Cate Blanchett earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 period piece Elizabeth and now the critically acclaimed actress reprises her role as the strong-willed leader of England in the sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Set a decade after the events depicted in Elizabeth, the sequel finds Queen Elizabeth I dealing with challenges by King Philip of Spain as well as the passionate supporters of imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots. After declaring herself married to her country, Queen Elizabeth I also finds herself unable to be with the man she loves, the handsome and engaging Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen).
Cate Blanchett Press Conference
What changed your mind about doing this movie?
“I think what convinced me was time, really. Shekhar [Kapur], the minute we finished the first one, was talking about not only my playing Elizabeth again, but hundreds of other ideas. And we've remained friends and have talked about various projects. Tim
Bevan from Working Title just said, ‘Look, let us just work a script up,
and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.’
I found that the notion of the love triangle, the very structure of the narrative, was quite
different. Because I had always said that if they did another one, that
Elizabeth shouldn't be the central character. And because the structure of
the romance -- because it's an unabashedly romantic film -- I think was cut
different, and so it didn't feel like treading the same ground. So yeah,
time, I think, in the end. And also, then, knowing Geoffrey [Rush] and Clive [Owen] were onboard and that Remi [Adefarasin] was going to shoot and working with Alexandra Byrne who did the costumes again, who is a dear friend, and a genius, I
think."
Congratulations on the win in Venice for Best Actress for I'm Not There.
“It was cool, wasn't it? (Laughing) I was very surprised and pleased.”
What attracts you to a project? It seems daunting to play someone like
Elizabeth.
“There's a long and glorious legacy of actresses who have played
Elizabeth I, from Flora Robson and Bette Davis and Glenda Jackson, Helen
Mirren, Anne-Marie Duff. I mean, she's constantly reinvented. One of my
favorite plays is a short play, Mary Stuart, about a fictitious meeting
between Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I. She's ripe for reinvention
because she's such an enigma. And also, if you think about the Elizabethan
age, when the English culture as we know it was crystallized, it's a
fascinating period of history. So I think there'll be many more Elizabeths
long after this film, because I think she's a fantastic -- particularly for
a director like Shekhar -- point on which to leap off for a story.”
What about tackling someone iconic, like Bob Dylan?
“Well, I mean, Elizabeth I is iconic as well. Look, I think I run a
hundred miles an hour away from projects every single time, and in the
end, the ones that stick are the ones that sort of pursue you and you
can't say no to. The idea of playing Bob Dylan was just so utterly
ludicrous that of course I had to say yes. (Laughing) And it was very
daunting. And, yeah, I was a bit nervous about returning to a character, I
suppose, that had allowed me to walk into a door to an international film
career. You don't ever want to feel like you're going backwards. So once I
perceived that I could actually progress forwards through playing it, then
it became exciting to me.”
What was it like on your first day of returning to the character?
“It was quite organic. Obviously I started with Morag Ross, who did
the hair and make-up, and Alex Byrne. We had long, long discussions about
where to start. And obviously, in the end, no matter how much research you
do, you're telling the particular story that the script and the director
prescribe. I think the great thing about Shekhar and I working together is that I'm fascinated by history and he's utterly disinterested. (Laughing) So I think we temper one another really well.
You know, we did a lot of research but in the end, you have to say she's
starting off at a point where we kind of left her in the last film, except
she was at a point of utter rigidity in the end of the last film. And so
how does one exist within that rigid place? So we had to sort of open that
up a little bit. But it felt strange. It was like there was an echo in the
room, but yet it felt very fresh. And Shekhar and I and Abbie [Cornish], because I
don't think she had seen the first one, we watched it just before we
started to film. I was incredibly uncomfortable with the notion
of...You know, I was thinking, ‘Oh God, it's 10 years later. Have I aged
that much?’ Being an actress on a film is a bit like you're aging in dog
years. (Laughing) It's quite confronting. But I was surprised at how well it
stood up. And I thought, ‘Well that's that. It is its own thing.’
I was excited by the fact that this film was at once an echo, in that you've
got the same sort of creative team, a few of the same characters, but it
was its own creature. It's a much more internal film, I think, an interior
film, despite the kind of epic backdrop. So it was a bit like a
homecoming. But I think I was uncomfortable in a healthy, useful way.”
Page 2: On History vs Fiction, Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh, and Women in Power
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