Cate Blanchett on Parkinson: choosing roles

She’s arguably Australia’s most successful actress, with two Oscars on her bookshelf. Yet Cate Blanchett, the star of movies such as Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur, 1998), The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004) and Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013) told reporters in April 2025 that she’s giving up acting. Please, Cate, don’t let that be true! 

In this clip from 2002, a perfectly poised Cate appears on talk show Parkinson for the release of her movie Charlotte Gray (Gillian Armstrong, 2001). The interview with the then 33-year-old gives some interesting insight into how she picks her roles, whether large or small. For example, she reveals her reason for taking the role of Petal in The Shipping News (Lasse Hallström, 2001) was her character’s line, ‘nibble, nibble, little mouse’.  It’s a fascinating glimpse into how one becomes a great actress. 

When Michael Parkinson mentions 'Russell' at the start of the clip, he's referring to Russell Crowe, who was interviewed earlier on the same episode.