Cate Blanchett On Strength, Sexism And Social Media

For years, Cate Blanchett has balanced a burgeoning acting career with activism. As she tells us, “You have to pick up the slack when you see others failing to”, it’s clear that using her voice to push for change is a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly

- Paul Dargan

INTENSITY IS A word that Cate Blanchett is happy to invite into her safe space. While many in the elite of the entertainment world substitute passion and power on screen for a life of luxurious leisure off it, the 52-year-old actress appears happy to push to the extremities, debating and challenging at every point along the route.

It’s not that the fiery Australian has a particular axe to grind when it comes to politics, environmentalism, sustainability, equality, feminism or activism; it’s just that she can see a better place on the horizon.

“If I didn’t use my voice to try to make change or encourage others to, I think that would be really disingenuous,” she says.

“I hate that whole thing of famous people on their soapboxes—it’s not that; I just feel, sometimes, as a society, we are so much better than we make out!”

That stance—one that has permeated and grown through Blanchett’s time in the spotlight, which now dates back some three decades—makes her an appealing, yet at the same time intriguingly dangerous, interview subject.

In one exchange she can be a soft, even sombre global ambassador who answers with gentle empathy at the irregularities and injustices of the industry.

In another, she is fierce and fiery— take, for example, the suggestion that Cate might be regarded as an exemplar, a role model, for an industry that many feel still fails to do enough to affect some real, positive change...