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Blanchett reigns as Australian of Year
By LYNDEN BARBER and D.D. McNICOLL
22 Jan 00MOMENTS after expressing her joy at being named 1999 Australian of the Year, actor Cate Blanchett scotched the rumours that she was likely to take the hotly contested Jodie Foster role in the sequel to Silence of the Lambs.
Speaking from Savannah, Georgia, where she is currently making a film with Keanu Reeves, Blanchett said that although director Ridley Scott was interested in her for the plum role, she was unlikely to take it. "I have an infinite amount of respect for him and I'm sure he'll do an extraordinary job," she said of Scott, "but I don't think I'll take the job."
Blanchett also said she was "not as obsessed with film as
everyone else seems to be" and that she would like to try her hand at theatre directing. "I'm so thrilled, it's so fantastic," she said of being named The Australian's Australian of the Year. "Thank you so much, I'm incredibly honoured."
The award is the latest in a long line for Blanchett, who won the Golden Globe last year for Elizabeth and was considered to be unlucky to miss out on an Oscar.
Blanchett studied fine arts at Melbourne University before bowing to peer pressure to try her hand as an actor. She said that after completing a three-year drama course, she would give herself five years to make it as a professional actor or she would return to fine arts.
In March 1994, only a year out of drama school and just 24, she won the best actress and best new talent awards at the Sydney Critics' Awards.
David Armstrong, the editor-in-chief of The Australian and The Weekend Australian and chairman of the judging panel, said there had been a large number of outstanding nominations for 1999 Australian of the Year.
"1999 was a good year for John Howard," Armstrong said. "It was a year in which be achieved his long-held ambitions in the area of tax reform, in which he articulated and developed his ideas of social policy and – although we were on the other side of the debate – it was a year in which he had a clear victory in the republic referendum."
Mr Armstrong said Major-General Peter Cosgrove had done an outstanding job for the nation in East Timor and that Governor-General William Deane was very popular among readers for speaking his mind on a range of issues, especially reconciliation.
"We thought, however, at the beginning of a new century it was time to be looking to honour those who represent the future of our nation and the future of Australian achievement – and that introduced a number of absolutely outstanding candidates, especially in sport.
"You could take your pick from swimmer Ian Thorpe, golfer Karrie Webb, sprinter Cathy Freeman, our young Davis Cup stars and our cricket, rugby or netball teams. "But one person stood out as an example of genuine international achievement at the highest level – stage and screen actor Cate Blanchett.
"Ms Blanchett has succeeded in an arena known for the most ruthless competition without losing any of the naturalness and charm which has marked her career."
Blanchett joins a who's who of Australians who have received the award since it began in 1971.
© News Limited 2000