Before a recent interview with the Radio Times promoting Wallace Shawn’s BBC radio drama, The Fever, Cate Blanchett hesitated to introduce herself as an “actress,” because, in her own words, she’s decided to “give up” acting.
“It’s because I’m giving up,” she said. “My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting. [There are] a lot of things I want to do with my life.”
Fair enough! The two-time Oscar-winning actress has remained an A-lister since her breakout performance in 1998’s Elizabeth. Though she’s likely best known around here for her performance as the Elven queen Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, her numerous genre credits include Sam Raimi’s The Gift, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Thor: Ragnarok, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Don’t Look Up, and The House With the Clock in Its Walls—not to mention her voiceover work in Sweet Tooth, Ponyo, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and many more.
In just the past year, the actress played an alien bounty hunter in the (reportedly) disastrous Borderlands adaptation (I still haven’t seen it…), matched wits with bog mummies as the Chancellor of Germany in Guy Maddin’s horror-comedy Rumours, and can currently be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s spy-thriller Black Bag. She’s also about to play an alien posing as a 1950s biker in the upcoming sci-fi/comedy, Alpha Gang. After that, what else is there for an actor to do, really?
Later in the interview, Blanchett went on to reveal numerous unhinged factoids about herself, including that she’s “obsessed with the psychological space that is the interior of people’s cars,” and loves to take cold showers. Better still, she compares acting to the “sonic sweep” of a submarine, though ultimately admits “artists who create works of art that inspire sympathy and good values don’t change the life of the poor.” Again, fair enough.
Luckily, Blanchett is also a noted activist and Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, so we know she’ll be busy offscreen, at least. What do you think, Blanchemaniacs? Do you wish her well on all her future endeavors, or do you believe her best work is still ahead of her? Sound off in the comments.
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