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Throughout her nearly three-decade career, Cate Blanchett has portrayed several iconic characters: an ethereal elf in The Lord of the Rings, a thief in Oceans 8, a manipulative psychologist in The Talented Mr. Ripley, a femme fatale in Nightmare Alley, a monarch in Elizabeth, goddess of death Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, and so much more.

But if my memory serves me right, the 55-year-old actress hasn’t had many opportunities to play a character with all guns blazing. That is until she was tapped to play Lilith in Borderlands, the sci-fi action-comedy film helmed by Eli Roth based on the video game series by Gearbox Software.

Sadly, most of the reviews for Borderlands were negative; on Rotten Tomatoes, a website aggregating movie reviews, just 9% of 99 reviewers gave it a good rating.

Cate Blanchett stars as bounty hunter Lilith in the sci-fi action-comedy Borderlands based on the video game series of...

Cate Blanchett Net Worth Explored ( Photo Credit – IMDb )

Cate Blanchett, who ranked eighth on the 2018 Forbes list of the highest-paid actresses in the world, triggered backlash online after describing herself as “Middle class” at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

During a press conference at Cannes, where she premiered her new movie “Rumors,” the “Oceans 8” actress, while discussing her experience with refugee filmmakers, said, “I’m white, I’m privileged, I’m middle class, and I think one can be accused of having a bit of a white savior complex.”

Cate Blanchett, who makes over $7 Million per movie, added, “But to be perfectly honest, my interaction with refugees in the field and also in resettled environments has changed my perspective on the world, and I’m utterly grateful for that.”

Trending Gary Oldman Opens Up On Regrets Playing Sirius Black In ‘Harry Potter’ Film “There Was Such Secrecy…” Nikki Glaser Reveals...

Everybody has to start somewhere. Cate Blanchett — long before her two Oscars and starring roles in film, TV and on stage — had an oddball beginning in showbiz.

On March 28, 1994, Variety mentioned “Police Rescue,” a big-screen version of the hit Aussie TV series, in which she appeared. It’s sometimes listed as her film debut. It’s not.

After studying theater in her native Australia, she traveled; running out of money in Cairo, she worked briefly on the 1990 Egyptian film “Kaboria,” dancing in a party scene (which is visible on YouTube).

Variety wrote about other projects in which she appeared, like the TV series “Heartland” and “Bordertown.” But she was not mentioned by name until the 1996 review of the 51-minute film “Parklands.” Variety critic David Stratton disliked it and said Blanchett had “little to work with,” but he noted that she “is on the road to becoming Australia’s next prominent actress,...

Rich Ting (“Warrior”), Darren Barnet (“Never Have I Ever”) and Keiko Agena (“Better Call Saul”) have been tapped to lead the voice cast for the English-language dub of Netflix’s “The Summit of the Gods,” from César award-winning filmmaker Patrick Imbert.

Based on the acclaimed manga by Jirô Taniguchi and the novel by Baku Yumemakura, “The Summit of the Gods” poses the question, “Were George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine the first men to scale Everest on June 8th, 1924? Only the little Vestpocket Kodak camera they took with them might reveal the truth.”

“The Summit of the Gods” picks up in Kathmandu, 70 years after Mallory and Irvine’s journey, when a young Japanese reporter named Fukamachi Makoto (Barnet) recognizes the camera in the hands of the mysterious Habu Joji (Ting), an outcast climber believed missing for years. As the plot progresses, Fukamachi enters a world of obsessive mountaineers on...

Marta Dusseldorp in ‘Wentworth’ (Photo credit: Sarah Enticknap).

In a world away from A Place to Call Home, Marta Dusseldorp has donned the prison track suit with a guest role in Foxtel’s Wentworth, which resumes shooting this week.

Her character Sheila Bausch, a senior figure in the True Path cult, is on remand, charged with the murder of nine people at the cult’s retreat.

Described as highly intelligent, charismatic and manipulative, Sheila worked as the personal secretary for True Path’s founder Dr Mendel (Brian Vriends).

The Fremantle production re-starts after shutting down on March 23, just before a planned hiatus. The show has the advantage of being shot in its own large building in Melbourne, which has the flexibility of moving scenes set in a small cell to a bigger cell.

Executive producer Jo Porter, who is Fremantle’s director of scripted, said: “We have carefully adjusted our...

For this week's episode of Murtada's new podcast "Sundays with Cate," I've finally joined in as a special guest. I told him I wanted one of her obscure movies and though my preference was the total oddity The Man Who Cried (2000) which no one ever discusses and which is quite discussable (trust) it is hard to find these days. So we did Paradise Road (1997) instead. This is the movie Dame Blanchett made right before Elizabeth which would of course change everything. 

In the mid 90s she was but one of many rising actresses Hollywood was curious about but not yet besotted with... would this young Aussie deliver? The answer was "and how!" but time hadn't yet provided that spoiler alert. 

Listen in!

Marta Dusseldorp, Glenn Gainor, Alex Dimitriades and Ben Young will join chair Rachel Ward on the jury which will determine the winner of this year’s $100,000 CinefestOz Film Prize.

Owen Trevor’s Go!, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure will compete for Australia’s biggest film prize.

“The quality of this year’s Film Prize finalists is exceptionally high and we are delighted to have a jury of equal calibre to decide on the winner,” CinefestOZ chair Helen Shervington said.

Dimitriades made his acting debut in Michael Jenkins’ The Heartbreak Kid followed by Ana Kokkinos’ Head On. Other film performances include Three Blind Mice, Ghost Ship, Deuce Bigalow, Kings of Mykonos, Summer Coda, The Infinite Man and Ruben Guthrie.

His TV credits include The Slap, The Principal, Seven Types of Ambiguity, Wanted,...

Women working at a fancy Sydney department store in 1959 are the subjects of “Ladies in Black,” an uneven dramedy directed and co-written by veteran Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford. After establishing an interesting picture of conservative Anglo-Australian values clashing with worldly views brought to the new land by post-war immigrants, “Ladies” is let down by a screenplay lacking the sharp wit and emotional depth to bring its characters and themes fully to life. Attractively packaged, optimistic to a fault, and well performed by an ensemble including Julia Ormond and rising local star Angourie Rice, “Ladies” should register as pleasant enough entertainment for general domestic audiences, predominantly older females, although offshore prospects look iffy.

Set in the Sydney of Beresford’s youth and based on the 1993 novel “The Women in Black” by his University of Sydney contemporary Madeleine St John, “Ladies” unfolds in the golden rays of summertime leading up to Christmas.

Robertson fishing in Karumba in 2005.

Script supervisor Pam Willis Burden remembers her friend and colleague, who died at home in New Zealand earlier this month.

Film and television industry colleagues in Melbourne recently gathered to say farewell to Jacquie Robertson, a well-loved unit nurse.

Jacquie came from New Zealand and amused many crew members with her strong accent and funny expressions.—.like "chilly bin" for eski.

Her film career began with Crocodile Dundee in 1985 and she worked on over 40 feature films as well as television series, travelling all over Australia and overseas.

Some of her prominent films include The Matrix, The Quiet American, Star Wars II, Moulin Rouge, The Thin Red Line, Paradise Road and Dead Calm.

As a main-unit nurse on feature films, she was responsible for crew and cast often numbering in their hundreds, and she co-coordinated the medical department for multiple units.

She had her table and...

The Baltic Event Coproduction Market Awards at the 20th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

The Baltic Event Coproduction Market, taking place since 2005, is the largest coproduction platform in the region of Northern and Central Europe. With a complete overview of the year’s audiovisual production in the region and a range of programs open for feature film projects, Baltic Event is the key production platform to be at in November.

For its 15th edition, Baltic Event selected 14 projects from its traditional roster of new EU territories, Scandinavia and Russia, as well as a project from Georgia in collaboration with Eave and 2 projects from this year’s focus country, Luxembourg. The Baltic Event Coproduction Market presented these 17 projects from November 22 to 24, 2016 to international coproducers and buyers at more than 500 one-to-one meetings during the 20th jubilee edition of the Black Nights Film Festival.

The Baltic Event team was satisfied by the exceptionally...

Sam Neill, Sue Milliken, Anthony Buckley (Photo credit: Peter Jackson).

The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.

Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.

Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..

Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...

Sam Neill, Sue Milliken, Anthony Buckley (Photo credit: Peter Jackson).

The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.

Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.

Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..

Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...

Richard Soames, a well-known and influential figure in the Australian screen industry for 30 years, has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 78. Soames was the long-time CEO of completion guarantor Film Finances, the first company to provide completion guarantees at the introduction of the 10Ba tax incentives in 1981. The London-born Soames joined Film Finances in the early 1970s and expanded the business in the Us, Canada and Australia. "Richard was such a part of the scene down here in the 80s and 90s," said Sue Milliken, who represented Film Finances in Australia until Anni Browning took over as MD in 2010. "He visited at least three times a year, travelled all over the country to film locations and he was on the telex and later the fax and email on a daily basis no matter where he was in the world. Our working relationship was a fantastic one, based totally on trust.

Us actress best known for her work in Coen Brothers’ movies including Fargo to receive talent award.

Us actress Frances McDormand is to be awarded the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award 2014 at the 71st Venice International Film Festival (Aug 27 - Sep 6).

The prolific actress is best known for her collaborations with the Coen Brothers in films including Fargo, Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading and her first ever film role, Blood Simple.

McDormand will receive the honour on Sept 1 in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) and will be followed by the out of competition screening of Olive Kitteridge directed by Lisa Cholodenko.

The four-part HBO miniseries adaptation of the eponymous Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Elizabeth Strout co-stars Richard Jenkins, Bill Murray, John Gallagher Jr. and Zoe Kazan.

The Playtone / As Is production will debut on HBO in the Us in November and is executive produced by McDormand alongide Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks and [link...

Australian actress Wendy Hughes dead at 61 (photo: Wendy Hughes in ‘Newsfront’) Australian film, television, and stage actress Wendy Hughes, best known internationally for the big-screen dramas My Brilliant Career and Careful, He Might Hear You, died of cancer early today, March 8, 2014, in Sydney. Hughes (born on July 29, 1952, in Melbourne) was 61. Wendy Hughes’ film career kicked off in the mid-’70s, with Tim Burstall’s psychological drama ‘Jock’ Petersen / Petersen (1974), in which she plays the wife of a college professor who becomes romantically involved with a married student (Jack Thompson). "I spent a lot of the time naked and doing sex scenes," Hughes would later recall about her work in ‘Jock’ Petersen, "because in the seventies you all had to do that." In 1979, Hughes landed a key supporting role in the international arthouse hit My Brilliant Career, Gillian Armstrong’s late 19th-century-set tale of an independent-minded young woman (a Katharine Hepburn...

Wendy Hughes, who has died in Sydney aged 61, will be remembered by her peers as one of the finest actors of her generation.

Hughes won the AFI award for best actress for Careful, He Might Hear You in 1983 and was nominated on six other occasions, for Newsfront, My Brilliant Career, Lonely Hearts, My First Wife, Echoes of Paradise and Boundaries of the Heart.

.She was a brilliant actress who set the standard and was pioneering for her era,. filmmaker Philippe Mora, who was a close friend in the 1980s and early 1990s, told If.

.In my opinion without Wendy there would have been no Judy Davis, no Nicole Kidman and no Cate Blanchett. If timing had been different she would have been a major international star. As it is she leaves a legacy of perfect performances as one of Australia's greatest actresses..

Mora wanted to cast Hughes as the female...

With the 2014 Academy Awards just two weeks away, Indiewire decided to compile a list of the film roles that established the careers of these immensely talented actresses. While some of the nominees have been in the game for decades, others got started not too long ago. Here they are in their debut roles:  Amy Adams, Nominated for "American Hustle" - "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999) An aspiring dancer at first, Amy Adams got her big break in "Drop Dead Gorgeous," a dark comedy that follows a group of contestants who compete in a beauty pageant--and suddenly start to die. Shot in the style of a mockumentary, the film also stars Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Kirstie Alley, Allison Janney and Denise Richards. With such a dynamic cast, Adams managed to still stand out in her role as Leslie Miller, a kindhearted, clumsy and somewhat promiscuous cheerleader who also competes for the prize.  Cate Blanchett,...

The decision by the AFI/Aacta to maintain seven awards for non-Australian films while combining the best TV comedy and best light entertainment series into one category has been challenged by several producers.

They question why money and resources are being poured into the Aacta International Awards in Los Angeles when the AFI/Aacta is struggling financially due to lack of sponsorship and screen industry support.

Other producers defend the International Awards as a way for the organisation to build the brand and strive to make the awards more valuable to private and government sponsors

AFI/Aacta CEO Damian Trewhella tells If it is simplistic and wrong to believe that ditching the international categories would free up more money for the Australian awards. He says the international awards subsidise the Oz awards.

Producer Anthony Buckley decries .the absurd pomposity of seven international awards. while financial constraints forced the organisation to...

After 50 years in the film industry, producer Sue Milliken is convinced the current funding structure of government investment and the producer tax offset isn't working. Milliken regards the formation of Screen Australia as a wasted opportunity to revitalise the industry and she questions the value of the Australian Film Institute/ Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta). She outlines her vision for a more efficient and better targeted funding system in her new book, Selective Memory: A Life in Film. The tome is primarily an insightful and colourful memoir of a producer who served her apprenticeship at the ABC in the 1960s on Skippy and worked with the legendary TV producer Hector Crawford before embarking on films including The Odd Angry Shot, The Fringe Dwellers, Black Robe, Sirens,.. Dating the Enemy and Paradise Road, and serving as a completion guarantor. Like many in the industry, she hoped the amalgamation...

Will NCIS fill in the blanks? Will a White Collar romance heat back up? Are things getting “Harry” on Psych? Which Monday Mornings doc copped a role on Rizzoli & Isles? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.

Related | Your Complete Fall TV Grid: What’s on When? And Versus What?

I know Gary Glasberg has mentioned we will see the events that led up to the cliffhanger with Gibbs in the NCIS finale. But will we also get to see what McGee, Tony and Ziva have been doing in their four-month absence? I’m eager...

Actor Penne Hackforth-Jones, a pillar of Australian films and TV for more than 40 years, died in Melbourne on Friday from lung cancer, aged 63.

Her illness was diagnosed in 2012 but she wished to keep the diagnosis private while her father was still alive. She relocated to Melbourne in 2011 to be close to and care for her elderly parents both of whom died recently.

.Penne responded to her own terminal diagnosis with great courage and grace,. said her sisters Jos Hackforth-Jones, Simary Hackforth-Jones and Olivia McNally. .Her health deteriorated in April, but she was able to remain at home because of the wonderful support from her Gp, Mercy and Alfred Palliative care units and friends. Her last weeks were peaceful and happy. She died surrounded by flowers and cards from those closest to her and cared for by family and close friends. She was dearly loved by relations and friends and much...

Danish producer Lene Børglum, Australian producer Sue Milliken ("Black Robe," "Paradise Road"), and "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn are all seat to team on a drug running feature.

English cinematographer Larry Smith ("Bronson," "Only God Forgives") will make his feature directing debut on the project entitled "Trafficker." Ken Kwek ("The Blue Mansion") penned the script which is being described as an Australian movie set in the Vietnamese-run drug world.

Børglum and Smith were in Melbourne last week scouting locations and seeking financial and distributor support. Børglum, Milliken, and Refn’s Space Rocket Nation will co-produce the feature.

Source: Deadline...

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has had the greatest cultural impact of any local film released between 1993-1997, according to a new analysis by Screen Australia.

The report, Staying Power: The enduring footprint of Australian film, ranked almost 100 films' longevity by assessing their: primary release, revenues, ongoing access by audiences, acclaim and wider impact.

The report highlighted 20 films that had a domestic box office greater than $2.5 million and/or achieved an international release in 10 countries or more. Aside from Priscilla, the other films assessed were: Angel Baby, Babe, Bad Boy Bubby, The Castle, Children of the Revolution, Cosi, Country Life, Dating the Enemy, Kiss or Kill, Lightning Jack, Muriel's Wedding, Napolean, Paradise Road, The Piano, Reckless Kelly, Shine, Sirens, The Sum of Us, and The Wiggles Movie.

Screen Australia chief executive Ruth Harley, speaking at the Canberra International Film Festival, said feature films have the powerful ability...

This article was originally published in If Magazine #132 (June 2010).

Bruce Beresford When I was going to do Driving Miss Daisy, I offered it to Don McAlpine, but he turned it down. And then I offered it to Russell Boyd but he was doing something else. And then I remembered Peter and I thought .Hang on, I like that bloke Peter James. and said .Do you want to come over here and shoot this low-budget film?. And he did. That was the first.

I did enjoy working with him but we never thought it was anything special. In fact, when we finished the film they were planning not to release it.

We had very similar ideas on lighting and he had tremendously good taste . his lighting was always exqusite. Also, the thing I liked about him (and for that matter Don McAlpine) was that he would vary his style to suit the subject matter,...

It’s been a while since we brought you an update on I Spit on Your Grave director Steven R. Monroe's latest feature, MoniKa, although the wait is now over. The Cerina Vincent-starring revenge thriller is slated to have its premiere this Friday, July 20th, at the Las Vegas Film Festival.

Co-executive produced by actress Vincent (who appears in the titular role) with Monroe and producers Anthony Fankhauser and Corey A. Jackson, MoniKa stars Jason Wiles and C. Thomas Howell as well as Jeff Branson, Chad Lindberg and Andrew Howard (the three appeared in Monroe’s I Spit on Your Grave redux) and actors Lew Temple (The Devil’s Rejects), Shayla Beesley (Spreading Darkness), Raffaello Degruttola, Elisa Donovan and genre vet Tim Thomerson.

MoniKa is set to bow this Friday, July 20th, at 3:00 pm at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino (3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas) with...

Consumers looking to view one of the best performances of the year will have a chance to see Glenn Close in the celebrated three-time Oscar® nominee Albert Nobbs for a limited two week engagement on Video On Demand and Pay-Per-View beginning April 10th through April 24th. The sneak peek will come one month ahead of the film’s debut on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Digital Download May 15th.

The drama stars six-time Oscar® nominee* Glenn Close, who gives a “powerhouse performance”. (New York Post), as Albert. An impressive supporting cast includes two-time Academy Award® nominee** Janet McTeer, along with Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Showtime’s “The Tudors”.). Directed “with grit and grace”. (Rolling Stone) by Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child), the film is based on the novella by Irish author George Moore and features a story by Istvan Szabo and screenplay by Gabriella Prekop,...

I love that a heated discussion over Titanic’s infamous Oscar sweep of 1998 has already begun over at Laurent’s excellent retrospective. I guess it’s just the nature of this particular film. There is something about Titanic that hits a raw nerve in people and they feel a need to defend/criticize it so passionately.

As it happens, I fall in the ‘unconditional love’ category and I’m not afraid to admit it. To this day I have a passion for Titanic, a film that so perfectly matches what a glorious, spellbinding, big spectacle romance against an historic backdrop should be, and those films are so rare, especially when they are made with such precise and meticulous detail from James Cameron.

We shouldn’t be embarrassed over how much we loved Titanic in the 90′s. We should embrace it. So as our third ‘Choose The Winners’ article, we are...

Zooey Deschanel is in talks to play Ada Lovelace in the period drama "Enchantress of Numbers" reports Production Weekly.

Daughter of Lord Byron, Lovelace was a 19th-century writer and key figure in the development of machines that went beyond simple mathematics and into more complex computational problems. In some ways she's considered the first computer programmer.

Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy," "Breaker Morant," "Paradise Road") directs the project which begins shooting this Fall.

AMSTERDAM -- Black comedy Ober, the latest from director Alex Van Warmerdam, will open the 26th edition of the Netherlands Film Festival on Sept. 27. Produced by Amsterdam-based Graniet Film, Ober also is considered a candidate for the upcoming Venice International Film festival. The film deals with fifty-year-old waiter Edgar (Van Warmerdam), who has had enough of his miserable existence and literally demands a rewrite from the man writing his life story: no more difficult customers, no more wife, a new girlfriend, new neighbors. The Netherlands Film Festival runs Sept. 27-Oct. 6 in Utrecht. The program also features a tribute to Dutch actress Johanna ter Steege, known for her work with directors George Sluizer (The Vanishing), Istvan Szabo (Sweet Emma, Dear Bobe) and Bruce Beresford (Paradise Road). Ter Steege, currently shooting a film with French director Alice Winocour, will present a master class during the festival.

SYDNEY -- Veteran Australian producer Sue Milliken will head the judging panel and executive produce the first Project Greenlight Australia for the Movie Network and production partner Screentime, it was announced Monday. Milliken's credits include Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road, John Duigan's Sirens and Bruce Beresford's Black Robe. The top 50 scripts were selected from more than 1200 entries by a peer review process and assessment by industry professionals, the statement said. Added Milliken: "This is a great opportunity to find a talented new Australian filmmaker. I am delighted to be part of Project Greenlight, and I look forward to the challenge of helping to bring this feature film to the screen."...

Supermodel Elle Macpherson is following in fellow-Australian Nicole Kidman's footsteps by appearing in stage show The Blue Room. The 37-year-old beauty, who has just launched her own range of lingerie in Britain, is to make her theatrical debut at Sydney's Theatre Royal next February. Paradise Road actor Paul Bishop is set to star opposite the supermodel. "The Blue Room revolves around sex and indeed it's a very sexy play," says the play's director Simon Phillips. He adds, "I guess it is handy to have at the center of the play, two characters with whom most people wouldn't mind having the odd sexual encounter and certainly Elle and Paul fulfill that requirement pretty persuasively."...