Cate Blanchett admitted to Venice on Thursday that she never sets out to make a political statement despite the fact that her strong female, gender-fluid, and homosexual characters have contributed to the transformation of Hollywood. She portrayed Bob Dylan in “Carol,” one of the most recognisable homosexual films of recent years, and received the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival in 2007 for her portrayal.
Her most recent performance is as a famous lesbian conductor accused of illicit relationships with female coworkers in “Tar,” which is contending for the Golden Lion in Venice this week. When she spoke with reporters at the festival, she emphasised that none of her work was intended to be an act of activism.
“I don’t see the artistic practice as an education tool,” she said. “I’m not interested in agitprop. While there are a lot of hot-button topics that come up in this movie, it’s not about any of those things. After the thing is made, it can be politicised, discussed, people can be disgusted with it, offended by it, inspired by it, but that’s outside our control.”
When asked about the status of women in the film industry, Blanchett responded “thanks to female trail-blazing actors and amazing men alongside us. But the unwillingness of well-known male performers to take on lesser roles remains a barrier. ”
“It’s very hard to get our brothers in Hollywood to play supporting roles that we would very happily play in a good story with a good director — that still is typical,” she added
