“I feel really positive about the inevitable, positive moves toward equality in the face of a lot of fear and adversity,” two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett told Variety in an in-depth interview. The “Carol” actress believes that progress is undeniable — no matter how quickly or slowly our society is moving, equality is the endgame. And Blanchett believes artists are in a unique position to galvanize the movement for gender and racial equality.
“There were cracks in the dam for an incredibly long time, and we were trying to sort of put putty on them,” she said of the onslaught of sexual harassment and abuse allegations that have flooded Hollywood in the past six months. “But it’s not just women; it’s also men. It’s also people of different sexual persuasions. It’s the lack of ethnic diversity. Our job is, yes, to be creative, but one of our primary jobs as artists is to be fearless. And I think we’re fearlessly examining the issues in our industry.”
Blanchett points to fellow Academy Award winner and “Paradise Road” co-star Frances McDormand as an example of how actors can use their platform to call for better representation in Hollywood and beyond. “She was a true lead actress,” Blanchett said of McDormand’s famous inclusion rider Oscar speech. “Not only because of the incredible work she did, but she was saying, ‘As the chosen lead actress this year, I’m leading the conversation.’ And that’s part of your job, because when you get to a certain point in an industry, you do have an opportunity and a responsibility to advocate for the sector, to advocate for those who are coming up behind you.”
If Blanchett’s opinions sound feminist, that’s because she is a feminist — and a proud one at that. “I’ve never understood the stigma around [feminism] because it’s really just a drive toward equality,” she observed. “[Women] are not going back to ground zero,” she said. “We are moving onward and forward from here.”
Blanchett explained, “It’s not about building a matriarchy, although given the endless millennia that we’ve labored under a patriarchy I wouldn’t mind a small slice of matriarchy somewhere.”
This feminist instinct, or drive for equality, helped Blanchett stand her ground during a recent experience with pay disparity. She was in talks for a project that would have billed and marketed her and her male co-lead as equals — and yet Blanchett would not be paid as much as the male co-star in question. “If I was being ‘sold’ as a commodity of equal value to my male counterpart and worked as hard as him, I couldn’t reconcile why I wasn’t being remunerated equally,” Blanchett explained. “They wouldn’t budge. So I did not do it.”
You can catch Blanchett next as part of Sandra Bullock’s all-female heist crew in “Ocean’s 8,” out June 8. She’s also toplining “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” an adaptation of Maria Semple’s 2012 best-seller about a neurotic former architect who leaves her family. The comedic drama hits theaters October 19.
Blanchett is also serving as Cannes’ Jury President this year. Her Jury will include filmmaker Ava DuVernay, actresses Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux, and singer-songwriter and composer Khadja Nin. Cannes runs May 8–19.
Head over to Variety to check out Blanchett’s interview, which is well worth reading in full.
