"Cate Blanchett"

52m
We roll up our sleeves and get down to business with none other than Cate Blanchett. She reveals her aspirations to make cheese, Sean fans-out on Lord of the Rings, Will explains his rich history in lowered expectations, and Jason explores his elasticity challenges. Pass the honey butter; it’s SmartLess.

Press play and read along

Runtime: 52m

Transcript

Speaker 2 I love to walk. I walk almost every single day.
Some of the shoes I wear wear out after a while, but some things are actually built to last.

Speaker 2 And that's what LL Bean has been doing for over a century, making boots with a level of craftsmanship that proves not everything has to wear out.

Speaker 2 Bean boots carry that tradition forward, handcrafted in Maine with the same care since 1912, made with full grain leather, durable rubber bottoms, and triple needle stitching built to last.

Speaker 2 These aren't shoes made for a single season, they're boots designed to take on years of rain, sleet, mud, and snow and come out stronger.

Speaker 2 Perfect for commutes, weekend hikes, or cheering from the sidelines. And when it comes to style, bean boots prove that timeless design always wins.

Speaker 2 They've looked the same for more than a century because real style doesn't chase trends.

Speaker 2 With every season, each pair becomes more personal, more distinctive, and a reflection of the life lived in them. LL Bean boots are simply best worn.
Find your pair at LLB.com.

Speaker 2 Crafted to last, ready for the outdoors, and timeless in style.

Speaker 2 Nobody wants to spend the holiday season clicking from one site to the next to get their hands on the best brands. But who knew Walmart has the top brands we all love?

Speaker 2 Like the big names that your friends and family actually want and all in one place. Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it.
Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart.

Speaker 1 Who knew?

Speaker 2 Go to walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season.

Speaker 1 Wait, wait, quiet up here. This isn't so swell.
I'm going to bust this joint up. Say,

Speaker 1 Sean, you'll never believe it. What? It's an all-new Smartless.
Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 3 Good morning, men.

Speaker 1 How is your pace? What's your pace like on your walking gait? Like, would you say it's slow, medium, or fast? It's very slow. Is it?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 3 Well, you tell me. I I don't watch my gait.
You do.

Speaker 1 I would. I've seen it.

Speaker 1 I've seen your gait. I would say it's a bit.
I think it's pretty. It's pretty quick.
It's deliberate.

Speaker 2 It's deliberate with the arms and the waist and the legs all going at the same time.

Speaker 1 Because you did an impression of my walking the other day. Like, you had your hips forward and, you know.

Speaker 3 You do lead with your hips.

Speaker 3 Each step starts with the throw of the corresponding hip.

Speaker 3 Some people lead with their breasts. Some people lead with their toes.
You lead with your hip bones.

Speaker 3 And you throw your leg around the hip socket.

Speaker 1 It's weird. It's like you can't

Speaker 1 sound like a walking room. You can't

Speaker 3 get your knee out in front of your body.

Speaker 1 What are you talking about? Wait a second.

Speaker 1 First of all, you sound like a walk-like a robot. Sean, how do you?

Speaker 2 I lead with my neck. My neck is the first thing that enters the room.

Speaker 1 You do? Yeah. That's true.
You'd be great at like in running a race to break the tape. Yeah.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 Well, here's a better description of your walk.

Speaker 3 listener, if you could, yeah, if you could imagine if you had, if you were trying to hold a brick

Speaker 3 between your upper, upper, upper inner thighs

Speaker 3 and then walk, you'd have to throw your legs around that brick while still clinching there

Speaker 3 in your saddle there.

Speaker 3 It's like something's broken in you that you never fixed.

Speaker 1 Wait a second. Chapel's ball.

Speaker 2 Japel,

Speaker 1 bro, first of all.

Speaker 1 It works for you, though. Last week,

Speaker 1 we were playing golf. Not with Jason, but somebody else.
Yeah, I know. Because I was like, I should try it.
And I see this guy on the other fairway.

Speaker 1 And the guy, he was, I'm guessing, I'm not good with aging, but I'm guessing he was 900 years old. And he was, and I said, look at, we couldn't see him very well.
I said, look at Bateman.

Speaker 1 And this guy, he barely leaning over the ball. And he went, good for him, this old guy,

Speaker 1 getting it going. And I said, you know, the amazing thing is that guy and Jason have the same bone density.

Speaker 3 listen I'm I'm very fragile I've I've I'm like a veal you know

Speaker 2 you know it's interesting we we um we finished Ozark last night the new season no and you getting thrown around like that on the ground I'm like is that Jason or is that a stunt person

Speaker 3 here we go most of it was stunts oh it was really yeah I can no longer tie my shoes without really engaging my core so I don't pull out my lower back I get it and let's be honest let's be honest you can't get into out of a standing into any kind of a squat without farting I mean that's that's well that's a whole different i've lost all elasticity in my valve um so but i'm i've got an appointment for that i'll drive you but i'm talking more about my my flexibility uh i think is what sean's asking about that's okay i think i got my answer you know i'm putting a lit i'm in i'm installing a lace a lace system kind of like a corset yeah like a shoe

Speaker 1 a high top at that that's a good name for you by the way old shoe

Speaker 2 hey old shoe comfy and smelly Guys, this person today who's been patiently waiting, God bless her, is one of those actors.

Speaker 3 She's a female. We've been very, very crass here.

Speaker 1 I apologize.

Speaker 2 No, that's okay.

Speaker 2 I'm so excited that she's on the show today. She is one of those actors who has a career that everyone dreams of.

Speaker 2 No, I do, but it's bestowed upon her only because of her unbelievable and undeniable talent. She has the ability.
She's one of those actors, the ability to transform from one character to another.

Speaker 2 Like it's a crazy magic trick, which I can't wait to talk about. 70, sorry, seven.
I love this. Seven Academy Award nominations.
That's two more than me.

Speaker 1 Are you having a tough time reading your own handwriting? Yeah, didn't you write this?

Speaker 3 Or is it

Speaker 3 Scotty put this together for you?

Speaker 2 She's got two Oscar wins, three British Academy Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards.

Speaker 2 Among the many films that I love and what she's in, and I love her in them, she's, you know, she's theater folk, she's show folk like me. So I was excited to meet her at the Tony Awards in 2016.

Speaker 2 She doesn't know it, but she's my best friend in the whole world. It's Kate Blanchette.

Speaker 1 What? What?

Speaker 3 You can't book Kate Blanchette.

Speaker 1 We don't have that kind of skill. What are you doing? We have that kind of money.

Speaker 1 My goodness.

Speaker 1 How'd you do it?

Speaker 4 I love the way you move from bowel elasticity to let's talk about our next guest.

Speaker 1 Welcome. It's the noun.
Someone who still has the control of her bowel. You made a terrible mistake.

Speaker 4 A 70 Academy

Speaker 1 nomination. 70.
Hiring publicist, Kate.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 2 Where are you, Kate, right now?

Speaker 4 I'm in my husband's study.

Speaker 1 What continent?

Speaker 4 Good question.

Speaker 1 I love that you're looking over your shoulder.

Speaker 4 I'm in Little Britain.

Speaker 1 Tiny Britain. Tiny little Britain.

Speaker 3 We Britain, as Arrested Development used to call it.

Speaker 1 We Britain.

Speaker 3 What a pleasure to meet you.

Speaker 1 Good lord.

Speaker 1 Likewise.

Speaker 2 It was so, when I saw you at the tone, I was like, oh my God, that's Kate. I can't believe it.
Should I go up there? Should I say hi? And you were so pleasant and so lovely. And it was so pleasant.

Speaker 1 I was pleasant.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you, but it was so pleasant for me. It was like, it was like a lifelong kind of meeting for me.
I've always wanted to meet you.

Speaker 1 I'm such a huge admirer. And, Sean, for you, I mean,

Speaker 1 the Tony's is your happy place. I'm being serious.
Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, I mean, you know, I like theater folk.

Speaker 1 Sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Show people. Yeah, show folk.

Speaker 2 Now, listen, I like to start at the very beginning.

Speaker 2 And I want to know.

Speaker 1 Oh, boy. Well, here we go.

Speaker 1 You can go to sleep. Curl up.

Speaker 3 When you're done with this part,

Speaker 4 or when we're done with the whole kind of process, I mean, you guys.

Speaker 3 What got you started?

Speaker 1 Yeah, because what's your mom's favorite color?

Speaker 2 I'm obsessed with you because you're in all, like, I know a lot of people say like popcorn movies, you know, and

Speaker 2 they're not as, quote, legitimate as, you know, the other movies. And I'm like, yeah, they are.
It takes as much effort for you to play Elizabeth I as it does to be in Lord of the Rings.

Speaker 2 And I don't think people understand that.

Speaker 3 Are you asking her if she if she does work as hard on the popcorn stuff as she does the prestige stuff?

Speaker 4 Yes. Do I work as hard?

Speaker 3 Do you work as hard on the on the easy ones as the hard ones to oversimplify it?

Speaker 4 But which ones are the easy ones?

Speaker 3 Well, I guess what I think that's what he's implying is the assumption is that the popcorn parts and films are easier than the like your pardon Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

Speaker 2 That was like I

Speaker 2 can't imagine, like the accent and the look and the walk and the gait. You know what I mean? It seems like just as as much work as playing Elizabeth I.

Speaker 4 I mean, the only way I can do it, I don't know about you guys, but I always just pretend that no one's ever going to see it. And usually that's the case.

Speaker 1 I have the luxury that that's actually true. But

Speaker 1 I think it's more that thing, Kate, of like when you do those big movies, those huge movies where, you know, you know, the ones where you kind of, you hit your mark and the camera pushes in and you go,

Speaker 1 we got to move. You know, like, are those as challenging as doing stuff where you get into the real charactery stuff?

Speaker 4 I think so, because there's all these tropes that you have to kind of understand.

Speaker 4 And I have seen, you know, a little bit more, you know, we've had more time over the pandemic, but you kind of got to understand what those tropes are in order to, I don't know, either subvert them or work within them.

Speaker 4 And so there's a little bit more,

Speaker 4 I don't know, expectation when you do those bigger movies because you think, well, even if the movie is garbage, they've got enough money to distribute it.

Speaker 4 And they've got, well, they, in the old-fashioned sense, pre-pandemic, they used to,

Speaker 4 they've got enough cinemas to release it. So people are actually going to see this one.

Speaker 4 So there's a little bit more weight of expectation. It's a little bit like when the curtain goes up.
I mean, I had an experience when I was at university. I did this show.

Speaker 4 It was a climate change musical.

Speaker 1 Fucking. Yeah.
It's called Singing in the Rain. Yeah.

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 4 or not, Jesus,

Speaker 4 and it was we had we had a kind of a dance piece with a whole lot of air conditioners, really.

Speaker 4 I wouldn't have stayed, but after interval, we had we had three people who came to see it, and then after interval, there was this one little old lady in her handbag.

Speaker 4 And I think the only reason why she remained was because her mobility scooter had lost its power and she wanted to see it.

Speaker 4 But you know, like it's you don't know whether people are going to see it when you're making movies.

Speaker 3 Well, let me ask you this do you see it do you watch your stuff no

Speaker 3 you don't watch your performances you're one of those do you watch okay do you jason watch your stuff i do and it is mostly for a learning experience for me because of course it is well but you i mean it's not to see how the lighting is it does settle whether you need to have a little bit it's it's completely a learning experience it's it's got three things for me one it settles me to see myself oh interesting number two it puts me to sleep beautifully, you know, because my performances are so boring.

Speaker 3 And I also learn a lot from it because

Speaker 3 you kind of remember what you were trying for in that scene.

Speaker 3 And then to see it come across based on how the camera is and what the other actors are doing and the lighting and the music and all that stuff, you get context.

Speaker 3 And so you can hopefully better calibrate your performance next time you have an opportunity because you see the way it's coming across.

Speaker 3 But you, it's, that's, there's so many incredibly talented actors that I respect like you can't believe and they don't watch themselves that it's such a it's such a learning tool for me I'm I'm so surprised and you're so incredibly nuanced and subtle with all of your your work I you you manage to do all that without having any outside

Speaker 4 sort of perspective on it huh it's all internal but it's also it depends who you're working with and you know what the story is and I think I think when you're working on a series you kind of you're you're a conduit for the story and so you've got to know okay is the story being told in this frame but when you're working with someone like guillamo del toro you have to give over trust and you think well has he got what he needs he knows what he's doing i mean the interesting thing for me i think so you adjust from project to project i think so i think so but it's like oh my god it's just it's it's excruciating well you wouldn't have the time to watch all your performances because you you have so much.

Speaker 1 I'm so busy. You are.
You are.

Speaker 1 In the best way.

Speaker 4 With where to start.

Speaker 3 But Kate has an incredibly packed year coming up, starting with the Pinocchio with another collaboration with the one and only Guillermo Del Turro again.

Speaker 1 Yes? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Now, is this an animated or live-action

Speaker 3 thingy, the Pinocchio?

Speaker 4 No, no, it's an animated,

Speaker 4 I mean, you know, in Guillermo's style.

Speaker 3 He's going to do an animated film or is doing.

Speaker 4 Well, I guess so. That's great.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 4 he started in the art department. I mean, that's the amazing.

Speaker 1 Am I talking too loudly? I never

Speaker 1 know.

Speaker 4 I look like I'm about to

Speaker 4 working in a drive-through.

Speaker 1 No, your volume control is impeccable. It's impeccable.

Speaker 1 Your listening is not perfect.

Speaker 4 My listening's not great.

Speaker 1 It's not. I mean, I don't know.
Do you have selective listening? I get accused of that. Are you? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Will's a big violator of that.

Speaker 1 I am.

Speaker 4 So you, but you come in with a non-sequitur because you just have totally checked out.

Speaker 3 He chooses what he hears.

Speaker 1 It's true. I do.
I check out often.

Speaker 3 I do that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, we know.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I want to know, though, like, I know you were joking. I've actually have a real question.
Oh, here we go.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay. Buckle up.

Speaker 2 Interested.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 I've always wanted to ask someone as successful as you in who works just from gig to gig to gig to gig.

Speaker 2 It just seems like you, and rightfully so, how do you find the time to find a character with so little time in between gigs? Do you know what I mean? Like for me, it would take a year to come up with,

Speaker 2 I don't know, Elizabeth or what's the, what's the other big one that you did that I loved?

Speaker 3 What about just now on Don't Look Up?

Speaker 4 Titanic. I was amazing in Titanic.
Oh, what?

Speaker 1 You were on the bow of the ship with Dale.

Speaker 2 I know, but don't look up. Don't look up.

Speaker 2 i turned to scotty my husband i was like 10 minutes in i'm like oh that's kate blanchette oh my god i didn't even that's what's mind-blowing about you is you can completely embody totally different people and for me it would take months just to figure who that person is and you just seem i don't know your process it's desperation it's panic

Speaker 1 you gotta do something

Speaker 4 you know it's it's i mean you guys are probably more better at it far better than me i mean i i get i think i don't know what i mean the night before, I'm always saying to my husband, it's like, how do I, what am I, how do I do this?

Speaker 4 And he said, you'll be fine. But it's, I don't know, I always, my relationship with the costume designer, because, you know, you, you talk to the director, and but you don't actually get to rehearse.

Speaker 4 And as you say, Sean, that's like, I'm used to rehearsal.

Speaker 1 I am slow, slow, slow.

Speaker 4 I need those six weeks and those previews to go, that wasn't funny.

Speaker 1 That didn't work.

Speaker 4 Okay, we've got to lose this, you know,

Speaker 4 to find out what it means because I don't know what it means for them.

Speaker 2 Yeah, because when you create a character with a walk and a talk and an accent and a hair and just completely transform yourself, that first day of shooting on a set, you got to be like, well, I hope they like it.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's got to be so scary.

Speaker 3 Yeah, so for the listener, you know, usually, you know, traditionally, an actor will audition.

Speaker 3 And so the director will be able to see what their version of this character would look like, how they would do it. And then the director decides, okay, yes, we'll have that.
And you're hired.

Speaker 3 And so there's no real mystery about how you're going to do it. In Kate's position, she's offered roles.

Speaker 3 So the first time the director really gets a chance to see it or the crew or anybody is the day they're actually shooting.

Speaker 4 That's the day that decide whether they're going to fire you or not.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 Right. So it's,

Speaker 3 so it's, it's potentially really embarrassing for everybody because you could be taking a swing that is well outside.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 That's the scary point, right? That's the tightrope.

Speaker 1 And I guess you're saying that first moment is when you get with with costume when you start to kind of feel like that person because you're starting to look like you see the character being for jason that's you know usually khakis and a rolled up uh shirt yeah right with the sleeves rolled up

Speaker 1 because we got to get down to business sure you got to get down

Speaker 1 i used to give jason chin every time on arrested development his character get down to business he'd start rolling his sleeves

Speaker 1 i don't think i've ever had my sleeves down on any part i've ever played i don't know what that i don't know you must you have great risks he does have great risks he does he's got it he's got a beautiful swing.

Speaker 1 You should see him on the golf course.

Speaker 1 We'll be right back.

Speaker 2 Some people in life are truly one of a kind. Always surprising you, always becoming more themselves over time.
Somehow, they just get more interesting, funnier even, year after year.

Speaker 2 Celebrating them deserves something just as unique as they are. That's where desert-toned diamonds come in.

Speaker 2 Unlike gifts that can feel predictable, desert diamonds reflect the authenticity and individuality of the people you love.

Speaker 2 These aren't one color fits all diamonds. They come in unexpected shades of warm whites, sunlit champagnes, deep ambers, smoky whiskeys, radiant hues and tones you just don't see every day.

Speaker 2 Diamonds in natural colors that are truly unlike anything else for the people in your life who are unlike anyone else.

Speaker 2 And there's no better way to show them how lucky you are to know and love them this holiday season than to gift them a desert diamond. And that's why a diamond is forever.

Speaker 2 Visit adiamondisforever.com to learn more.

Speaker 2 In today's world of processed foods, screens, and whatever's floating around in the air, feeling run down has basically become a lifestyle, but the body wasn't built to run on fumes.

Speaker 2 Colostrum is nature's original superfood, packed with over 400 bioactive nutrients that help fortify gut health, support immune health, promote a a healthy metabolism, and fuel fitness performance.

Speaker 2 Armra colostrum is a clean, potent, bioactive food that's sustainably sourced. Think of it like daily fine-tuning for your body with just four daily scoops.

Speaker 2 In a three-month research survey with 60 participants, taking Armra colostrum daily was shown to help ease occasional bloating and support skin, hair, lean muscle, and strength from the inside. out.

Speaker 2 Keeping up with the chaos of modern life is a lot more fun when there's actually energy to enjoy it. And right now there's a special offer for Smartlist listeners.

Speaker 2 Get 30% off your first subscription order when visiting armra.com slash Smartlist or entering Smartlist at checkout. That's A-R-M-R-A.com slash Smartlist.

Speaker 2 Having the United Airlines app is like having your own pocket-sized personal assistant at the airport.

Speaker 2 Get real-time flight updates like your gate number and a live countdown to boarding, even if your home screen's locked.

Speaker 2 Stride over to your gate with gazelle-like grace, thanks to door-to-gate directions from your personalized airport map.

Speaker 2 Once you fly with the United app, you'll never fly without it, unless you don't want to save about 30 minutes at the airport. Get it before your next trip at united.com/slash app.

Speaker 2 And now back to the show.

Speaker 1 Kate,

Speaker 4 when was the last time you actually worked on a film where you had an extensive rehearsal process yeah oh god i can't even think i've kind of having one now i'm about to work with alphonse caron but really it's been it's been with um it's all a didn't love my accent um but you know it's it really is mostly about story and script

Speaker 4 and all of the rest of the stuff.

Speaker 4 You have camera tests where you get to pull a few faces and try out your costumes, but then you just got to, I think the only way I can do it is to say, look, I'm going to do this.

Speaker 4 And if it's garbage, you tell me. And so that's the conversation I have with the director.
I say,

Speaker 4 so if this is the wrong direction, I am so happy to change it, but I've got to do something.

Speaker 4 So, because often it's not until you've gone in the wrong direction that you know what the right direction is.

Speaker 3 But this is often after you've had a conversation with the director about sort of generally what the tone of it is.

Speaker 3 Like you're not going to make some huge character swing if the general tone goal is something more subtle, something more nuanced. Like, you get a sense of kind of what version of.

Speaker 1 What is this satellite?

Speaker 3 Right? Because it's usually pretty clear whether something is going to be either campy or small.

Speaker 4 You know what the tone is. You got to know what the tone is.

Speaker 4 I mean, often, you know, like I've done things in my

Speaker 4 over the years where,

Speaker 4 you know, because I've got a whole other life going on downstairs.

Speaker 4 So you've got to try and squeeze that into holiday period or whatever. So I would often come in after people have been shooting for three or four weeks.

Speaker 4 So if you get to see Rushes, that's a, you know, back in the day, then you can get a sense of what everyone's doing and you can try and slog into it. But, but still.

Speaker 1 But still, like when you work on a film like Nightmare Alley, which is a very stylized film that has a very sort of

Speaker 1 very distinctive, yeah, but a very distinctive point of view stylistically coming into that that would be nerve-wracking or i said i don't know you tell me or or is it you really know where where he's going you understand what that world is and it gives you parameters that are easy to work within yeah well i mean the first thing guillamo did was said do you want to see the set and i said yeah

Speaker 4 and i walked onto the set and i went

Speaker 4 okay

Speaker 4 i don't this is all here this is i need to match this right and so you know, that was a, and I remember I was playing Catherine Hepburn years ago with Scorsese directing, and he was fantastic.

Speaker 4 He said, you know, she can be blonde, you know, you're taller than her, you look great, you don't need to worry, you can just look like her.

Speaker 4 I mean, you don't look like anything like her, so this is fine. And what, but what I realized, what he was doing is he was giving me the freedom to do as much or little physical stuff as I needed to.

Speaker 4 And what he did, though, is he showed me a whole, his Girl Friday and a whole lot of screwball screwball comedies.

Speaker 4 And what he's trying to do by showing me those films is to say, that's the energy I want.

Speaker 4 And so what you do physically is up to you. But this is the energy that I need from the film.

Speaker 4 And he didn't say that, but of course, that's the, you know, the direction or the pointers that he's offering me.

Speaker 1 So, Kate, let me ask you this then, please. You've,

Speaker 1 this is a Sean question, so forgive me, Sean, for stealing.

Speaker 2 So don't let you get it out.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, no. Hang on.
We have to do a sidebar. Don't let you get it out.
Sean, do you know what? Have we gone too far? Do you feel

Speaker 1 like a second? Sean, we love you.

Speaker 4 Should I be here?

Speaker 1 No, of course you're here. No, you're welcome.

Speaker 1 You're the catalyst for this, for us being able to have this moment. Sean, talk to me right now.
Look at me. Look at me.

Speaker 1 Before I kept pretending I couldn't see Sean.

Speaker 1 But Kate,

Speaker 1 you have done so many things that are

Speaker 1 tonally or so different. I don't even just mean comedy or drama.
I just, within

Speaker 1 the context of actual film and creating characters and stuff, they're so vastly different.

Speaker 1 Is there any area that you feel like I've never done that and I want to do it or I've never done that and I'm scared to go there?

Speaker 1 What is the thing that's lurking out there that you think about that you haven't done?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Honestly,

Speaker 4 I want to make cheese.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Kate. That was a great interview.

Speaker 1 Send us a sample.

Speaker 1 I want to stop.

Speaker 1 As a limited series?

Speaker 1 No, I don't want anyone to film me.

Speaker 4 I just want to learn to do something totally different. I tried the pottery thing and it was a bit, you know,

Speaker 4 I want to, we've got, we've got bees

Speaker 4 and I

Speaker 4 do want to do something completely away.

Speaker 1 Right. Now,

Speaker 3 literally, I've seen a little bit of a documentary on cheese making. It does look really interesting.

Speaker 1 I like that.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 You're being a little bit serious, right?

Speaker 4 I'm being totally serious.

Speaker 1 We've got cows. Wait, making cheese.

Speaker 3 And where would that be? Would it be, is it there in Europe or would it be Wisconsin?

Speaker 4 Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 We'll be right back after these messages.

Speaker 1 Wow, that's a great clip. Well, is it Wisconsin?

Speaker 1 I don't think anybody's said Wisconsin

Speaker 1 dripping with more disdain than Cape Blanchett.

Speaker 4 No, but it was a question.

Speaker 4 Who's from Wisconsin?

Speaker 3 That's the cheese cat.

Speaker 1 That's America the U.S.

Speaker 3 isn't it?

Speaker 1 That's America's cheese cat.

Speaker 4 Sorry. See, I have so much to learn.

Speaker 1 Sean's sister, Tracy.

Speaker 3 Tracy just ripped her radio out of the way.

Speaker 1 Tracy.

Speaker 1 She lives on it. A house made of cheese.

Speaker 3 Okay, so then if you ever do do the cheese

Speaker 3 intensive, please give me a call. I'd like to participate in that.
Keep me away from the bees, though.

Speaker 1 Tell me about that.

Speaker 3 Bees are the thing that that's my kryptonite. That will stop everything for me.
I cannot be around a bee. If I hear a buzz.

Speaker 4 There was a Dame Peggy Ashcroft was in a, I used to watch a lot of horror when I was

Speaker 4 a young teen. And Dame Peggy Ashcroft was in...
a horror movie. I think it was called The Bees.

Speaker 4 And there was this image at the end where she turned around and she was completely covered in bees.

Speaker 3 I went, I can't even picture it, I don't even like to picture it.

Speaker 4 What is it with you and bees?

Speaker 3 I think I think I ran my bike into a beehive at the base of a tree when I was a little kid.

Speaker 4 You can't even remember, it was that traumatic.

Speaker 1 Wait, was there cocaine in it? Yeah,

Speaker 3 I thought honey pot must be they must mean coke pot. Um, well, uh, are you out there with the white hood and pulling the trays out?

Speaker 1 Excuse me,

Speaker 1 Not here in Sussex. No, I had to

Speaker 4 Richard Linklater actually gave me, he and Tina gave me

Speaker 4 Andrew, my husband, and I, these beekeeper outfits. We're not quite there yet.
We have Kathy, the beekeeper, who's teaching us.

Speaker 4 But one day I will go up to the attic and put on the link later suit because he's a big bee man.

Speaker 1 Can I pitch? Can I pitch a musical? No, no, no. Hold a music?

Speaker 3 The bees are in the attic?

Speaker 4 No, the suits are in the attic.

Speaker 1 The bees are at the back of the

Speaker 1 who's not listening now. Hey, can I pitch a musical about beekeeping? Sean, could we get

Speaker 1 you and Kate on Broadway? Jason won't come. He won't even see it because

Speaker 1 the threat of bees is too much. But the two of you on Broadway in a B musical.

Speaker 3 Yeah, God. No one's ever done it before.

Speaker 1 Can you believe it? No one has ever done that.

Speaker 2 With an A mark.

Speaker 1 With an O with an A mark. Look at that.

Speaker 3 Oh, look at you. The reviews write themselves.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. Look at you.

Speaker 3 Hey,

Speaker 3 what would the opening song go like, Sean?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. It would be like this.
Come Go and give me five, six, seven.

Speaker 2 We are the bees. You are the bees' knees.
We are the bees. You are the bees.

Speaker 1 That's business.

Speaker 1 Yes. Oh, great, great.

Speaker 3 That's great.

Speaker 1 Kate, when you come in, would you mind? When you come in on that buzz, buzz, yeah. Wait for Sean.
Okay, Sean,

Speaker 1 all right. Now.
That's great, guys. Take five.
Which nobody ever says.

Speaker 1 Listen. Except for Jimmy Brown.
Kate,

Speaker 2 like I said in the opening, that I just riffing off the top of my head your intro, that

Speaker 2 you are a theater folk like I am.

Speaker 2 And do you have, I love funny theater stories. If you have any horrible ones, I'll start.
I have one that I haven't said yet, which is I was doing.

Speaker 2 I have thousands. I love them.
They're my favorite stories. I was doing a one-man show on Broadway called An Act of God.
I played God. It was a 90-minute monologue.

Speaker 2 And I'm sitting there, dead center, front row, right in front of me, looking at him, eating a giant bag of peanut M ⁇ Ms, really loud, just stuffing his face and he's going he's going through it like you know it's his last meal and he he then be in between handfuls he's slurping on a big gulp Jesus and in my head as I'm performing watching this so loud and so distracted I'm like can I get through this no I don't think I can I stop the show I look right at him and I go sir you know this isn't a movie right

Speaker 2 like you know this is a play you're watching like I can see you this isn't a screen you can reach out and touch me this is this is

Speaker 1 a critic. Was this a critic? No, no, it wasn't a critic.
It was Scotty. It was Scotty.

Speaker 1 What? No. No.
I'm kidding. No, no, it was some random guy.

Speaker 2 But I loved, and then I already told you the one where I threw up.

Speaker 1 Sorry, somebody. You threw up on someone on screen.

Speaker 2 No, no, no. Somebody threw up in the audience and came back and threw up again.

Speaker 3 Was it based on your performance or was it something?

Speaker 2 Absolutely.

Speaker 3 So, Kate, any

Speaker 3 halfway entertaining stories like that you got?

Speaker 4 No, I just thought they they're entertaining that one that one sean was very al pacino oh really i i was playing head of gobbler once you know clearly rooted in the you know the 19th century and there was a it was kind of a almost theater in the round and there was a guy who was on his mobile phone and i kept it's like you can see the light we'd we'd done this thing where we'd we'd blacked all the lights out so we could have an absolute blackout.

Speaker 4 So there was no safety light. So it was really dark in the auditorium.
And he was on his mobile phone. You think, you know, maybe he's a doctor.

Speaker 4 He says, you know, all the way you're talking, you're thinking, I've got to burn a manuscript.

Speaker 1 For you, that's sweet.

Speaker 4 Maybe he's a doctor. Maybe it's an emergency.

Speaker 4 And then obviously, his wife, or whoever he was with, his girlfriend, was next to him and got really pissed off with him about, you know, it was the only light in the theater apart from this candle-lit stage.

Speaker 4 And she grabbed the phone from him and they were tossling. And I could see, I was talking to Judge Brack, and my life's about to end.
And it's been massive.

Speaker 4 And then the phone in the tussle flew onto the stage

Speaker 4 and his patient must have called and it was like

Speaker 1 no way

Speaker 4 this intrusion of the 20th century, 21st century had come onto the, what do we do with it?

Speaker 4 And I just, I felt so bad. It's like, I mean, Hedda Galber is not an empathetic character, but I just went, this poor guy, he's going to get, he's going to get divorced.

Speaker 4 This is, people come to the theater to connect and you know and so I picked up the phone and gave it back to him but then I for the rest of the night while I by you know I was deciding do I kill myself do I not kill myself I out of the corner of my eye you know I just saw the two of them split you know like that she moved so far away from him and it was yeah

Speaker 1 you should have answered you should have answered it in general I should have answered

Speaker 4 see if I was you I would have hello all right

Speaker 1 Yeah. No.

Speaker 4 But the other one, the worst one I think that's ever happened to me was a matinee.

Speaker 4 And it was a, you know, 350 seats. And, and, you know, there's a lot of hearing aids in the matinee,

Speaker 4 older, an older crowd. And so you hear the

Speaker 4 of people tuning in so they can hear, which is fair, totally fair enough. It was a two-hander.
We don't leave the stage for two hours.

Speaker 4 And there was a moment where we're having a marital spat and we pause.

Speaker 4 And in that pause, someone's hearing aid obviously wasn't turned up high enough and she turned to her husband and said our darling they can't act oh god

Speaker 4 and you we just turned to my scene partner and said um you could just look at him do we stop now do we

Speaker 1 it's been declared and she was right she was totally right uh how good would it be to get get her address and and mail her your one of your oscars would be so great Or a turd. Or a turd.

Speaker 1 Or a turd. Shaped like an Oscar.

Speaker 4 That's very Halloween.

Speaker 1 Yeah, a turd-shaped Oscar. Sure.
There you go. Who can't act now? Does someone make those?

Speaker 4 Or I don't know. Do you have a place where you go to get those?

Speaker 3 What about that theater, the film, the television, to all that stuff?

Speaker 3 Ideally, would you do

Speaker 3 one play

Speaker 3 every five years or one play every two years or something like that?

Speaker 4 Because you can't do one every year right because they they take so much time well i did i did three a year for 10 years we we ran the sort of the de facto national theater in australia is it you went to nida is that how you say it nidea the national not yeah nida yeah which is nida nida national institute of dramatic art which for my sister trace in wisconsin is considered one of the top acting schools in the world.

Speaker 2 You went there, Mal Gibson, Basil Luhrmann, Sam Worthington, lots of people.

Speaker 4 So there's a lot of Wisconsin going down.

Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Sean's sister lives there. So we use that.
Whenever we want to explain something, Sean just explains it to Tracy, his sister in Wisconsin.

Speaker 4 Oh, that's the Tracy. Yeah.

Speaker 3 You did three plays every year for 10 years?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Good Lord.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Wow. But it was, it was, it was the, I mean, that's where.
I don't know about you, Sean, but that I love rehearsal rooms.

Speaker 1 I love it too.

Speaker 4 I just think they're the best. If I was to die tomorrow, not that I want to die tomorrow, but it would be in a rehearsal room.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 4 There's just something so elastic and impolite. The world is so polite.

Speaker 4 And rehearsal rooms are not.

Speaker 4 I love a fart joke. And

Speaker 1 there's so many great fart jokes that come out of rehearsal rooms. Right.

Speaker 1 You should spend more time with Jason. You know, that valve of mine.
Do you like fart jokes?

Speaker 3 Well, it's just, you know, with my elasticity challenges right now.

Speaker 1 Well, quite. Yeah.

Speaker 3 So now that is something I have not seen you do as much as I would love to see you do, which is just

Speaker 1 a flat out comedy.

Speaker 3 Just a flat out comedy. No apologies.

Speaker 4 You have to apologize normally when you do comedy.

Speaker 3 Well, you know, I mean, some people try to sort of like kind of half do it.

Speaker 3 But a big broad comedy, I bet you would just, just crush. Do you have any desire for that?

Speaker 4 Yeah, totally. I mean, that's a space I love on stage, but it's this thing where film can be really,

Speaker 4 I don't know.

Speaker 4 I think I struggle with expectation.

Speaker 1 And so yours or theirs?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 both, I guess.

Speaker 4 You know, if you go into a room and people expect an outcome, that's what I love about a rehearsal room is that you're going to find out what the thing is. And so you say,

Speaker 4 the moment you think is funny. After three weeks, you go, no, that's not the funny bit.
That's the funny bit. Right, right.
And so that's what I, I'm slow. I'm really, really slow.

Speaker 1 And Sean can relate to to that. But Kate,

Speaker 1 if I could give you a piece of advice, and I can't believe I'm in a position where I'm giving Kate Blanchett a piece of advice,

Speaker 1 but I imagine I'm your senior in age. I will say this.
Of course. Well, let's not say, of course.
I mean, a lot of people mistake me for a much younger man.

Speaker 1 What's worked for me a lot is if you, you, you're setting the bar way too high. And what you need to do is really start lowering expectation.

Speaker 1 And I'm, listen, I'm, I'm really, I have a rich history of doing that. So, if that's the one thing I can impart on you, is just really start setting the bar lower.

Speaker 3 You know, like Daniel Day-Lewis said, he's fully retired. Now, what if you just declare a half retirement? Just say you're going to bring half talent.

Speaker 4 So, which half of me retires?

Speaker 3 Well, just you're just going to do 50% talent for the rest of your career. And so,

Speaker 4 I've been working on 27%.

Speaker 1 Don't you dare. Don't you dare say that, Kay Blanchett.

Speaker 3 And we will be right back.

Speaker 2 Over the years, Blue Apron has shipped more than 530 million meal kits. Meet the new Blue Apron now with no subscription.
We're living in an era of subscription overload.

Speaker 2 For the first time, customers can shop Blue Apron a la carte, ordering what they want, when they want, with no subscription required. I love lasagna!

Speaker 2 Discover new low-prep recipes and pre-made meals that let you get good food on the table in a pinch.

Speaker 2 With more than 100 weekly meals, which is more than double their previous menu, and 75% of them customizable, customers now have more choice than ever.

Speaker 2 And with Dish by Blue Apron, you can get pre-made meals that don't cut corners on quality.

Speaker 1 And spaghetti!

Speaker 2 Try delicious, nutritious with at least 20 grams of protein and ready in as little as five minutes. Really anything pasta!

Speaker 2 Try the new Blue Apron today and get 40% off your first two orders at blueapron.com with code smartlist40. Terms and conditions apply.
Visit blueapron.com slash terms for more.

Speaker 2 This podcast is brought to you by FedEx, the new power move.

Speaker 2 You know those people who still rely on old school business power moves, like showing up late to meetings because they're so busy or wearing a big shiny gold watch and making sure everyone notices it.

Speaker 2 Maybe it's the person who takes long dramatic pauses every time they speak because they're so profound.

Speaker 2 But let's be honest, all those old school power moves won't keep your supply chain moving smoothly. The real power move?

Speaker 2 Using data insights from FedEx to move your business forward, like using predictive analytics to manage your entire supply chain or calling out logistics problems before they arise and sitting at the forefront of business intelligence.

Speaker 2 That's how FedEx helps modern businesses stay ahead, anticipating change, rerouting around challenges, and keeping everything running smoothly. FedEx, the new power move.

Speaker 2 Visit fedEx.com slash newpower move to learn more.

Speaker 2 Tis the season, cold and flu season that is, but this year find symptom relief for less on GoodRX.

Speaker 2 With GoodRX, you could save an average of $53 on flu treatments and get discounts on cold medications, decongestants, and more. GoodRX is free and easy to use.

Speaker 2 Just search for your prescription on the website or the app, compare prices, and get a a free coupon to show your pharmacist.

Speaker 2 Check GoodRX to save at over 70,000 local pharmacies nationwide, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Publix, Kroger, and many more. Or get prescriptions delivered right to your front door.

Speaker 2 GoodRX is not insurance, but works whether you have insurance or not. And if you do have insurance, it could even beat your copay price.

Speaker 2 For savings on cold and flu medications or any other prescriptions, check GoodRX. Go to goodrx.com/slash smartless.
That's goodrx.com/slash smartless.

Speaker 3 All right, back to the show.

Speaker 1 Kate, is there like,

Speaker 2 are there things that you would do, that you do differently on a set now that you've had deserved success over the years that you didn't do when you first started out?

Speaker 1 Like, are there certain things like throwing coffee at a sister's?

Speaker 2 No, there's certain things you've admired in other actors.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I've stopped doing that. I stopped doing that in other words.

Speaker 1 Okay, good for you.

Speaker 2 Are there certain things you've admired in other actors that you observed that now that maybe you adopt and that you were afraid to do before, like certain ways of handling yourself or working or anything like that?

Speaker 1 Well, you know,

Speaker 4 I think

Speaker 4 we're in this time, you know, without wanting to get too heavy or whatever, but I mean, we've all been apart and we haven't even processed what the Me Too movement means for sets and diversity means.

Speaker 4 And, you know, you think, I don't know about you guys, but I still think I'm kind of 31.

Speaker 4 And clearly, i mean i know this is a podcast so i don't want to disabuse anyone but i'm not and so you think well

Speaker 4 like it or not and it's it's not a kind of a um a vanity thing but you think well i've made a certain amount of stuff so you walk onto a set and you've got a an expectation of that what that kind of quote unquote career brings and that you have a responsibility on on set to set the tone clearly i should lower that tone Will.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 4 And maybe that's what I will start to do. But, I mean, you do have a responsibility to, you know, cruise.
You think about, you know,

Speaker 4 what IATSI was doing over the course of the pandemic.

Speaker 4 And I think it was massive, you know, to talk about what cruise have been going through and that you as a forget the story, forget your character, forget your, you know, your fellow thespians.

Speaker 4 You have a responsibility to

Speaker 1 kind of look after the people that, you know are working with you right that that's been a big thing for me iotsi is the union that represents the crew a lot of the crews i think there's a difference now it's sort of behavior wise we're all we we weren't around at the time when there was what was considered acceptable behavior would be now would be outrageous and certainly i mentioned this before actually jason was a great over 20 years ago teaching me how to behave on set meaning what is your role and what is expected and and how everybody is collaborating in every department with each other so that you don't have that sort of hierarchical

Speaker 1 approach to it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's what I was kind of asking.

Speaker 2 Was there like a director, an actor, or somebody that you really kind of was an influence to you about like, oh, you know, the more I work, I should adopt some of that over there.

Speaker 1 For instance, and I've mentioned this before, but for instance, kind of to that, Sean, is that I remember one time I complained.

Speaker 1 Early on, we were doing a rest of the development and I said, I kept saying, what time are you rapping tonight? And Jason looked at me and he said, we got you for the whole day, right?

Speaker 1 And the implication was, we're all here working and we're all here. And I know you want to get on the golf course or whatever the fuck.
And I had nothing. By the way, I have nowhere to be ever.

Speaker 1 So other than pick up or drop off at school these days, I have nowhere to be. But it is that kind of like, what is that thing? And so, yeah, again, going to Sean's question.

Speaker 1 Was there somebody who taught you that language?

Speaker 4 Well, I was, I was in my very, very first job out of drama school. I was understudying in a Carol Churchill play at the theater that my husband

Speaker 4 ended up running, the Sydney Theatre Company. And

Speaker 4 this amazing theatre actor called Kerry Walker was playing the leads in Top Girls. And I was understudying one part.
And I came on for my three weeks of playing the role. And I got talking to her.

Speaker 4 And she said, you know, being a lead actress isn't just having, you know, the bulk of the lines.

Speaker 4 It is actually leading the cast and making sure that everyone is okay and making sure that the room the tone of the room is one in which everyone can work and that you have to you have to literally lead the room and so you set the tone and she did this amazing thing actually

Speaker 4 where the director was a first-time theater director um because you know they often cast when when there's a female writer about a play about women they always cast a woman because it's like how would a woman possibly understand a play where there are no men in it where there were men in it?

Speaker 1 It's so weird.

Speaker 4 But anyway, we won't go there.

Speaker 4 But she was saying, Carrie did this, was the actress, Carrie Walker, she did this thing where

Speaker 4 she was constantly moving her script around.

Speaker 4 And I talked to her about that. I said, you know, the director was really concerned about that, that you didn't, you know, know what you were doing.
And she said, of course I know what I was doing.

Speaker 4 But there were three actresses who had never been in this company before. And so I had to act like an idiot so that they felt like, oh, I can act like an idiot.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 4 so you create a situation where it's like, you fuck up, you make mistakes so that other people can make mistakes so that we all forget about it. And then therefore, people surprise each other.

Speaker 4 Because if you create an environment where everyone has to do their best work, it's like,

Speaker 4 you know, it's like closed sphincter and nothing happens.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you lead, you sort of lead by modeling. And I like Jason, again, always did that.
And he shows up every day, and he's, you know, very puffy and puffy eyes.

Speaker 1 And he lets everybody feel that it's okay to show up as you are. We've all got puffy eyes.

Speaker 3 Where did that, it seems like

Speaker 3 you are very comfortable in the best way of

Speaker 3 leading and setting example and tone and holding responsibility. And you seem to be comfortable with success.
Did that, were one or both of your parents

Speaker 3 super supportive of you as a child and gave you an early sense of leadership?

Speaker 3 Or is it something that you found?

Speaker 4 Comfortable with success?

Speaker 4 No, I've clearly led you down the wrong path.

Speaker 1 You don't

Speaker 3 comfortable with success.

Speaker 1 I don't buy you.

Speaker 4 No, but no, no, my father was an advertising and my

Speaker 4 mom was a teacher. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Well, well, then, well, then I'll change the question.

Speaker 3 Was it comfortable for you

Speaker 3 as you started to realize I'm really going to make something of this acting thing and people are liking what I'm doing and I'm getting bigger and bigger stuff and

Speaker 3 gathering more fame, more influence, more

Speaker 3 access, relevance? I mean, all of that stuff can be burdensome to someone who's not comfortable with success. How was it for you?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I think it's,

Speaker 4 well, I don't know. I mean, you guys would know more than me.
I mean, my husband said to me, and he is so supportive, but when Sean, you mentioned I played Queen Elizabeth,

Speaker 4 that happened.

Speaker 4 And I was looking dog years. I was over the hill by the time I made a movie.
I was 25.

Speaker 4 You know, and so, you know, my husband said, it's great that this is happening now. You've got five years.
You know that.

Speaker 1 And then it's okay.

Speaker 4 You can go back to the theater. And so I've always, that's what I've always said to myself.

Speaker 4 It's like, you know, i'll take it when it comes and then i've got this other thing that i love yeah which is you know my real job is waiting for me that you're also really really good at and actually this sean this question is for you oh

Speaker 1 hearing kate talk here well i and because i want to because i want to hear kate your input

Speaker 1 well it's two parts kate what was that experience like and you you sort of speak very reverentially about this experience of of working in the theater and running the theater when you did it in sydney sean what was that like?

Speaker 1 And could you, like, would that be your dream, Sean? When she mentioned running the theater, you like lit up. Would you like to run that?

Speaker 2 No, I just think it's cool that they, but you own a theater, you run a theater or something.

Speaker 2 I just think that's really great to give back like that because one of my first,

Speaker 2 the first place I ever felt safe to be me and included and all of those things that a human needs as a child was the theater. Was that Sonic?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 Absolutely. I would class.

Speaker 2 What'd you say, Will?

Speaker 1 Was that Sonic? Was that the graduate Sonic?

Speaker 1 Getting your bird

Speaker 1 drive-through.

Speaker 4 Understood and undercut.

Speaker 4 That's what friendship's all about.

Speaker 1 That's my love language. This is my love language.
That's the lie in the line of Sonic.

Speaker 2 No, but thanks for asking, Will. Yeah, no, I think that that's,

Speaker 2 I would cut class in high school and just go sit in the theater because it was so quiet and peaceful and the smell and then all the memories of all the friends that I made there through the safe space where you could fail and everybody would laugh and cheer you on to just keep trying it again.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And that's kind of Kate.
You actually said you're talking in a little bit of a different way. It seems like that the theater, that experience is your safe place or your happy place in a way.

Speaker 1 You keep saying like, I'll go back. If everything else falls apart, I'll go back to that.
Is it your safe space?

Speaker 4 Yeah, well, I mean, I think that's what I loved about Nightmare Alley: it's like I always think about the theater as being circus.

Speaker 4 It's like all the people I made theater with high school, I'm still friends with.

Speaker 4 Same, you know, yeah, and at university, because it's at that point when you're in adolescent where you go, I don't know, I don't know what these things that are growing on my chest are.

Speaker 4 It's really weird, you know. It's like, I mean, you probably none of you had that problem, but well, you know, it's not a problem.

Speaker 3 It's if I have a lot of sugar or salt, I will get fresh anyway.

Speaker 4 Yeah, maybe, or you know, if you if you eat chicken that's not organic, I had an actor friend of mine who came to me. He was playing Hamlet, and he said, I'm crying breasts.

Speaker 4 I said, what?

Speaker 1 He said, I'm crying breasts.

Speaker 4 And he said, I've been eating a lot of chicken lately. And so

Speaker 4 he was really worried because he's playing Hamlet.

Speaker 1 Jason eats chocolate chicken chicken.

Speaker 3 Wait, you can eat chicken all the time.

Speaker 4 time could that but it needs to be with all those hormones that the chickens are pumped with it's it can have what about if I eat the leg or the thigh?

Speaker 3 If I stop eating the chicken breasts, would that be?

Speaker 4 No, it's nothing to do with if you eat the body part of the animal, you don't grow that body part. It's

Speaker 1 like the question about it. It doesn't work that way.

Speaker 3 I lob it up. You know,

Speaker 3 I'm not afraid to set someone up for a nice, easy one.

Speaker 3 Can I ask about

Speaker 3 acting and the draw?

Speaker 3 Because we're all actors here, and not to get into a big actor thingy, but I enjoy the part about acting.

Speaker 3 I'll go first, saying that I like to kind of explore the different areas of myself by which characters that I'm playing.

Speaker 3 Is that something, is it an internal exploration for you, or is the draw of it, the exciting part of it, more about playing people that are completely different than you and morphing into a completely different person?

Speaker 3 Or do you like checking out the boundaries of your own eccentricities?

Speaker 4 Yeah, see Jason, you're really interesting.

Speaker 3 I am. This is what I try to tell these guys.

Speaker 1 Mission accomplished for him.

Speaker 1 He did say he likes to investigate the different area singular of himself. Go ahead.
Sorry, Katie.

Speaker 4 We had the armpit.

Speaker 4 No, I mean, I couldn't be less interested. in myself.
So it's always the, I don't know, I always,

Speaker 4 it's kind of like social anthropology, but you get to be a little bit Martha Graham about it and you have to make it physical yeah you know like if I had my time over I'd be I would work with Pina Bauch or I'd be a buto dancer or you know like it's just it's the phys it's the physicalization of all of that stuff that I just completely get to work I mean I couldn't I left talking about myself or investigating my armpits.

Speaker 1 I mean, really.

Speaker 3 So you're like morphing into a completely different person.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it's just someone else's experience. And look, I don't know about you, but I mean, if there's any parallel or intersection between you and the character, it's going to sit there.

Speaker 4 And you can't escape yourself, particularly as one gets older.

Speaker 4 It, you know,

Speaker 4 you do calcify a little bit as a human, which is unfortunate. But, you know, it becomes...
I remember Cindy Sherman saying, you know, she went digital.

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 4 you know relatively recently in her body of work and everyone was like oh my god how can Cindy Sherman possibly go digital? It was all about her doing in-camera transformations.

Speaker 4 And she said, well, no, I got to the point where I was a less plastic object. I couldn't, you know, and so I needed to play with, keep playing with the form.

Speaker 4 And you have to find that way as you get older to, I don't know, escape yourself.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but like Bob Dylan, when he went, when he went electric at the Newport Jazz Festival years ago and everybody freaked out, like, Bob, and he didn't stop being Bob Dylan.

Speaker 1 He just started being a different version of Bob Dylan because

Speaker 1 he was sick. You know what I noticed, Kate, that I like

Speaker 4 that I played Bob Dylan.

Speaker 1 You played Bob Dylan.

Speaker 1 I played Bob Dylan, yeah. That is crazy.
That's so crazy.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so it's like I'm the go-to person for Bob Dylan. No, Todd Haynes,

Speaker 4 a while ago, made a film about Bob Dylan and divided him because obviously he's such a shapeshifter. I mean, you know, he's one of my all-time heroes.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 But, you know, and so he wanted someone because that electric period you described is so iconic. Okay.
He wanted a woman to play it because,

Speaker 4 you know.

Speaker 3 Kate, let me ask you a question that these guys will make fun of me for asking any actor that's been blessed with as many years as you've had in this business.

Speaker 3 But with that experience, with that set time,

Speaker 3 do you have any desire to direct, to use all that you have absorbed and put it into

Speaker 3 that leadership position and

Speaker 3 consequently make the day smoother for everyone on set than perhaps a first-timer with less experience.

Speaker 4 Well, I have been watching you from afar, senor, and you know what you've been doing and

Speaker 4 the kind of the journey through acting, producing, the way she deflects, directing. And you've worked with Joel, wonderful Joel.

Speaker 1 Yeah, excellent.

Speaker 4 I love that film.

Speaker 3 What a great job you did with the gift.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 The gift was fantastic. You were mighty fine in that too.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Mr.

Speaker 4 And People have asked me before,

Speaker 1 but my

Speaker 4 I think it's a question of taste, too. Like, you know, when you work with Guillermo and you work with Anna McKay, and

Speaker 4 you work with Scorsese,

Speaker 4 they know how to direct. So,

Speaker 4 I have in theater, I don't know if you have, Sean, no, not in the side, but I have in theater because I understand the process, right?

Speaker 4 And I think I'm just waiting for that undeniable thing, which I think you know, I understand this completely, but I can't be in it.

Speaker 4 Or I remember talking to Matt Damon about this, you know, who is so smart and has such a writer's brain and a really great director's artist.

Speaker 1 I've got to see him do it too.

Speaker 4 Yeah, exactly. About whether, do you are you in it? Because as an actor, I don't know, you probably find this with Zozark, is that you are inside the thing.

Speaker 4 So you understand how it needs to be blocked, how the scene needs to be looked at. You understand the character's perspectives because you've lived it.
so therefore, you shouldn't be ashamed of it.

Speaker 1 I'm not saying you are ashamed of that, but but it's like oh god, no, this took a turn. This took a real turn, yeah.
This took the that just, yeah, but anyway, I've got the idea.

Speaker 1 I've got the idea, Kate, for your film that you're going to direct, and it's going to combine two of the things that we've talked about that you really that I think you love, um, which is which are bees and cheese.

Speaker 1 And it's called The Cheese Keeper. Okay,

Speaker 1 and yeah, I'm so excited

Speaker 1 this Christmas. go on a journey

Speaker 1 to the heart of Green Bay, Wisconsin. From the people who brought you Tracy.

Speaker 1 Okay, it's the cheesekeeper. Kate, we've kept you way too long.

Speaker 2 God bless you. I'm going to let you go in two seconds.
I need to fan out, oh my God, Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite books series. I'm so glad you were in it.

Speaker 2 You are a staple in my mind forever because of that. And as a kid, A House with a Clock in Its Walls.
I read all of those books as a kid.

Speaker 1 And when that,

Speaker 2 yes, I loved those books so much and to see you play uh mrs zimmerman who's one of my favorite characters in any kids book of all time it was such it was so incredible to see up there but anyway thank you for being here lots of love to you and thank you for you for all of your incredible work please keep keep going harder and harder don't ever stop um give us more and more please yeah you're so great kate thank you so much ditto to the three of you thank you for saying yes to this bye sweetie bye-bye thanks guys take care thank you thanks for having me bye

Speaker 2 I could have asked her five million questions.

Speaker 1 I don't think you could have come up with five million questions. And I'm going to be real with you.

Speaker 2 No, seriously, Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Oh, my God.
She's amazing in those.

Speaker 1 I love those movies.

Speaker 3 How did that all come together, Sean?

Speaker 3 Did they have some damaging photos on her or something?

Speaker 1 She's been on leverage?

Speaker 2 She's been on my list, top of the top of the list for a long list since we started this podcast.

Speaker 1 Did you shame her into this?

Speaker 1 I love her. I think she's amazing.

Speaker 2 I think she's, I mean, of course. Like Meryl Streep and her.

Speaker 1 But we never did get her to talk shit on Bradley. She should have, that would have been good.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that would. Let's call her back.

Speaker 2 Wait, when did she work with Bradley?

Speaker 3 In the film that's out right now that she's promoting issues.

Speaker 1 Oh, that one gets to be.

Speaker 3 God damn it, Sean.

Speaker 1 Sean, we're not cutting that out either. That's staying in.
I forgot. When she worked with Bradley, I will say, Kate is, I mean, that is a talented, talented person.
She's very talented. My word,

Speaker 1 so good in everything and so diverse. Yeah, I can't

Speaker 1 stop nowhere. What the fuck? With all of hang on, Jason, I'm so offended by that.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Jason was a bitch.
He has to go pee.

Speaker 1 I'm sorry. You do have to pee.

Speaker 3 So what about all those incredible performances that we have all seen that she has been rewarded for and awarded for? She has never seen any of them.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Isn't that wild?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I know. That's wild.

Speaker 3 She's never seen any of her movies, any of her roles, is is what i'm i'm taking from her answer i i can't believe that that's 100 true but sounds like it could be benjamin button cinderella thor ocean's eight i mean she's been in tons of huge movies talented mr ripley remember that

Speaker 1 she's worked with unbelievable

Speaker 3 anyway um incredible guest sean wow thanks yeah

Speaker 3 thank you sean you're welcome i got to subscribe to this uh this podcast yeah what it's called again just click in the just click on the

Speaker 3 wherever you get your podcasts yeah yeah you know huh So then I don't have to buy it

Speaker 1 free,

Speaker 1 smart

Speaker 1 less

Speaker 1 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarve, and Bennett Barbico.

Speaker 1 Smart Less

Speaker 5 There are millions of podcasts out there, and you've chosen this one. Whether you're a regular or just here on a whim, it's what you have chosen to listen to.

Speaker 5 With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice. Yoto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player.
With hundreds of Yoto cards, there are stories, music, and podcasts like this one, but for kids.

Speaker 5 Just slot a card into the player and let the adventure begin. Check out Yotoplay.com.

Speaker 2 You know those moments when you're trying to work through a complex problem and you can't stop until you've found the answer?

Speaker 2 That's where Claude comes in, the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough.

Speaker 2 Whether you're planning something big, researching a topic you're curious about, or just trying to work through a problem, Claude matches your level of curiosity.

Speaker 2 Try Claude for free at claude.ai slash smartless and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner.