From the Archives: Cate Blanchett

Presenting the talented Ms. Blanchett. Brought up in Melbourne and currently residing in Sydney, the Australian actress has been touted by pundits as the next Judy Davis, a description both fitting and false. Cate Blanchett possesses Davis' level of emotional articulation but not her prickly presence. Translucent of complexion and low of voice, Blanchett spoke of her tour-de-force turn in Elizabeth. As the young queen maneuvering her way through multiple plots while conducting a battle between her head and her heart, Blanchett injects intelligence, vulnerability, steeliness, and youth to the complex Elizabeth, a character that's been portrayed by such acting greats as Bette Davis and Glenda Jackson. Though Blanchett had seen Jackson's portrayal in the BBC production, she shied away from viewing other versions: "I didn't want to sit there and get intimidated. It's a dangerous thing to try and emulate other people's work."

To create the character of Elizabeth, Blanchett researched the monarch's life. "I knew more about Elizabeth in the latter half of her reign than I did about her early years, so it was quite a revelation for me to explore," she admits. Sifting through a myriad of material, Blanchett found Elizabeth's letters to be the most helpful resource. The letters, she says, revealed much about the queen's often contradictory personality as well as her viewpoints on the intrigues and individuals who surrounded her. However, she is well aware that director Shekhar Kapur was not out to make a fact by fact film of the queen's life. "Shekhar was not interested in historical accuracy," she states, noting that one will never know "the internal mechanics of Elizabeth. That's always invention. And particularly with a monarch because monarchs are, by their very nature, enigmas. One never knows what is truth because look at the monarchy now or what's happening with [President Bill] Clinton; when that's analyzed a hundred years hence, gossip can often become fact. That's fantastic material for an actor but not necessarily accurate."

Portraying Elizabeth required Blanchett to spend at least two hours in hair and makeup. The costumes by Alexandra Byrne may as well have been another character, "[they] informed the characterization so much." Blanchett, however, adds, "[Elizabeth] apparently had incredibly narrow hips so she wore this corset which looked fabulous on her but was incredibly painful for other women to wear." Playing a queen may have been empowering for other actress, but Blanchett insists she felt honored rather than empowered. It was up to costars Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Richard Attenborough, and others to make her feel royal. "The one thing about playing status," Blanchett observes, "is that you can't act it, you have to be given it. I can't come in here and play a queen unless you all treat me like one."

Prior to Elizabeth, Blanchett had already established herself as one of Australia's foremost young talents. After a year from graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Blanchett tackled various, award-winning stage roles, including the lead in David Mamet's Oleanna where she costarred with Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush. In 1997, she made her motion picture debut in Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road, where she costarred alongside Glenn Close and Frances McDormand as one of a group of women taken prisoners of war in a Japanese camp. She then appeared as an adventurous heiress who falls in love with Ralph Fiennes' eccentric, gambling priest in Oscar and Lucinda. Blanchett enjoyed collaborating with director Gillian Armstrong, whom she describes as "fantastic. She's incredibly detailed and incredibly supportive. It's always great to work with a perfectionist because it encourages one to aim for [better]." Coincidentally, she romances Fiennes' younger brother, Joseph, in Elizabeth. When asked if she ever had a laugh about this particular turn of events, she smiled and answered, "No, but everyone else seemed to."

Blanchett is proud of the renaissance the Australian film industry is undergoing as well as her fellow countrymen, such as Russell Crowe and Toni Collette, who are experiencing success in Hollywood. When asked if there are differences between American and Australian work ethics, she explains, "I think because it's quite hard to get films up in Australia and the budgets are obviously much smaller, there's a sense that they're not as hierarchical as they are elsewhere. Everyone's mucking in and really committed to what they're doing, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen anywhere else." The Australians' characteristic down-to-earth nature also prevents Blanchett from going Hollywood. "I'm not in a great hurry," she says. "I think there's an incredible freneticism about the film industry that has you feel that once you're on a roll, you have to keep rolling, otherwise your time will be over. But I'm interested in longevity."

Nevertheless, Blanchett's slate is full. She's already completed the film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, where she costars with Minnie Driver, Julianne Moore and Gabriel Byrne. Then there's Pushing Tin, director Mike Newell's latest film which focuses on the rivalry between two air traffic controllers, played by John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. "Mike described it as I Love Lucy on acid," Blanchett laughs. "It's a pretty dark film. I haven't seen a world like that." At the time of this interview, Blanchett still had to return to Italy to finish up her schedule for Anthony Minghella's follow-up to his Oscar-winning The English Patient: The Talented Mr. Ripley starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. Though she found Damon to have "an open heart and an enormous sense of ease," he clearly does not compare with frequent collaborator Rush. "[Geoffrey's] got this incredible, unflagging enthusiasm for work and teasing things out and to keep pushing and finding more. That's incredibly inspiring," she praises, her warmth for him quite evident. She and Rush are scheduled to film Dreamtime Alice, Mandy Sayer's acclaimed memoir of her travels with her father.

Though she has passed on a handful of parts, Blanchett carries no regrets. "All I can really say about that is life is too short to enter into relationships or embark on things you can't give your full attention to. And it's insulting because there might be somebody else out there who can commit themselves 100% to it. So it's much better to do things that you know you're able to offer something rather than taking it because you can. But believe me, I'm not in a position where I can. . . (laughs) We'll see. Slowly, slowly catches the monkey."