Cate Blanchett - Interview

Oscar winner Cate Blanchett gives yet another powerhouse performance in her latest film, Where’d You Go Bernadette which opens in theaters this Friday.

Based on the New York Times best seller, Blanchette plays Bernadette Fox, a woman who seems to have it all—a beautiful home, a loving husband and a brilliant teenage daughter. However, when Bernadette suddenly disappears, her concerned family sets off on an exciting adventure to solve the mystery of where she might have gone.

Blanchett was immediately drawn to the character of Bernadette when she first read the book a few years ago. Bernadette, who is a real complex character, issued a challenge for Cate unlike any she's ever encountered before.

Bernadette goes through a tremendous character arc which Blanchett found both exciting and relatable. She also loved that Bernadette was a loyal and devoted mom who would do just about anything for her teenage daughter Bee. In real life, the Oscar winning actress is mom to four children and can relate to the every day pressures of juggling motherhood, being a wife and having a rather successful career!

Blanchett who has been as hands on as a mom as possible has made it a priority to keep her private life, private. She keeps her four children out of the spotlight and for now maintains that they are all focused on their studies.

She remains very close with her kids and loved the relationship that is shown onscreen (and in the book) between Bernadette and her teenage daughter Bee played by the extraordinary Emma Nelson.

The two are extremely close and Bee is truly the only person that Bernadette trusts but realizes that in the end she has to loosen the ties becuase after all she is her mother and not her friend.

In a recent interview with NPR Blanchett says, "I do say to my kids a lot: "In the end, I love you—but I'm your mother, I'm not your friend." She goes on to say, "you've got to let your children go out into the world and make, and connect to their own generation, and be who they're going to be outside the home. It's really painful and difficult. And the thing is, Bernadette is really isolated. In a way, her daughter is really isolated, and now she's going to move on and go away to school. And so they've both got to let something very precious and very special go."

This is also the first time she had the opportunity to work with director Richard Linklater who is known for films like the observational comedy film Slacker (1990); the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993); the romantic drama film trilogy Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); Boyhood (2014); and the rotoscope animated films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006).

In 2002, he began filming Boyhood, a passion project that took over twelve years to complete. The film was released in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Linklater says he was immediately drawn to the novel and the character of Bernadette due to her "utter complexity." He also said that he couldn't fathom not working and that the notion of an artist who's not making their art—which haunts every artist—is a real thing. He feels the same way and wakes up every day worrying about losing his creativity or will to tell more stories.

Next up for Blanchett who has just completed shooting the TV series Mrs. America is a role in Guillermo Del Toro's remake of the 1947 carnival thriller Nightmare Alley alongside Bradley Cooper and Toni Collette.

I recently spoke with Cate Blanchett about working on the film, Where'd You Go Bernadette. Please watch the video for our interview.