Baby Talk

Cate Blanchett is worried about balancing motherhood and career, as News of the World Sunday Magazine

From: News of the World Sunday Magazine, 2003-03-04
Date added: 2003-09-10

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Cate Blanchett says she may have to put her career on hold for awhile as she comes to terms with being a mother. "To be honest, everything's up in the air," says Blanchett, contemplating how she's juggling the responsibilities of a newbord baby and blossoming Hollywood career. Looking tired but happy - son Dashiell was born in December - she adds: "I'm meant to do a couple of films this year - and I'd love to do some move theatre back home in Oz - but now that I'm a mum I really don't know what's going to happen. "I'll probably take a short break to catch up with family and friends because last year was insane. But then, who knows? This whole baby thing is pretty new to me. "I never has a preconceived notion of what it meant to be a mum. I mean, you can think about it abstractly, but until it actually happens, unti you're pregnant, it's not the same. It's been an enormous shift, a real change in life. It's a very confronting situation - and it brings up a lot of thoughts and worries. Both my husband [screenwriter Andrew Upton] and I hope we'll be good parents. But I'm sure we'll make a lot of mistakes. "I want to be a hands-on mum because I didn't grow up in an environment where nannies were factored into it," adds Blanchett. "Actually, the idea of [having] a nanny isa really strange concept to me. I'm very fortunate though, because both Andrew's and my family have been really supportive." And Blanchett - who has homes in Sydney and London - says the couple have to work hard at maintaining their relationship, and try not to let their careers keep them apart. "We are on the phone constantly, you know, three in the morning. As long as the two of us are together we really don't mind where we live." She also refuses to adopt the Hollywood diet system and feels no pressure to lose so-called baby weight. "If you starve yourself tothe point where your brains shrivel, you will never do good work." Apart from impending motherhood, Blanchett's career has been her main preoccupation the past nine months - she's has starring roles in Bandits, Lord of the Rings, The Shipping News and Charlotte Gray. Blanchett says a highlight of her career is the appearance in Lord of the Rings. What was it like being a part of Peter Jackson's twist on Tolkien's fantasy? "Being in Lord of the Rings has been one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences," she says. "I'd read all the books but I still had no idea what I was in story for because it hardly prepares you for being part of this really dark, intensely wonderful fairytale - or playing an elf, with funny ears and hairy feet." Blanchett's been equally unprepared for the attention she's enjoyed since her memorable Oscar-nominated role in Elizabeth. Now, with Carlotte Gray and Bandits, Blachett has recieved even more acclaim but says she often thinks she's "ugly" on screen. She says the best compliment she's recently had is that she has an "actor's face". "There is an enormous pressure on actresses to stay young and beautiful. Film can be a very superficial medium but if you can overcomethat and dig deeper within it you can do something worthwhile...and I do what I feel is required for a role and if that means looking particularly attractive, then that is my job," Blanchett says. Despite conjecture Blanchett is now earning tens of millions of dollars per movie and that she is to acclaimed cinema what Julia Roberts is to commercial cinema, Blanchett is dismissive of the money. "The money isn't important. That's not what drives me," she says. "I'm just happy to be working because that;s always been my concern right from the start. I know that might sound really stupid, especailly now, but when I began acting there were so many good actors in Australia who weren't working that my motivation was simply to work. That's why I said I'd give myself five years and if it didn't work out I'd do something else."

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