little bit. I wasn’t very good at it. I was actually in the room and I thought, ‘I can’t get on the couch because once I do, it’s going to get really messy!’ When the moment came for Bradley to lay on the couch, it was like suddenly the temperature dropped. All I had to do was hold his head and let it all come out of him. I didn’t do anything. 

    Did you do anything to lighten the mood between such heavy scenes?Fortunately, it was pre-pandemic so we actually did regular things like go out to dinner with one another, rehearse and not wear masks (laughs). When the pandemic hit, all of my stuff had been filmed in the old-fashioned way where you could actually look into the cinematographer’s and the camera operator’s eyes, and see their noses! But then they had to stop and I think things became quite different then. But yeah, we had dinner together which is something I really miss doing. 

    How do you know when a film is going to be successful?To this day no one knows what is going to work and what is not. You embark on projects that don’t work in the same way that you embark on projects that find an audience. For me, it’s always a conversation that you have with a filmmaker, other actors, the crew, the designers. The unusual is always intoxicating to me and this is unusual. 

    What do you hope audiences take away from this film?First of all, I hope people get to see it in the cinema because this film is pure cinema. There is a lot to take away from the film about the world in which we have found ourselves and the importance of being honest about who you are with the people that you purport to serve. The film got all the joys and thrills of a noir but it’s really contemporary and so beautiful.

    (Asia Features) 

  • Cate blanchett to star in a manual for cleaning women

    By Express News Service

    Cate Blanchett is the first cast member to be confirmed for director Pedro Almodóvar’s A Manual for Cleaning Women. The director is well-known for his Spanish titles such as Talk to Her, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and Parallel Mothers; and this would be his first English language feature film.

    A Manual for Cleaning Ladies is an adaptation of the short-story collection of the same name by author Lucia Berlin. This collection contains forty 43 stories about women from different walks of life, who have different kinds of profession. 

  • Cate Blanchett to topline Pedro Almodovar’s maiden English film ‘A Manual for Cleaning Women’

    By PTI

    Hollywood star Cate Blanchett will be headlining critically-acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language feature film.

    Titled “A Manual For Cleaning Women”, the movie is an adaptation of Lucia Berlin’s short story collection of the same name, which includes 43 stories about women in multiple types of demanding jobs.

    According to Deadline, the project is in the early stages of development with Blanchett’s production banner Dirty Films producing for New Republic Pictures, in association with El Deseo.

    Other producers for the film include Andrew Upton and Coco Francini, as well as Brian Oliver and Bradley Fischer with Almodovar.

    The 72-year-old Spanish director, known for critically-acclaimed movies such as “Talk to Her”, “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” and “Parallel Mothers”, earlier directed the 2020 English-language short film “The Human Voice”, starring Tilda Swinton.

    Blanchett has been busy with multiple projects recently, including Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” and Guillermo del Toro-directed “Nightmare Alley”.

    She will next feature in Todd Field’s “TAR”, del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s “Pinocchio” and Eli Roth’s “Borderland”.

  • Ben Stiller, Cate Blanchett to star in ‘The Champions’ adaptation

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor-filmmaker Ben Stiller will direct and star along with Oscar winner Cate Blanchett in the big-screen take on the 1960s British series “The Champions”.

    As per Variety, the movie will honour the original espionage series that was created by Dennis Spooner for British network ITV in 1968.

    It follows three United Nations agents whose plane crashes into the Himalayas.

    Upon being rescued by an advanced civilisation secretly living in Tibet, they are granted enhanced intellectual and physical abilities.

    When the agents return to the outside world, they use their new superhuman abilities to become champions of law, order and justice.

    Besides acting in and directing the movie, Stiller will produce the project through his Red Hour Productions alongside Blanchett and her company Dirty Films.

    ITV Studios America and New Republic Pictures are also on board as producers.

    ” ‘Champions’ is a long forgotten gem that will excite a new generation in the same strange and magnificent way that the original series spoke to us,” Blanchett said.

    “I’ve long wanted to work with Ben — the director and the actor.

    He is one of the most engaged and versatile directors working today.

    Anyone who can make both ‘Zoolander’ and ‘Escape at Dannemora’ is a creative force to be reckoned with,” she added.

    Stiller said he is looking forward to working with Blanchett as he has been a fan of her work.

    “I’m a huge fan of Cate’s for a very long time. I’m hoping this project will help people to finally take her seriously as an actress,” he said.

    Stiller is currently working on the Apple TV Plus’ workplace thriller series “Severance”, starring Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken.

    He is also attached to direct Focus Features’ “Bag Man” and “London”, an adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s short story, starring Oscar Isaac.

    Blanchett recently finished shooting for Eli Roth’s “Borderlands” and is now working on Todd Field-directed feature “Tar”.

    She will next star in Guillermo Del Toro’s movie “Nightmare Alley” as well as two Netflix projects — “Pinocchio” and Adam McKay’s film “Don’t Look Up”.