Instyle UK January 2005

A Twist of Cate

Back in her native Australia, Cate Blanchett reveals why she'd rather be belly dancing or building sand castles than partying with the A-list.

By Tammy Perry. Photography by David Gubert.

It's Sunday evening and, at a time when most people are curled up with a hot drink and a good video, Cate Blanchett is at her Sydney waterside apartment, talking about her new movie, the glamorous Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator. It's a generous gesture for a star who doesn't need the publicity -- especially as the 35-year-old Australian is officially on holiday, taking a week's break before the start of filming indie movie Little Fish first thing tomorrow.

But then again Blanchett, by her own admission, is a multi-tasker. "I'm always doing two things at once," she says. "I think it's even why I prefer running a bath to taking a shower -- you can do it while you're cooking or talking on the phone and know you're relaxing at the same time. There are too many great things to do in this life, so you have to squeeze it all in somehow."

Blanchett is bright, beautiful and certainly not the ice maiden that she is often portrayed as being. She hums with energy, good humour and a pragmatic attitude to living life to the full. Our conversation bounces from her love of belly dancing to Ingmar Bergman movies, via the joys of a whirlwind romance and Peter Stringfellow -- or "That long-haired 80-year-old man with that club," as she describe him. "I'd see him all the time in The Ivy, or sloping around when I'd be on my way to the Albery theatere [where she starred in David Hare's Plenty in 1999]," she laughs. "Let me stress that I have never actually been to Stringfellows!"

Talking Stringfellows with Blanchett is something of a turn-up for the books, but it's obvious that this unpretentious view of life has allowed her to pull off that rarest of tricks -- a balance between the glamorous A-list whirl and a happy family life with scriptwriter husband Andrew Upton, sons Dashiell, three, and Roman, eight months. But it's not easy, as Blanchett realized while preparing for her role as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator.

"Interestingly, Katharine Hepburn was a firm believer that you can't have it all," says Blanchett. "I saw a TV interview with her and she was very clear that you can't have the career, the fame and the private life. I think that's why she threw herself into her relationship with Spencer Tracy -- she finally thought, 'I can have a life.' It was either fame or private life, not both."

But for the Australian actress, it's a different story. "Actually, I don't feel as if anything has been sacrificed," she says. "But if you want to seek the limelight 24 hours a day, then I think you do have to give up some parts of your personal life. And I don't really want to do that."

She definitely leads a more down-to-earth existence than many of her A-list peers. Her week off was not spent at some rarified spa, but at an Aussie beach resort with her family. "It was great," she says, "Lots of screaming kids going 'I'm naked, I'm naked!' I had to run after them at the speed of sound, so it wasn't so much a relaxing holiday as an exercising one, but it was fantastic."

The bucket and spades are a far cry from the catwalks and photoshoots of Blanchett's other persona 00 the face of Donna Kara. But while she "loves clothes" Blanchett refuses to take the red carpet or front row any more seriously than she does the star system of Hollywood.

"The Donna Karan thing came around really simply," she beams. "I'd met Donna off and on and they approached me just as I had finished doing The Missing, where I was dressed like a cowboy. I thought, 'I would really like to do this,'" But ask her if she's excited about the free clothes, she just laughs. "I get a few," she says. "'Free clothes' -- you make it sound like something you get with supermarket tokens!"

It's perhaps because Blanchett is so un-luvvie in real life that she sounds almost hurt by the implication that she is serious, even glacial. "Is that what interviews say?" she asks before shrugging it off. "Oh, it's not important. The problem with interviews is that youg et typecast."

"Of course," she adds, playfully, "Who I am in an interview depends if you talk to me after I've come back from the accountant's or after I've met John Cusack [her co-star in Mike Newell's 1999 drama, Pushing Tin] in the hall and I'm terribly excited."

Oscar and Lucinda director Gillian Armstrong and friend Geoffrey Rush both attest to her warmth and humour. "She has this great sense of fun," says Armstrong. "Totally down to earth," confirms Rush. A further sign that Blanchett does not take herself entirely seriously is her attitude towards her awards and mementos. The crew of The Lord of the Rings gave her a pair of bronze elf ears, fashioned from the prosthetic pair she wore in the movie. "I'm not quite sure where they are now, but they were definitely on the mantelpiece at some point, " she says. While awards, like her Golden Globe and Bafta for Elizabeth, are in the baby's room. "I thought they might be interesting for a child to look at rather than as a shrine to Mummy!"

Her refreshing outlook doesn't stop with awards. She takes the bus, and used to attend her local yoga and belly-dancing classes. "I loved the other women in the dancing class," she says. "They reminded me of when I went to Turkey during my studies an I ended up in this bath-house on the Syrian border -- it was full of alabaster-skinned, voluptuous women, so cool."

She's since given up the dancing, but does still like to fill her free time with hobbies. "I never thought of myself as easily bored, but maybe I am," she smiles. "I got very physical playing Hepburn because she was such an athlete. I took up tennis gain and started playing golf. My husband even bought me a set of clubs last Christmas - although they haven't been used since," she admits. "Well, it was winter then I got pregnant. " she laughs again. "Andrew and I will have to join a golf club when we get back to England."

Blanchett credits fellow Australian Upton for keeping her grounded and says that the roller coaster of fame would have been a different journey without him by her side. "It's amazing to share the fun but at the same time have someone there to go, 'oh don't worry about all that stuff."

The pair met in 1996 through friends, then got together a year later, flying from first kiss to wedding in a matter of weeks. "If you think about these things too long, you never get round to it. People are terrified about being wrong, but you have t have faith," she says.

Right now, the dynamics of the relationship are changing, as they do fro any couple when babies arrive. "When you don't marry to have children but because you are in love, it is a concern bringing babies into the world, " she remarks. "But having kids brings this enormous capacity to have fun as a family. I see a different side to my husband and he sees a different side to me -- sometimes favourable, sometimes not." She grins. "It's anew chapter, but there is a challenge to make space for the two of you."

Further change is afoot as Blanchett hints at a movie from their UK home in Brighton to become permanently based in Sydney,. The family has been living in Australia since the summer while Blanchett played the lead in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler at The Wharf theatre. Spending six months near extended family has changed her perspective. "You see your children with their relatives and you think, ' We can't deny them this. ' Andrew and I love living overseas and moving around, and it's exciting for very young children, but as they grow older, we'll have to make a choice. We're coming back to Britain soon, but I think we'll wind our way back to Australia."

Tonight, however, she has the evening to herself. Upton is away working and she things she may catch up with a friend or read a book. She's a voracious reader 9her current passion is Jon Krakauer) and has been listening to a lot of Schubert, too. Despite having two young children, she's yet to succumb to Scooby-Doo movies on loop.

"Fortunately, we've avoided all that stuff so far," she smiles. "When Dash was beginning to look at the world, Joe Strummer died, so we were listening to a lot of The Clash. Andrew was great taste in music, but I've tried to explain that we can't listen to Iggy Pop at 6:30 in the morning. I suspect the situation will get even worse now Dash has worked out how to turn on the stereo!"

Dash has become a fan of The Wiggles (an Australian children's TV series) and the family recently went to see them perform. "This shows the paucity of our input culturally, " she laughs. "Me and Andrew now have conversations analyzing the dynamics of the Wiggles. We're really keen to meet them 0-- and the Teletubbies."

She stops, catching herself gushing. "There were days when we'd go see Gorky and Shakespeare and have these dense, textual conversations. Now we talk Teletubbies!"

The Aviator is released on 31 December