Cate Blanchett Talks ‘Giving Up’ Acting: ‘I Mean It’

The list of current actresses who seem capable of embodying any role is fairly small, but two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is definitely on it. Whether stepping into the skin of a troubled socialite in Blue Jasmine, a fierce, cruel warrior in Thor: Ragnarok, or a lithe, ethereal fairy in the Lord of the Rings films, she has a chameleon-like ability to become any character convincingly. But after three decades inhabiting other personalities for audiences worldwide, Blanchett is ready to give it all up and just be herself.

She Says There Are “a Lot of Things I Want to Do With My Life”

In an interview with Radio Times, Blanchett admits she’s not a fan of doing interviews. “No one is more boring to me than myself and I find other people much more interesting,” she said. “I find myself profoundly dull.”

She also takes issues with excerpts of her words being blown up or taken out of context. “When you go on a talk show, or even here now, and then you see soundbites of things you’ve said, pulled out and italicised, they sound really… loud.” She said with distaste. “I’m not that person.”

So perhaps it makes sense that she hesitates to call herself an actress and insists, “It’s because I’m giving up.”

It may seem unbelievable, but she declares it’s true. “My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting,” she said. There are “a lot of things I want to do with my life”.

Starring in Her First Radio Drama, the Medium Has Had a Profound Presence in Her Life

Blanchett is currently in London, playing Arkadina in Chekhov’s The Seagull and starring in her first radio drama, BBC’s The Fever.

It’s surprising that she hasn’t done radio before because she admits she is “obsessed with the psychological space that is the interior of people’s cars. Often the most profound and intense and memorable conversations that I have with my children are in the car. There’s a psychological cone, a collective cone, when you’re all travelling together. It’s the songs you sing on the way on holiday, the stories and the jokes you tell – and the radio you listen to.”

While one of her sons has fallen in love with the podcast Desert Island Discs, Blanchett uses the time she spends driving her kids to and from school to listen to radio dramas.

She recognizes how varied her choices are, which is how she likes it. “Like a lot of people, I like being alive. I throw myself into life, often in unwanted places. Maybe that’s why my career, if you call it a career, has been so strangely eclectic.” So maybe her desire to change course and do something else isn’t so crazy after all.