Cate Blanchett
Interview By: Benjamin Lee
In a time when most actresses are known for what they're wearing or, more often that not, what they're not wearing, it's rare to encounter an actress who is intently focused on one thing and one thing only ' her acting.
Okay so you may find the odd facially impaired actress who is all about the craft but Cate Blanchett manages to combine both breathtaking beauty and an amazing acting talent. This year we've already seen her as a junkie in Little Fish, a wounded tourist in Babel and a prostitute in The Good German but it's her turn in the psychological drama Notes on a Scandal that's currently filling her mantelpiece with yet more gold shiny ornaments.
Blanchett plays Sheba Hart, a schoolteacher who embarks on an affair with a 15-year-old student while also developing a dangerous friendship with her co-worker, played by Judi Dench. It's a relentlessly dark film that never shies away from the immorality of Blanchett's ultimate paedophilia. As hard as it may be to empathize with, Blanchett found it important never to judge Sheba.
'I think it's absolutely vital to not invest your own morality in the portrait you're painting of somebody' she believes, 'You're not playing for sympathy nor are you laying the heavy hand of judgement on the character. I was surprised at the depth of my own moral repugnance for what she'd done but it was really important that I try to understand it from her perspective.' It's a tough role to play and a hard decision to get past as an actor, why would someone want to have sex with a schoolchild'
'At the end of the day I had to stop answering these questions as an actor' she admits, 'I had to allow Sheba in all her glorious flawed complexity to exist because these are the conversations that you want the audience to have. You don't want me to reduce the subject matter from the get-go because it's too complicated.' It's a topic matter that's not too far away from the newspaper headlines we've seen over the past year. Blanchett reveals that before production began, she did take a look at real-life teachers who've fallen foul of their unhealthy desires.
'Before embarking on this I'd see headlines in the news and I don't want to be a spectator' she states, 'I tend to think those poor people because on all sides there is irreparable damage done. Let them sort it out themselves. There's such a media circus surrounding it because it's so salacious. But from a dramatic point of view you have a field day with the fall-out from actions like that. So I did, in relation to the film, go on the net and see the damaging exchanges that have gone on between students and teachers.'
Blanchett's other relationship in the movie is shared with her co-worker Barbara, played ferociously by Judi Dench. It's an equally disturbing connection as Barbara becomes increasingly infatuated with Sheba and uses her secrets against her. Working alongside Judi Dench was a dream for Blanchett. 'Judi works off her instinct' Blanchett says, 'Her technique is so well-honed and polished and incomparable and peerless. It's so invisible. I sort of had to pick my jaw up off the floor after every scene.' The two both have theater backgrounds so the style of the script had a massive appeal to Blanchett. 'There's scene after scene after scene that are quite theatrical' Blanchett admits, 'It's so fantastic, with all of us being theater creatures, to exercise the muscles where you can literally ride the tsunami of the scene. I love four page scenes.'
While the friendship the two share may seem rather frightening, it's one which Blanchett believes holds a mirror up to many of our own. 'I definitely think that there are many unhealthy friendships' she believes, 'A sadist needs a masochist. We all need something from other people. We like to think of ourselves as selfless individuals, as heroes in our narrative but we're also the villains. It's just that we don't ever like to characterize ourselves that way.'
While many have spoken about the lesbian undertones of the movie, Blanchett is quick to silence them. 'I don't think Barbara would ever characterize herself as a lesbian' she states, 'I don't think she's ever formed a notion of her own sexuality. To compartmentalize her sexual life is really infantile.' Blanchett also believes any actress other than Judi Dench would have struggled with the ambiguity of the role. 'In the hands of another actress, the sort of machiavellian, vampyric lesbian quality to the character could have been one-dimension but she invested it with so much pathos and humanity.'
For someone who works so much (19 films in the past 6 years!), Blanchett is surprisingly an actress who still gets a hint of fear before every new role. 'Before every job I invariably have the same boring conversation with my husband Andrew where I say god what am I going to do'' she laughs, 'I don't have a process! He says yes you do just shut up and let it evolve! The more you do the more you have confidence.'
An actress who has worked so much yet performed so consistently well, it's no surprise to hear that Blanchett has a busy schedule up ahead. As well as a part in the new Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There and a chance to reprise her most famous role as Elizabeth in the new sequel The Golden Age, Blanchett is determined to try something new. 'Next year I'm directing a play which deals with a 40-year-old man who re-encounters the 12-year-old girl he had sex with' she reveals. While her peers put all their efforts into surface, Cate Blanchett dares to go beneath.
