The Wicked Stepmother Speaks – My Cate Blanchett Interview #CinderellaEvent

Disclaimer:  Disney sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of the world premiere of Cinderella, including this Cate Blanchett Interview. All opinions are my own.

Photo Credit: Louise Manning Bishop of MomStart.com

When I found out last month that I would be interviewing select cast from the new live-action CINDERELLA movie, there was one actor in particular I was hoping would make the list.

Or should I say actress?

Academy Award-Winning actress!

That’s the kind of talent you’ll find on this film…..and yes, when the Cate Blanchett interview was on my official itinerary, I almost couldn’t contain my excitement.

I’m a Disney girl. And while we are always drawn to the heroine in any story, I’m somehow incredibly intrigued by the villain. Maybe it has something to do with having a daughter, who from an early age wanted NEEDED to find a glimmer of goodness in any Disney villain.  Ah, but you might just have to wait until my CINDERELLA film review on Friday to find out if a glimmer appeared.

 

Photo Credit: Disney

As Cate Blanchett walked into our hotel meeting room in Beverly Hills last Monday, all eyes were on her. Simply stunning and carrying in a hot cup of tea, Cate Blanchett was exactly as I had expected. Over the next minutes, she soon revealed that not only was she beautiful, but incredibly witty, smart and oh, so creative.

In fact, when asked what was her favorite scene in CINDERELLA,  she surprised me by talking of scenes in which she hadn’t appeared at all. It was clear that she, like all of us, simply loves movies and gets caught up in the emotion of them too.

SHE WEPT…

In talking of the ballroom scene, Cate said, “I think the chemistry between Lily and Richard is palpable, and I wept like a baby, completely inappropriately and out of character when they waltzed for the first time. The  music is beautiful, but also it was a really big feat because Lily was cinched in so tightly, and that dress was like an armored tank, and he was in seven hundred layers of wool, and the dance was really athletic, and they acted like a dream. And the chemistry was palpable, and I just wept because it was beautiful to watch.”

But it was her next statements that really got me choked up.

ON GRIEF…

“I think maybe being the mother of sons, I found it very, very moving, and every time I see it, I do cry a lot, but I love the scene between Derek Jacobi as the king, and Richard Madden as the prince. Because that’s the wonderful thing about the film, we try and shield our children from moments of grief. I know it from having lost a parent at the age of ten.”

“Children are resilient. It’s harder, I think, to lose a parent the age that we are. Well, I mean, I might be a thousand years older than you all, but I found that really moving. I thought for him as a man to be curled up like a young boy. And I’ve had a lot of friends recently lose a parent, and whether you’re eighty or eight and you lose a parent, you- you’re always the child, and so I find that scene very moving.”

Having lost my own mother, I found myself relating to Cate Blanchett in a way I never expected.

There’s so much truth in what she said. I’ve been down that road. Little did I know that 4 days after she said those words, we would lose my grandmother and I would watch my Dad deal with the pain of losing a parent.

 Photo Credit: Disney

ON BEING A VILLAIN…

But despite the serious moments during the interview, I had a question to ask. I wanted to know just how much fun it was to play a Disney villain!

So I asked Cate Blanchett the question!

She responded, “There’s a lot of great Disney villains, and a lot of them are women. They always have fabulous frocks and fabulous hairdos, and so it was an enormous amount of fun. You know, the wonderful message in the film, of course, is to have courage and to be kind. You know, kindness is a super power, and we try to teach our children…you share, you be respectful, you be generous, you be thoughtful, put yourself in someone else’s shoes. And to play someone who can’t do any of those things, to have that as your avatar during the day, was quite fun”.

Photo Credit: Disney

ON THE WICKED STEPMOTHER’S STORY…

One reason I’m in love with this new take on CINDERELLA is that it tells more of a story than what we knew of the original Disney animated version.

In talking about both Cinderella and her wicked stepmother, Cate shared, “They’ve both suffered an incredible amount of hardship and tragedy, and this is a world still like today’s world where a lot of women don’t have agency, don’t have financial independence. And she (stepmother) made a decision really early on that the world is a tough place, and the way to navigate your way through that is to graft yourself onto a man, and that’s what she’s imparting to her children”.

“And the way that the stepmother has dealt with grief and hardship is to close down and to become bitter and jealous and there’s a sense of entitlement. And Cinderella’s experienced those things, but she’s remained open-hearted and good. She’s much more glass half full. And I think that whether you’re a man or a woman, you know that tragedy does define- can define your character. So hopefully you don’t like what the stepmother does, but hopefully you understand her”.

Photo Credit: Disney

ON THE END OF THE MOVIE…

One little snippet I garnered into how important the overall movie is to Cate as an actress was found when she talked about the final line of the movie. It’s a scene in which the wicked stepmother is in, but not one in which she speaks.

Cate shared, “It was really important to me, and it wasn’t the case when I first read the script, that Cinderella had the final line of the film”.

In that last scene, Cinderella basically says “If this relationship is gonna work, he has to accept me for who I am (referring to the Prince)”, which Cate loved for young girls.

But Cate shared, “And then there was a line at the end where he said, shall we go, and she didn’t say anything. And I thought, it’s not his story- it’s her story. And so then we added in this sense of forgiveness. I feel like that’s a wonderful kind of conclusion”.

 Photo Credit: Disney

ON HER ICONIC EVIL LAUGH IN THE FILM…

I think we all were wondering how Cate Blanchett came up with the laugh. Cate stated, “Well, I was mucking around with a friend of mine on set and we were talking about what makes people ugly. I said, it’s interesting, you can go out with somebody and think, oh my gosh, you’re so attractive, and then he or she eats, and you think, oh my god, you’re a pig. Or someone is amazing and you think, your politics are reprehensible, or there’s something about them will give them away, and we were talking about dirty laughs”.

“And so I just did it, and she laughed. And then we were at the gambling scene, I think, I laughed, and Ken’s face was so revolted. He was really worried. He said, you’re not gonna do that, are you? And I said, oh yes I am. So I think his reaction made me wanna keep it. And she’s got exquisite dresses, perfect makeup, and then she opens her mouth and that comes out. And so I thought that that was a bit of a red flag about what was to come”.

Photo Credit: Louise Manning Bishop of MomStart.com

While Cate Blanchett was certainly not in every scene, her role as the wicked stepmother is iconic. It was such a pleasure getting to sit down with her and learn more about her professionally and personally.

Though she did not announce it to us that day, later in the week it was confirmed that the mother of 3 boys had happily adopted a baby girl with her husband. No wonder she seemed in amazing spirits. Successful career, new baby and an blockbuster movie releasing this week. Many blessings!

And if you haven’t had a sneak peek yet…..

CINDERELLA opens in theaters everywhere on March 13th!

 

More Cinderella World Premiere posts coming this week, including my movie review, interviews with cast and more!

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Read all my Cinderella World Premiere Press Trip Blog Posts here.