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The First Thing Is To Accept That Theater Is An Unknown. If You Go To A Concert, You Know The Music. If You Go To An Art Show, You Can Literally See The Art On Your Phone Before You See It In Person. But With Theater, Often Times People Aren't Prepared To Take Risks, Even Though That's Exactly What's Great About It.

-Cate Blanchett

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The First Thing Is

Cate Blanchett

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The First Thing Is To Accept That Theater Is An Unknown. If You Go To A Concert, You Know The Music. If You Go To An Art Show, You Can Literally See The Art On Your Phone Before You See It In Person. But With Theater, Often Times People Aren't Prepared To Take Risks, Even Though That's Exactly What's Great About It.

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Everyday Routine

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The First Thing Is To Accept That Theater Is An Unknown. If You Go To A Concert, You Know The Music. If You Go To An Art Show, You Can Literally See The Art On Your Phone Before You See It In Person. But With Theater, Often Times People Aren't Prepared To Take Risks, Even Though That's Exactly What's Great About It.

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I Discovered Early On That Some Performers Live Their Life In Order To Act, So All Their Relationships Are Simply An Experience That They Can Feed Back Into Their Work. Which I Find Vampiric.

Yaron Has Elevated The Way Australia Perceives Circus, Both Nationally And Internationally ... I Mean Remarkable.

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I Think You Need To Have A Healthy Sense Of Doubt Because I Think Doubt Leads To Inquiry.

I Went Through A Mod And Goth-phase When I Decided That I Wouldn't Ever Be The Bronzed Beach-bunny. I Started Going As Pale As I Possibly Could.

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If You Over Plan New Year's Eve It's Going To Be A Disaster So You Have To Be Alive To Changes.

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I Couldn't Possibly Have Played Someone With Feelings Towards A Woman Unless I Had Those Feelings Myself.

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When Something Is A Vocation, You Don't Really Make A Decision About It.

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Creative Juices

People Love Events - They Love Performances, They Love Music - And I Think Australians Are Great Entertainers.

I'm Not Particularly Interested In Playing Characters That Think The Way I Do.

I've Reprised Roles In The Theatre, Which Is Somehow More Accepted, And Where One Can Automatically Go Deeper And Further Into The Role.

I Think At The Prospect Of Bringing Children Into The World, Your Mortality Comes Very Much To The Forefront, Absolutely.

The Great Thing About Theater Is That When It's Great, You'll Remember It For The Rest Of Your Life. But If You Go See Ten Shows, You'll Only Get Five - If You're Lucky - That'll Give You That Experience. But The Rest, At The Very Least, Will Be Interesting.

Rest Of Your Life

You Do Get Scrutinized In The Digital Age. You Know They're Zooming In On Every Pore, Which You've Got To Forget About.

I'm So Misunderstood!

If You Know You Are Going To Fail, Then Fail Gloriously.

Lazy Thinking Is Not Creative Or Productive.

There's Not A Long, Entrenched Tradition Of Theatergoing In Australia.

All Cities Do Face Similar, Significant Trends In The Future... Most Importantly Global Warming And Climate Change.

I Feel Like I've Been Marinated In Australian Theatre.

You Learn An Enormous Lot Through Failure.

Every Director Works Differently.

I've Got A Funny Old Face. Someone Described It Once, And I Think They Were Being Kind, As Character. But I Know What They Mean! I've Never Been That Conventional. I Suppose Maybe It Means That My Face Can Look Different In Different Lights, So I Just Try And Sort Of Keep It Simple When I'm Going Out, To Still Look Like Me.

I'm Of The Opinion That It's Okay To Be Silent, To Not Speak If You Don't Have Anything To Say.

When You're A Performer, Of Course You Want An Audience, But It's Very, Very Different From Courting Fame.

Oftentimes You Walk On Set And Then Suddenly You're In Bed With Someone Who You've Never Met Before.

I Love Those Moments On Stage, On Screen And In Life When You Dispense With Language, When You Sort Of Transcend It In A Way, And Certainly The Experience Of Falling In Love, I Think, Defies Words, Which Is Why Poets, Painters, Musicians, Actors Have Tried To Describe That Feeling, Writers Have Just Tried To Put Words To That.

Falling In Love

I Have The Embarrassing Thing Where Often If You're Watching A Film, You Kind Of Go Through The Emotions And The Thought Stages That Your Character Went Through, But You Sort Of Do It With Tourette's. So I End Up Often Crying When I'm Crying, And Looking Angry When I'm Looking Angry, So It's Pretty Ugly.

If You Only Exercise Your Soloist Muscles, The Other Muscles Quickly Atrophy.

I Remember When I Was 26. My Father Died When I Was Young And My Mother Didn't Have A Lot Of Money, So I Thought, 'i Want To Own A Flat By The Time I'm 26.' So I Worked Towards That, Literally Trying To Scrimp And Save. But Sometimes Those Plans Don't Go As You Expect.

That's Definitely True! It Was Before My Father Died, So I Can't Attribute It To An Obsession With Death. When I Was Seven, I Loved Those Old Sherlock Holmes Movies With Basil Rathbone. The Scarlet Claw Was One Of My Faves. And I Loved All The Halloween's And That Film About The Haunted House... Burnt Offerings, With Oliver Reed. Every Birthday Party Was A Slumber Party And We'd Watch Horror Films.

It Seems Like People Increasingly Just Can't Be By Themselves Because They're So Used To Having An Epicenter On The Internet That Actually Exists For Other People. Until Someone Clicks Onto Your Facebook Page, It Doesn't Mean Anything.

I Don't Tell The Truth, I Tell What Ought To Be The Truth.

Telling The Truth

I Think Marriage Is All About Timing. Getting Married Is Insanity; I Mean, It's A Risk - Who Knows If You're Going To Be Together Forever? But You Both Say, 'we're Going To Take This Chance, In The Same Spirit.

I Think We Should Stop Drinking Bottled Water. There's No Need To Be Drinking It If You're Living In Western Communities.

Film Just Chews Up Actors Like Nobody's Business, And I'm Not Particularly Interested In Being Chewed Up. I Think The Camera Can Only Look At Somebody's Face For So Long. I Guess You Have To Accept The Roles You Think Are Right At The Time. You Can Build A Career, But These Days There Doesn't Seem To Be That Much Interest In People Being Actors.

Personally, I Prefer To Play Against The Look: If A Character Appears Particularly Unhinged, With Makeup Running Down Her Face, I Like To Play Her As If She Has It Together. I Think That Juxtaposition Makes It So Much More Interesting.

I Think Probably Winning These Things [an Oscar] Can Be A Bit Of A Curse Depending On Who You Are And How You Think. But I Haven't Been On A Journey To Get Anywhere In Particular, So That Hasn't Changed. And My Criteria For Choosing Projects Hasn't Changed.

To Become A Painter Or A Sculptor Or A Graphic Designer Is Quite An Isolated Way To Spend Your Life.

It Was Fantastic To Be Able To Have My Kids On Set. Dash, My Eldest Son, Who’s Not Quite Five, Was Into Knights And His Godmother Had Given Him A Plastic Marks & Spencer Knights’ Outfit And [first Assistant Director] Tommy Gormley Said That He Could Stand To Protect Me During The Scene Where Clive [owen] Is Talking About The Immensity Of Sitting On The Throne. I’m Actually Looking Through An Archway At My Son Standing In His Knights’ Costume Protecting Me!

I'm Incredibly Lucky That My Profession Allows Me To Be Where I Choose, Really.

I'm Always Without Sleep. I've Got Two Kids. I Understand Sleep Deprivation On A Profound Level.

I Look At Someone's Face And I See The Work Before I See The Person. I Personally Don't Think People Look Better When They Do It; They Just Look Different.

I Think Most Beauty Tips That Work And Last Are Kind Of Old.

I Think The Downside Of The Internet Is That Speaking-or Writing-has Become The Point In And Of Itself.

You Have To Surrender Less When You See A Film Than When You Go And See Something Live.

I Could Do A Thousand Films That Are Easy For Me To Do-that's If I Don't Fall In The Next Year, Because Everyone's About To Fall. What's So Funny Is You Look At All Us Young Guys And We're Already Thinking, Well, I'm Going To Branch Out Into Directing, And It's All Going To Be This And That.

What You're Trying To Do As An Actor Is Somehow Trick Yourself Into Believing That These Words Have Never Been Said, And So You've Got To Discover Them For The First Time.

I've An Enormous Respect For My Mother Who At The Age Of 39 Raised Three Children, And I Grew Up With My Grandmother In The Household. And So It Was A Really Strong Household Of Women - My Poor Brother! It Was Great Growing Up With So Many Generations Of Women.

The Word 'circumnavigate' Is Quite A Beautiful Word.

Beautiful Words

Being On Stage A Lot Is Quite Physical.

I'm Scared Of Actors With A Scheme.

We're Growing Up With A Very Illiterate Bunch Of Children Who Have Somehow Been Taught That Film Is Fact When, In Fact, It's Invention. Hopefully, An Historical Film Will Inspire People To Go And Read About The History But In The End It Is A Work Of Fiction And Selection. As For The Armour Itself, No It Wasn't Particularly Comfortable.

Becoming Artistic Directors Is An Enormous Responsibility And Not One That We Take Lightly.

Things Present Themselves To You, And It's How You Choose To Deal With Them That Reveals Who You Are. We All Say A Lot Of Things, Don't We, About Who We Are And How We Think. But In The End It's Your Actions, How You Respond To Circumstance That Reveals Your Character.

My Dreams Tend To Be Like Dog Dreams. I'm Usually So Tired That I Hardly Dream At All. In A Way, I Do Think That The Zone One Performs In - Without Getting Too Ooga-booga About It - It's Like That Moment When You Wake Up In The Morning And You're Emerging From A Dream State But You're Not Quite Up. Where Are You? Can You Hear The Birds? Or Is That The Traffic? It's That Zone In Which I Perform. It’s Like One Foot In Reality And One Foot In A Dream State. I Spend Most Of My Life In That State!

Some Days I'm Very Lazy, And Some Days I'm More Inspired. I've Got Things I've Had Since I Was Fifteen - I Don't Throw Anything Away. I Prefer To Give It To A Friend So I Can Wear It Again...the Way I Dress Doesn't Necessarily Have To Do With Fashion, Or What Is Current, Or What Is In Right Now, It's More About Rediscovering Things.

I Was But Three When He Passed By, But I Shall Be Grateful Until The Day I Die.

I Just Don't See Myself As The Heroine In My Own Narrative.

I Am The Age That I Am And I Am Trying To Do The Best With What I Got.

I'm A Horrible Person. And It's Just Coming Out In My Work.

Horrible Person

You Don't Fully Understand The Meaning Of A Work Until The Audience Responds To It. Because The Audience Completes The Circle, And Adds A Whole Other Shade Of Meaning. Whenever You View Something, And This Is Why Great Works Of Art Survive Decades And Centuries, Is Because There's A Door Within The Work That Allows The Audience To Walk Through And Complete The Meaning Of The Work. An Audience Isn't Passive, Nor Are They Unintelligent.

Onscreen, Babies And Animals Are My Inspiration. They're So Alive And There And Not Messed Up In The Head The Way I Am.

Theater Is A Space Where You Cross Over From Everyday Life, Because There Are Real People In That Moment Moving In Front Of You-you're Being Invited To Believe In A Story And Cross That Bridge.

I'm Partial To A Nice Cup Of Vodka. I Normally Just Drink It Really Simple With A Little Bit Of Lemon.

If You Know Why Someone Is Doing What They're Doing, Why They're Behaving The Way They Are, Then That's Your Job To Reveal That, And Often That's Situational. The Storytelling Does That, And Then Some Of It's Your Job As An Actor To Make That Subtext Come To Life.

Violence And Racism Are Bad. Whenever They Occur They Are To Be Condemned And We Should Not Turn A Blind Eye To Them.

I Much Prefer A Natural Approach To Beauty. You Know, Coco Chanel Always Said To Take One Thing Off Before You Leave The House, And I Think That Also Applies To Makeup.

Theater Is All About Foyers And Conversation And Digesting What You've Seen.

Audiences Want To See Them, And In Fact, They Earn Money. The World Is Round, People.

Of Course One Worries About Getting Older - We're All Fearful Of Death, Let's Not Kid Ourselves. I'm Simply Not Panicking As My Laugh Lines Grow Deeper. Who Wants A Face With No History, No Sense Of Humor?

In The Current Climate, Things That Are True, Brave Human Stories Become Political.

You Can't Really Achieve Anything In Three Years.

Look, It's One Of The Great Mysteries Of The World, I Cannot Answer That Question. I Think I'm Vaguely Blonde. To Be Perfectly Frank, I Don't Know.

If You Age With Somebody, You Go Through So Many Roles - You're Lovers, Friends, Enemies, Colleagues, Strangers; You're Brother And Sister. That's What Intimacy Is, If You're With Your Soulmate.

If You Think About Audrey Hepburn, I Think She Became More Beautiful When She Stopped Being An Actress And Started Working With Humanitarian Campaigns. The More Engaged You Can Become The More You Can Shed Your Self-consciousness.

I Don't Think About Being Beautiful Or Not Being Beautiful. ... It's More About Feeling Confident Inside Your Own Skin Really And Thinking About Yourself As Little As Possible.

Thinking About You

My Husband Keeps Me Really Honest.

I Think That's What I Love About My Life. There's No Maniacal Master Plan. It's Just Unfolding Before Me.

See The Opportunity In The Misstep.

I Think The Terrifying Thing Is You See All These People Who Go To The Same Cosmetic Surgeon, And They End Up, After A While, Looking Like Everyone.

I Live My Life Parallel With My Work, And They Are Both Equally Important. I'm Always Amazed How Much People Talk About Celebrity And Fame. I Don't Understand The Attraction.

Culture Civilizes Us, And That's Why Every Single Despotic Regime Has Tried To Smash [the Arts].

I Often Have A Few Scents Depending On If I'm Playing A Character. The Character May Be Wearing A Scent That Perhaps I Wouldn't Wear. We've All Got Different Moods And Ways We Want To Express Ourselves; Scent Is A Very Powerful Way To Let People In To Your Secret Life.

Look, I Live In The Modern World As Much As Anyone Else.

I Don't Consciously Think Of How Parenthood Has Changed Me But I'm Sure It Must Have.

When You’ve Had Children, Your Body Changes; There’s History To It. I Like The Evolution Of That History; I’m Fortunate To Be With Somebody Who Likes The Evolution Of That History. I Think It’s Important To Not Eradicate It. I Look At Someone’s Face And I See The Work Before I See The Person... You’re Certainly Not Staving Off The Inevitable. And If You’re Doing It Out Of Fear, That Fear’s Still Going To Be Seen Through Your Eyes. The Windows To Your Soul, They Say.

I Do Tend To Move On Anyway. This Is A Part Of My Life, But It Doesn't Rule My Life.

I Think Often Women Can Feel Isolated And Feel Like They Get Into A Rut And Don't Quite Know How To Get Out Of It.

To Those Who Voted For Me, Thank You. And To Those Who Didn't, Better Luck Next Year!

It's Important To Travel And Move And Have A Continual Set Of Experiences So You've Got More To Feed Back Into Your Work. For Me, It's A Natural Thing.

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