Cate Blanchett has spoken about her “many” past relationships with women while promoting her new film, Carol, a lesbian love story co-starring Rooney Mara.
In an interview with Variety magazine ahead of the film’s premiere at Cannes on May 17, Blanchett was asked if playing the title role in the Todd Haynes-directed period drama was her first turn as a lesbian.
“On film — or in real life?” the actor responded. Pressed on whether she has enjoyed relationships with women, Blanchett told the interviewer: “Yes. Many times.”
Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, The Price of Salt, Carol is set in a 1950s New York department store where an older married woman (Blanchett) falls in love with a younger shop-girl (Mara). It is not the first time Blanchett has starred in a Highsmith adaptation — she was part of the ensemble cast for Anthony Minghella’s 1999 thriller, The Talented Mr Ripley.
Blanchett told Variety that she read “a lot of girl-on-girl books from the period” to prepare for the role and “talked a lot about erogenous zones” with costume designer Sandy Powell. “We asked: ‘what is the most erotic part of the body?’ ... the way Highsmith writes, she’s got this exquisite observation of detail that most people would miss, but a lover’s eye never would.”
Blanchett said of her character: “I think there are a lot of people that exist like that who don’t feel the need to shout things from the rafters,” adding that the film was similarly discreet. “It’s not Blue Is the Warmest Colour,” she said.
The Australian actor is married to Andrew Upton and is the mother of three sons and a daughter, Edith, whom the couple adopted earlier this year. Upton is currently artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company, where a play about Highsmith, Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland, recently played to great acclaim.
The couple plan to relocate their family to America when his tenure ends in late 2015.
On the current debate over equal pay and representation for women in Hollywood, Blanchett spoke of “a critical mass of women who have reached a certain place in the industry,” citing Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.
“We have to push forward,” said the actor, who believes progress is slowly being made. “What industry has parity pay for women? None. Why would we expect this industry to be any different?”
