Interviewing the Incredible Cate Blanchett #CinderellaEvent

I was invited on an expenses paid trip to LA by Disney to cover the #CinderellaEvent in exchange for my posts of the trip experiences. All opinions are my own.

It was an experience I will never forget, being able to sit in a room and interview the incredible Cate Blanchett and talk to her about her role as Lady Tremaine (the Wicked Stepmother) in Disney’s Cinderella. Let me start by saying how beautiful she is, and so very elegant! She was very nice in the interview with us and I loved hearing about her experience filming and playing the Wicked Stepmother. She is absolutely incredible playing this part and I loved her performance in the movie, she is amazing.

Did you go after this role?

Cate: Yes, like a rabid dog (She laughs jokingly). And I didn’t get the Cinderella role (We all laugh). Though I had so many friends who asked me what I was doing in the summer, and I said “I’m in a live-action version of Cinderella” and there was a big kind of awkward pause. And they didn’t quite know how to ask me, (She laughs), are you a little old to be playing Cinderella? Yeah. A bit Bette Davis. No, it sort of landed in my lap, actually. I was very lucky. Sandy Powell and Dante Ferretti were on board, and they’re two of the greats. They’ve created such extraordinary visuals in modern cinema. And then Ken Branagh came on board who’s so fantastic with actors and with language, so it was kind of a perfect storm.

What’s your favorite scene in the movie?

Cate: Well, I think the chemistry between Lily and Richard is palpable. I wept like a baby, completely inappropriately and out of character when they waltzed for the first time. The music is beautiful, but also it was a really big feat because Lily was cinched in so tightly, and that dress was like an armored tank. He was in seven hundred layers of wool. The dance was really athletic, and they acted like a dream. The chemistry was palpable, and I just wept because it was beautiful to watch.

And I think maybe being the mother of sons, I love the scene between Derek Jacobi as the king, and Richard Madden as the prince. I found it very moving. That’s the wonderful thing about the film. I think we try and shield our children from moments of grief and I know it from having lost a parent at the age of ten.

I thought for him as a man to be curled up like a young boy. I’ve had a lot of friends recently lose a parent, and whether you’re eighty or eight and you lose a parent, you’re always the child, and so I find that scene very moving. cateblanchett1

Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart.com

How much fun was it to play a Disney villain?

Cate: There are a lot of great Disney villains, and a lot of them are women. They always have fabulous frocks and fabulous hairdos. It was an enormous amount of fun. The wonderful message in the film is to have courage and to be kind. Kindness is a super power. We try to teach our children, you share, you be respectful, you be generous, you be thoughtful, put yourself in someone else’s shoes. And to play someone who can’t do any of those things, to have that as your avatar during the day was quite fun.

(In the movie) you finally get to hear the stepmother’s story (as she tells it to Cinderella). They’ve both suffered an incredible amount of hardship and tragedy. And this is a world still like today’s world, where a lot of women don’t have agency; don’t have financial independence. And she made a decision really early on that the world is a tough place, and the way to navigate your way through that is to graft yourself onto a man. That’s what she’s imparting to her children. And the way that the stepmother has dealt with grief and hardship is to close down and to become bitter and jealous. There’s a sense of entitlement. And Cinderella’s experienced those things, but she’s remained open-hearted and good. She’s much more glass half full. And I think that whether you’re a man or a woman, that tragedy can define your character. You don’t necessarily like what the stepmother does, but hopefully you understand her.

How did you prepare for your role? You’re so evil. I love it. It was fantastic.

Cate: Thank you. Often on film, we don’t get a lot of rehearsal time, with Ken (director) on the script. Actors come in at various different times. So for me, the most creative two parts of the process early on are your costume fittings. Working with Sandy (costume designer) who I’ve worked with before. Also, Morag Ross who is doing my makeup, and Kay Georgia who is doing my hair, and the four of us have worked together quite a lot.

We get to try things out because before you even utter a syllable. On a daily basis we form unconscious judgments of people the way they smell, by what they choose to wear; how you choose to present yourself. It’s a big part of who we are, and particularly on film because it’s so visual. Once I knew what those silhouettes were, I knew which bits I didn’t have to act because the costume was revealing those things. You could play against it.

So that was an incredible amount of fun and then obviously, it gives you a sense of how the character might move. You try those things out because the camera’s not rolling- no one’s looking at you. And the other thing I find very creative is the camera tests. Because obviously the cinematographer and the director are looking for lighting effects and how will it affect on your skin or the hair- with wig color. They’re not looking at you, and I always like to see the camera tests because you can try things out. You can mess things up, and think, “I won’t do that.” So that was a big part of the preparation.

Did you have any input on what you wore?

Cate: Yes, Sandy’s got very, very strong ideas. That’s what makes her Sandy Powell. But we talked really early on. We started emailing each other pictures that we found inspiring, lighting references, hat references, drapes, fabrics. And we found this pool of images that we were both drawn to. I found it really exciting when she pulled out the color swatches. We’re going for chartreuse, we’re going for green, we’re going for hot pink, and we’re gonna mix them all together. That was an enormous offer, you take those offers from Sandy.

What was your favorite costume?

Cate: There was a lot of green- my school uniform was green, so I tend not to wear a lot of green in everyday life. I call that dress that I wore at the ball, the gherkin. That was my least favorite, but everyone seems to like that one. I like the blue one. There’s a scene where the stepmother goes to see the arch duke. The poppy gloves and a blue hat. I think it had a bird on it. The detail in Sandy’s costumes are just extraordinary.

Was there a scene for you that was really hard to shoot?

Cate: I’m not in the film all the time, so I wanted to sort of try and chart a journey that was from an exquisite exterior. With a sort of affected grace that the stepmother became increasingly brash. So it was just trying to calibrate that. Some of the costumes were slightly more difficult to maneuver.

You just spoke about trying things out on the camera test. How much input did you have in the script or anything?

Cate: A lot. I think there’s a sense that actors are sort of puppets that get moved around, but no. I’m always interested in input. My husband’s a writer and I come from the theater, so I have a great respect for the script. Oftentimes, the line that you want to change is the line that you need to make work. Once you make that line work, then you’ve shifted from yourself, the line you find hardest to say.

So without getting too kind of complex, it’s quite a difficult neurolinguisic process to actually make someone else’s words sound like they’re your own. So the one I find that you may find most difficult to make your own is often the one that will unlock the character.

It was really important to me, and it wasn’t the case when I first read the script, that Cinderella had the final line of the film I said to Ken. So it’s a really great message. She comes in and says, well, I’m not going to be rescued. If this relationship is going to work, he has to accept me for who I am. Which I think is wonderful for young girls to say. I think it’s fantastic. Then there was a line at the end where he said “shall we go?” and she didn’t say anything. And I thought, it’s not his story- it’s her story. So we added in this sense of forgiveness. I forgive you. I feel like that’s a wonderful kind of conclusion to her super power. Ella, she has an incredibly generous spirit and she also closes out the film which I think is great.

Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart.com

Your laugh in the movie, I found that very iconic. Where did you draw the inspiration for that laugh?

Cate: I was mucking around with a friend of mine on set and we were talking about what makes people ugly. I said, “it’s interesting, you can go out with somebody and think, oh my gosh, you’re so attractive, and then he or she eats, and you think, oh my god, you’re a pig. Or someone is amazing and you think, your politics are reprehensible.” There’s something about them will give them away, and we were talking about dirty laughs.

So I just did it, and she laughed. Then there was the gambling scene, and I laughed. Ken’s face was so revolted. He was really worried. He said “you’re not gonna do that, are you?” And I said “oh yes I am”. so I think his reaction made me want to keep it. She’s got exquisite dresses, perfect makeup, and then she opens her mouth and that comes out. So I thought that was a bit of a red flag about what was to come.

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Being able to interview her was a dream! After the interview she was so kind to take a group photo with us.