Happy Sad Confused - Cate Blanchett

Episode Date: April 15, 2020

She's been on the "Happy Sad Confused" bucket list for some time and finally we're thrilled to say Cate Blanchett is on the show! The two time Oscar winner joins Josh to discuss her amazing performance in the new FX on Hulu series, "Mrs. America" plus her favorite comfort movie, Bi Gan's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit RBC.com slash Ion Cards. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, Kate Blanchett on her new series, Mrs. America, and her comfort movie, Long Day's Journey, In Tonight. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. So excited to be back with you.

so excited to have two-time Oscar winner, Kate Blanchett, on the show for the very first time talking about not only her comfort movie, but a great new series on Hulu. It's a great conversation. I know you guys are going to enjoy. Also joining me today on the intro, two-time Oscar winner herself. How many Oscars have you won, Sammy, again? Remind me? Eleven. Eleven Oscars. I don't like to talk about it, but you brought it up. No, that's fair. That's fair. They're all for your performance in Lockheed, the after-hours. It's all for different after-hours performances, yeah. It's nice for you to mention it because you've always been salty that you were never even nominated or mentioned, but I appreciate the support. I'm above the awards thing. Yeah. But I am excited that we have some awards glory in the personage of Kate Blanchard, who, as I said, has never been on the show before.

She's always been on my list. She's like a real movie star. I know. I don't know what she's doing, slumming on my silly little show. Oh, my God. I'm thrilled it happened now, even in these words circumstances. Of course, we didn't meet in person, but this was a conversation with Kate in her home in London, and I was telling you this before, Sammy, I want you all to visualize this.

Kate Blanchett, not only talking to me through the wonders of modern technology, but talking to me through her teenage child's gaming headset. That was the only headset and microphone she had. So that is the image I want you to picture for the next 30 minutes as I chat with two-time Oscar winner, Kate Blanchett. I wonder if this was streaming on Twitch, too. Yeah, we did a few TikToks at the end of this, too. So to contextualize a couple things to mention, we're talking a little bit towards the end about this great new mini-series using called Mrs. America in which Kate plays Phyllis Schlafly, who is this conservative thought leader. through the 70s, 80s, 80s, up until her death in recent years.

And this series is fantastic. It stars Kate and Rose Byrne and Margot Martindale and Melanie Lewinsky and Sarah Paulson, basically all the cool actresses today are in this. Yeah, all the good ones. All the good ones. And all the best ones. And they're fantastic. And it's truly like a document, a story of this fascinating time in the 70s when these women

kind of came to blows over the equal rights. Rights Amendment. And it's a story that I knew kind of like the broad strokes of, but to see the intricacies of it and to see these character portraits and being done by the best actors alive was fascinating. So I highly recommend this series. It's on Hulu, on FX. Check it out. It's called Mrs. America. Can you share these with me? It really pisses me off that you get to watch all of these good things and I have to watch it with the rest of the world and then when I try to talk to you about them you're like I watched it three months ago I'm already on to next year's Oscar movies you turned me onto something that I haven't seen I hadn't seen unorthodox and you told me to watch

that yes it's so good you're so easily distracted it's so I can turn you so quick you did something good Oh, tell me. Yes, I'm halfway through Unorthodox. This is Sammy Heller's pick of the week, four episodes on Netflix. And it's kind of fascinating. It's pretty good. It is. And you know what I'm going to say, I told you this.

Yeah. Everyone should watch this series because it's a look into a world that not many people know about that I certainly don't know about. And they do a making of, like a 22-minute making of an Orthodox on Netflix. That is amazing. It just shows costume designers and production designers and people who are so creative and talented in how they made this world real. And it's great.

What's the most important behind the scenes thing that you learned? That a lot of those guys without their big beards and yarmacos on are hunks. There are very hot men in this series. And you get to see them without all their costumes and makeup on. and then you can look them up on Instagram and it's like it got me through like four days of the pandemic is stalking these German

and Yiddish-speaking hunks. Do you think we should release the 22-minute behind the scenes of the making of Havisat Confused? Yeah, this one would be long. This one would just be basically be about how we recorded the intro before and I fucked it up. This one would be really long. because you've had about an hour of technical difficulties now.

So if we don't sound so enthused right now, it's because we've already had this conversation. This is all scripted. Okay, a couple other quick notes. Kate Blanchett, of course, we're now changing the focus of Happy Second Feast to make it about comfort movies. So the big conversation in this one

is about her comfort movie. And unlike the recent episodes where we did things like Hook and Clue, these films that I think all of us collectively loved as kids, Kate kind of went highbrow and chose something from the last couple of years. It's a Chinese film. Classy Kate. I would expect nothing less.

This film is called Long Day's Journey Into Night. If you have not checked it out, as I hadn't, before Kate recommended it, I highly recommend it. It's available on various streaming platforms. You can look it up. I think I watched it actually on YouTube. I made the big purchase. And it's a gorgeous movie.

The movie, it's really less about plot and more about mood and the visuals. The movie ends the last hour of the movie, is one continuous shot. It's amazing, yeah. And I don't know if it's like 1917 where they stitch things together. It might be real. I don't even know.

I was going to say, eat that, 1917. Seriously, it's a throwdown. So that's the big conversation with Kate, and it's fascinating to hear an actor that I respect so much talk about a movie that moved her so much. Did you feel stupid? Always. Asking her, did you like sleepless in Seattle or you've got mail better?

Did you like Pitch Black or The Chronicles of Riddick Moore? I wonder if she's ever met Vin Diesel. Oh, my God. That should be a question you ask everyone on your podcast. First thing first. Have you met Vin? Okay, well, anyway, that's the main event today. Check it out.

This is my conversation with Kate Blanchett. Yes, talking to her in London on a headset. Oh, and here's my other note. technical difficulties speaking of technical difficulties i lost my connection with kate literally no less than eight times so there might be some kind of audio stitching here i'm going to do the best i can in the edit to make it as seamless as possible i might interject and say oh we're back whatever but bear with us it's kate blanchett guys two-time oscar winner take what you can get right worth it yeah here's my chat with kate blanchett i just want to say this is not the way i i

necessarily wanted Kate Blanchett to join the happy, sad, confused podcast, but I will take what I can get under these extraordinary circumstances. Kate, thank you so much for spending a little time today. Oh, thank you for distracting me from the world around me. Yeah, that's what we're all, I think, experiencing, right, like trying to focus on any kind of work, any kind of outside distractions, any kind of entertainment. Look, I think, I think that's the word, isn't it? You just said trying. I can trying to think, trying to read, trying to be present, trying not to worry, trying to plan. You know, it's, yeah, but also, you know, just having to practice kindness, I think. Exactly, exactly. There's some, I keep saying there's some small silver linings in

this horrific situation that we're seeing, like, I'm here in New York and, like, you know, every night at the 7 o'clock, we're hearing, like, everybody just clap for the healthcare workers and rally around them. That's it. Yeah. They're our gods. Truly. I assume you're back home in Australia. Are you guys on lockdown over there? No, no, no, no. I'm, um, we're in England. Oh, I didn't want. Okay. Yes. So some of my extended families over there and it's, you know, like everybody, it's hard to be separated from people at moment, but no, we're in the UK. So in terms of distractions right now, who is controlling the remote in the Blanchett household? Are you all lying for it? Really? Actually, actually, no, no, we've, fortunately, my, you know,

my son is a, a cinephile, so he has great taste. So we watch my comfort movie, actually the other night. Oh, nice. But, yeah, but which he actually put me on to. But no, no, no, I've actually completely commandeered all of the devices. I've actually got my son's PlayStation headset on right now.

I've stolen it. So they're outside playing football. Fantastic. So yeah, so I, as people that listen to the podcast now in recent weeks, I've sort of converted this podcast into talking about comfort movies, movies that can give us, you know, these brief

distractions as we were just talking about. And I was really intrigued when I heard your comfort movie. This is actually the first of the ones that we've done that I sadly had not seen. I'd heard all about it. I'd heard the great word on the street about this. Kate, would you reveal what your comfort movie is and I guess why you chose it in brief? Well, it began film Long Day's Journey in Tonight. And for me, I mean, I'm a huge Tarkovsky fan and an enormous fan of Chantelle Ackerman and

Mankar Wai. And it's like he ingested all of that, those filmmaking reference points and then regurgitated up something of exquisite, painful beauty that, you know, it's so complex and layered and engrossing. You know, it's about love and memory and time, which I think we're all thinking about at the moment, and place, which we're all thinking about at the moment. But it's strangely meditative and obviously dreamlike.

and profoundly relaxing. And so it's one of those films, even though it's relatively recent, because I was thinking, oh, you know, should, would I say a stalker? But then I thought, no, no, it's this one, because it sort of contains all of those things, I think. Yeah, and I was, I really enjoyed watching it

for the first time last evening. And it is a film you can really find yourself immersed in, particularly in the second half, which we can get into, which is this amazing spectacle and this really extraordinary, bit of filmmaking. Where did you first encounter this? Am I right in that you were at Cannes when this film premiered? Was this when you were the jury president? Yes, yes. So, of course, I was in the main competition, which is, you know, 24-7 immersing yourself in just those

films. And so I obviously kept abreast of what was in a certain regard, but it was out of Cannes that I heard about it. And for me, it's such a synthesis of my, you know, love of theatre, you know, being present in those long, slow takes, often that are about, I don't know, it deals with prismatic meaning. And I often think that, you know, film can be, you know, I've always been, sometimes can be such a literal medium. But when you encounter a film like this, you realize that it doesn't have to exist on that. You're saying that you watched it, but I actually allowed to wash over me.

And I think because we're so obsessed in the world in which you live where everything has to make sense. Right. And we grasp hold of a narrative and it just doesn't allow you to, it takes away all of those security footholds. And so, yeah, it really slows your blood. But that's where I heard about it, yeah. I do think it is one of those things where, yes, the more you allow yourself to give yourself to the film and not sort of like, as you say, like as the film started, I thought it was one thing. You know, it's a film noir that sort of seems like really an intriguing. It almost starts like a typical, not typical, but like any great film noir with a great mystery, you know,

it doesn't get any more mysterious and noir than like a mysterious phone number hidden in a photograph. Well, yes, and you think it's going to go there. Right. But then it steps completely sideways and then falls down this rabbit hole. So, yeah. It reminded me a bit. I mean, you talk about, I mean, it's a little Lynchian in a way, a little David Lynchian, I think of his films

that aren't necessarily, you know, if you adhere to the plot, great, that works. But it's really about the experience and about some more existential pleasures that you can derive from it than necessarily describing a plot. Yeah, well, it's so much about memory and current time. It's so layered and interwoven. But it's like in a way that Lynch provides you with those sort of signifiers where, you know, you say, oh, I can sit comfortably.

I know what period of time I'm in. And then all of a sudden you're in, you see an analogue telephone. And so he's constantly playing with your, with your, sort of your sense of your comfort levels with even knowing on a base level in what room you're existing or in what, you know, it can be parallel time frames. It's like, you know, the wonderful writings of Jeanette Winters. where she can literally have parallel realities, you know, cohabiting. And so that's, you know, if you watch this two, three, four, five times, each time you get something, you're confronted with the limitations of your own imagination, I think, in a lot of ways, which I've, so it's like, I guess, I still get it's on my bookshelf

and I still haven't read it, and maybe, as you say, there's one opportunity to try and read it now. But if you, if you, my husband's always said to me, if you read Proust, you can actually ingest in a far deeper way so many other writers because your brain has been exercised to such a degree that you're capable of being a far better reader and I feel in a way by watching big Anne's films you you do become a better viewer a more adept viewer yeah yeah I'm not that it's an education I mean well you know we'll betide that the film is ever an education it's it's very different experience but I mean that is one I had that experience one time I watched it. So some informational stuff for the folks that are listening at home. I mean,

thankfully, as with most films nowadays, you're able to watch it in the comfort of your home. It's available on YouTube and Amazon Prime. I'm going to read the official summary, which, again, doesn't really necessarily... Oh, sorry, I went straight to the existential. I didn't... No, no, no, but that's really the most important part. But I think it's better to orient our audience. Don't go in for the plot, go in for the experience. But from a plot perspective, and I'm going to butcher some of the names, I apologize in advance. The film Chronicles, return of Lao Hongwu to Cali, the hometown from which he fled many years before. Back for his father's funeral, Liao recalls the death of an old friend, wildcat, and searches for

his lost love who continues to haunt him. I do also want, so we can't not mention the fact that this film takes an amazing turn in the second half. Yes. The final hour, 59 minutes, I think technically speaking, is one seemingly continuous shot. Yeah, I think it's about 40 minutes. or so, is it? From what I didn't. I lost track of time. I couldn't tell you how long it was, but it was long. It is epic.

Yes, it makes Birdman look like a child's a trifle. Well, not that it is, but yes. No, it's not at all. But, and I don't know if he really did this, or are there masks? You know, he's covering cuts or what. But if you're watching this in a theater, I guess the main character puts on 3D glasses and then the audience member actually put the second half his shot in 3D. in 3D.

When the film begins, quote, unquote. Exactly. So have you, I'm just curious, like, I was growing up, I was always a sucker for these kind of really immersive long shots. I mean, I grew up watching Brian De Palma, who really loved these sort of things. And in recent years, you know, we've obviously seen some really interesting approaches using this technique, whether it's 1917 or Birdman and, et cetera. Have you been, have you shot any of these kind of extended really long takes?

and do those kind of tap into those, that theater blood, those theater instincts? Well, I've worked with David Fincher, so I've been around the kind of 90-odd takers. Yeah, that was when we made Benjamin Button, that was one of the first films, I think, to be made on digital. So this is probably not answering your question, but it was such a, having worked on film primarily, it was so, I felt like I was learning to walk again because I realized how much I'd gotten used to the one to take rhythm where you then cut, you reload, you know, check the gate and then you talk and then you go in for another take. And then you just go on to these rolling takes. So that for me was, I suppose, the closest I've got to that experience. And frankly, working in digital often does feel like not that you're necessarily doing a four-minute long shot.

like this is, which is his draw. Right. You mentioned the director, the filmmaker, began. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Yes, I think so. He's, remarkably, this was his second feature. I know. I think he was 27 or 28 when he made this.

His 12. I mean, he's 12. I mean, come on. Yeah, child genius. You've, I mean, it strikes me. I mean, I look at your filmography, and you, like, many wise actors who have the opportunity, it seems like you picked by filmmaker. It seems like you, you know, whether it's,

Haynes, Soderberg, Fincher, Malik, I mean, Wes Anderson and Spielberg. Literally, you're like going down like the ultimate list of great filmmakers to work with. Most of them had been pretty established, if not Masters, by the time you worked with them. Is it scary for you as an actor to take a risk to go to somebody that's starting out a little bit more in their career? Like, what are you looking for? What's the confidence level going into someone that has a little less experience? It's always about the conversation. in the end.

And I'm, I don't know if I'm necessarily drawn to a particular genre. It's more about being ambushed by the ask. And so when Todd comes to you and says, you know, do you want to play Bob Dylan? You say, well, of course, because that's just the craziest thing that I've ever been asked to do. Totally. And also, likewise, when Enritu said, you know, did I want to be in Babel? and it's a very sort of small contained part of the film. The size of the role is not the important thing.

It's being part of that conversation. And I think there's probably the downside of the more you do is the people think the less you're up for a risk, which is actually sort of contrary to that. But for me, I think the most exciting thing is ping-ponging between not only between those conversations, but between mediums. And so I always like to move between theater and film.

Sure. And perhaps that's why, you know, I like big gowns film so much, is you know, you sense that you're with those people in that time, and that is what has been caught. Even when you mentioned, I mean, even pertaining to your film career, I mean, even if you're working with these established kind of like grates, it's like the good German is a risk. Anything with Fincher is a risk.

Malik is always, you must feel like you're on the edge of something. So these are, I mean, doing mocap. You know, you're clearly somebody that's looking for a challenge and not safe, because who would want that? I mean, you need to. Well, yes, and it's also, you can't, you can't legislate or preordain what's going to work and not work. So everything in the end is an experiment. I mean, you can feel whether the conversation is dead. And it's always when things, when you go into production, and I probably realize it's a little too late in my career,

But if you go into production and everything's sewn up, then you think, oh, there's no reason to make this. It's like it's always those, it's always those sort of the novels with the holes in them and the flaws in them that in a way most right for translation to the or adaptation to the filmic medium because there's room to turn it into a film. Right. or if someone is inspired by a great novel but is inspired by a passage on page 127 and that's all they want to concern themselves with then you know that you've got that person has a directorial eye and a very personal reason for making the film and so it's always a privilege to be part of that that very personal journey with the director i think i'd love if if you'll allow me to move a little bit into your latest project which i was just telling you before mrs america is this

new limited series. It's a nine-part series, FX on Hulu. You know, I did, as we all do nowadays, I binged it. I watched all nine episodes in the last two days, and it was fascinating. Oh, Lord. I'm very sorry. Don't be sorry. This was, again, a great escape. This is a topic I'm very much interested in, but also to see this, I mean, amazing rogues gallery of great actors you've assembled here playing these icons. You, of course, play Phyllis Schlafly. So just the contextualized you know, my and maybe the audience's understanding, and I'm curious like what your knowledge of these people were.

I mean, we obviously have Gloria Steinem, who everybody knows. Betty Ferdane, I knew. Bella Abzug, I'm a New Yorker, so I kind of knew her a little bit. Schlafly, I kind of vaguely knew. This is about the liberation, women's liberation movement of the 70s,

the fight for the ERA, the fight against the ERA. What did that movement, what did that era mean to you? Not necessarily growing up in this environment. as a kid, as a teenager, what was your understanding of this? Well, speaking of surprises, I thought I understood the main players in the Second Way feminism in Women's Liberation Movement. I had no idea of the equal and opposite traditional women's movement

and its self-appointed leader, Phyllis Schlafly. The first I knew about her was when she, this little old lady was trucked out to endorse, Trump. And then all of a sudden he was going to her funeral. And so I was really ambushed by that part of the story and really excited by Davy Waller's pitch that we look at the what was the social revolution of the 70s and the ensuing culture wars through start looking at that through the prism of the traditional women movement, the homemakers, who felt very marginalized by the women's movement. And I think that's what I didn't realize

identifying as a feminist in the kind of late 80s is that the women's movement then was establishment and it was Phyllis with her two failed bids for Congress behind her and just a handful of supporters who were really on the outside. This series comes, you've executive produced this series. This comes after the 2016 election here where, you know, here in the States, we saw a lot of misogyny.

We have a misogynist precedent. Oh, it's not only in your country. I guess I just, it feels very close to home here. I understand. It's a virus of a different kind. This is true, sadly. Did that inform the reason to do this? Did this make this all the more timely for you?

Oh, definitely, definitely. I mean, there's no reason to go back in time and tell a story unless it illuminates in the time in which you're living. And we are living in a backlash right now. I mean, I thought I was living in a backlash in the late 80s and early 90s, but we certainly are now. And in a way, the series, I mean, what unfolds in Mrs. America and the central plot line is really the fight over the Equal Rights Amendment. But the very fact that every single day through the process of developing it and then subsequently shooting it, all of these, what we thought were period concerns of, you know, the abortion, you know, debate and, you know, the fetal heartbeat

ruling came up. Virginia has just ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, making the 38th state to do so. So technically, the Equal Rights Amendment could be passed. The very fact that we're still, the notion of equality is still a politicized notion is astonishing. It felt like Groundhog Day. And so it felt increasingly relevant and important to make it. To have a nuanced discussion about it, I guess, sorry. Yeah, yeah. And not to even mention there are all these random kind of moments that really resonated in different ways. I mean, there's a scene where you're debating on a television show,

and it's clear like the person calls you out for not really having any actual facts. That's just sort of spouting off, and it's like it's a positively Trumpian way of debating. That is his modus operandi is to just. bravado and just an attitude rather than actual facts so yes well it's it's interesting it's it's the way i suppose it's the way a lawyer can think about precedent is if you actually say listen to what phyllis is saying she's and and the whole and her whole criticism of the equal or fear of the equal rights amendment and she did really galvanize a whole um group of women's fear is that she was talking about it uh that this amendment as being a literal that she analyzed it that

literally. So therefore, if men and women are, we're saying that they're the equal, we're saying that they're the same. And if they're the same, then we have to have the same expectations on them physically. So therefore, they're going to be drafted into the military. Our military's already denuded. Therefore, the communists are going to take over. This is a communist plot. Now, somewhere along that chain of argument, there is a logic. It's just that I suppose the feminists were thinking entirely differently, and this is where I, you know, I do empathize with them, is that they were talking about the notion of equality as being embedded into the Constitution, which is an inspirational document from which literal laws get made. But it was

stopped at the gate by, I suppose, how pedantic Phyllis was. And so that she was able to then keep pushing and pushing. For those listening, we've had it some bumps and and bruises along the way because we're struggling with the connection, but I appreciate your patience. No, no, I've been, no, just be honest, Josh. I've been waffling. You've been vaguely falling asleep, and then you've been hitting the cut-off button.

No, you've been hanging up on me over and over. You're like, screw this. Oh, and she just did it again, guys. Oh, my God. That was perfect timing, Kate. That was perfect. That was perfect. Okay.

So, Kate Blanchett, thank you so much for your time. actually meet you in person in New York one of these days, when times are a little better for all of us. Yes, yes, and stay safe and well. You too, congratulations in all honesty. This is a great piece of work and a worthy piece of work to check out next month. Or actually by the time you hear this,

it's probably out on Hulu. Mrs. America, nine parts. Like I said, it is educational, but entertaining and fascinating. And as always, of course, you deliver. David and Goliath. Absolutely, yeah. Yes, and you deliver an exceptional performance

alongside. Oh, it's a great cast. Paulson. I mean, it's, it goes on and on. Yeah, it's a gift. Thank you again, Kay, for your time. Okay. Thank you. Stay well. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person.

I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast. in Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old.

Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where you talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you miss them.

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