19/10/2007

At the RomeFilmFest, the day belongs to “queen” Cate Blanchett. After winning the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for playing Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I'm Not There, the Australian actress was welcomed with warm applause after the screening of Elizabeth: The Golden Age [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the second chapter of the trilogy on the Queen of England by Indian director Shekhar Kapur.

The film – which opened the Premiere section of international premieres – is further evidence of Blanchett’s talent to transform herself. Here, almost ten years later, she once again slips into the regal attire of Queen Elizabeth of England, a role that won her an Oscar nomination in 1999.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age – produced by Working Title Films and Little Bird and distributed by Universal Pictures – also stars Clive Owen and fellow Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush. The colossal costumes, hair and set design frame the disappointments and frustrated desires of the powerful Elizabeth, "virgin queen, mother of her people". "She’s a woman who is confronted with very contemporary problems, such as growing old – a real challenge for me since I was coming back to the role ten years later," said Blanchett on the red carpet.

The actress admits having thought twice before accepting to play the great queen a second time. "I told her that Elizabeth is like Hamlet," said Rush, who also persuaded Blanchett to take up the role, "a grand role for a grand actress, which could have a thousand interpretations".

"In the film, the intimate is mixed with the epic," added the director, emphasising that he didn’t want to make an anti-Spanish work but a film that speaks out against all forms of fundamentalism in general. "I used a lot of actors and I listened to their advice. That’s the best thing to do with actors who are that good".

Kapur also confirmed that he plans to make a third chapter of his Elizabethan trilogy. When asked if she would be starring in the last instalment, Blanchett (who admitted to being a keen fan of Antonioni and Fellini and was inspired by the latter to play Dylan) eluded the question with grace and irony, with a "Who knows?".

(Translated from Italian)