Cate Blanchett believes in the right to suspend belief on camera and she is prepared to suspend that belief.
Throughout her 26-year-long career, the Australian actress has played many diverse roles, including a man in I’m Not There and a lesbian in Carol.
The latter earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, as well as many questions about playing an LGBTQ character.
“I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience,” the 49-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think reality television and all that that entails had an extraordinary impact, a profound impact on the way we view the creation of character. I think it provides a lot of opportunity, but the downside of it is that we now, particularly in America, I think, we expect and only expect people to make a profound connection to a character when it’s close to their experience.”
Cate continued by saying, “Part of being an actor to me, it’s an anthropological exercise. So you get to examine a time frame, a set of experiences, a historical event that you didn’t know anything about. But also I’m about to play a character whose political persuasions are entirely different to my own, but part of the pleasure is trying to work out what makes her tick.”
And she seems to be doing a great job.
