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	LOTR News 3-7-00 LOTR NEWS UPDATE LORD OF THE RINGS BONANZA E! Online spoke to our Cate this week in a major story they titled: Galadriel Speaks: Cate Blanchett on Magic, Elves and Disco Boots by John Forde July 1, 2000 Cate Blanchett sits in her trailer, studying her scripts for the day's filming. She has just 10 days in New Zealand to wrap her scenes as Elf Queen Galadriel--a small but pivotal part in Lord of the Rings (and one of only three major female characters in the trilogy)--and she's cramming hard before the afternoon cameras roll. It's a familiar scenario for the 31-year-old Australian beauty. Since her Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated performance in 1998's Elizabeth, she has become one of the world's most sought after actresses, stretching from Long Island housewife (Pushing Tin) to WASP heiress (The Talented Mr Ripley) to Elvish royalty. Of course, Cate's more than just an actress. She's a movie star, with the kind of beauty and flair for fashion (remember the backless butterfly dress at last year's Academy Awards?) that make her a photographer's dream. For now, though, the Vera Wangs and red carpets are on hold. It's on with the blond wig, pointy silicone Elf ears and flowing gowns to play Galadriel--prophetess, Ring bearer, gift giver and (possible) thief of the Ring. But since she has some time before shooting resumes, she welcomes a visitor to talk about her character, working with director Peter Jackson and LOTR. Is it daunting taking on a character from such a well-known story? Cate: It's a challenge, in the best possible sense of the word. How do you mean? Cate: Well, you're dealing with so many millions of people who are connected to these stories, and you have a responsibility. But you also need to find a reason to turn it into a film. If you're simply wanting to give every single detail in the books, then go and buy the tapes of someone reading them, or go and read them yourself. It has to be a filmic experience, which is liberating for an actor. How did you become involved in the project? Cate: I heard on the grapevine that Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh, Jackson's writing partner] were going to do it, and I'd long been a fan of their films. Are you a big Tolkien fan? Cate: I'd read The Hobbit, but I've only come to the book as an adult--since I've been involved in the project. There are so many people on this project who've known the books since their childhood--it's interwoven in their fantasies. I've come at it from a different way. But I think if anyone can realize the stories, Peter can. What appeals to you about P.J.'s vision? Cate: Like any form of magic or war story, the books are incredibly dark. They're primal as well as fantastical, so I think it's important to have a director who has his feet planted in gore and fantasy. Yet when we're doing the scenes, he's constantly saying it has to be real--even though we're playing Elves--and grounded in realism, or else people won't buy it. They have to be emotionally and psychologically, as well as visually, invested in the story. How has filming been so far? Cate: I've never done this before--I've come into this project with a group of people at the top of their field who've been going for eight months. It's a city within a city here. It's an industry--like Middle Earth, really! You come in and you're walking past people in Orc costumes, and you go to WETA and you see the extraordinary things they're doing there--they're geniuses! So, in a lot of ways I've taken the lead from them. Is it intimidating to be one of the few women in this sea of men? Cate: Not when you're Galadriel! I've got these glam-disco boots, which make me as tall as anyone! [Cate hikes up her costume to reveal a very cool pair of gold platforms.] And, of course, Galadriel has a little bit of clout, too. Cate: The spiritual power and the psychic power of the Elves is so intense. Like anyone in a position of power, Galadriel doesn't need to wield it. It's a quiet power. Peter wants to find that sense of Mother Earth and the physical glory that is Galadriel, but he's wanting to also find the darkness and the threat. She is a Ring bearer herself, as well as a queen. As there are so few female figures in the books, it's a bit like women everywhere--you want them to be able to be everything, because there's so few of them! How are you putting the character together? Cate: I look at Alan Lee's drawings, and I'm working with makeup artists and costume designers and WETA technicians, who've all grown up with the books. So, it's the perfect environment, really, because you're able to witness the physical expression of people's connection to the book and then mine that. Moment by moment, you're trying to make it as real as you can. Also, there's so much that will be done in postproduction. So far, I've been working with actors, so I haven't had to work with tennis balls....maybe that's still to come! What appeals to you about Galadriel? What about her is yours? Cate: I don't really look at characters that way. I don't claim them. They will mutate depending on the circumstances. Peter and I are interested in showing that when the Ring enters Lothlórien, it is a threat. Galadriel is traditionally a vessel of goodness and purity and white light, but she is tempted by the power of the Ring--as are most who come into contact with it. What I've really connected to about the books is that there's an enormous sadness at the passing of time. Treebeard says the world is changing--he feels it in the water, he feels it in the air. I think that's something Galadriel feels. She's able to sense her position in the changing order of the world. There's a joy in the melancholy of what that means--that she can be released. There's also a lot of gray area for Galadriel, right? Cate: What's interesting is these debates about whether Galadriel was forced to stay in Middle Earth or whether she chose to stay. I hope we keep those ambiguities alive. When you're dealing with a figure like her, you don't want to be prescriptive--you want to be evocative. So, if I'm trying to do anything, I hope I can do that. Galadriel speaks some of her dialogue in Old Elvish. How does speaking another language--especially a fictional one--open you to the character? Cate: [Dialogue coaches] Roisin [Carty] and Andrew [Jack] have been very helpful to us. They both speak Elvish beautifully, and they're online to [becoming] Old Elvish experts. And that in itself really spins me out! That there's someone who devotes their time to speaking Elvish--it's just astonishing! It's like people speaking Klingon! How does the language sound? Cate: It's not like any I've attempted to speak before. It sounds familiar because of the Celtic influences, but it's completely unfamiliar at the same time. So much of Elvish is very formal and ceremonial. Has that affected the way you move and deliver the lines? Cate: It's very important that it's not bad Shakespearean, like [in bad Shakespearean voice], "My liege!...A-ha! The long, pointy-eared Elf people have just arrived!" We're trying to avoid that. But it's hard--the language is incredibly formal, as are the relationships and the hierarchy in the Elven community. Plus, there are elements of Galadriel that keep her apart from other characters. Cate: Galadriel doesn't really step down to the others. You never truly get to know her--she's an enigma, and that's part of her allure. The closest she gets to knowing anyone really is Frodo--or to Frodo knowing her. I think it's important to keep that sense of mystery. How do you characterize Galadriel's prophetic powers? There's ambiguity as to whether it's a gift or a curse. Cate: I think it's a gift. Something I've taken from the texts which really informs Galadriel's whole story is a passage where she says, "I will not counsel you to take..." this course or that course. The only way she can prevail is knowing what may come to pass. She doesn't try to pin down her visions and act upon them. Why do you think Galadriel resists the power of the Ring? Cate: I think the bringing of the Ring onto Lothlórien is part of her test. She says in the book, "I've passed my test." She knows Frodo won't leave without offering her the Ring. At one point we toyed with the idea of her trying to take the Ring. She's rewarded in the end, being able to return to... Cate: Yeah, but that's the ambiguous thing about whether she came to Middle Earth to set up a dominion of her own, or whether she wasn't allowed to return. I think when she says, "I will diminish," it's bittersweet. This community is more of a matriarchy, and we follow the change from a matriarchy into the world of men, a patriarchy, where things will be structured differently. So, maybe we're seeing a matriarchy at the point where it's allowing itself to be overtaken by men. I don't know. And I find it interesting not to know! Then we have this little tidbit from the Sunday Times UK: Hollywood hobbits upset Tolkien fans by Maurice Chittenden Frodo Baggins is ready to flirt. The introduction of glamorous Hollywood stars such as Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett to a new movie version of The Lord of the Rings has upset the family and followers of J R R Tolkien. Literary fans who are devoted to the purity of Tolkien's Middle Earth ouevre are angry that minor female roles have been expanded to provide a love interest. There are even fears that Tyler, who co-starred opposite Bruce Willis in the space action adventure Armageddon, will turn the role of Lady Arwen into a warrior princess. Tolkien's fantasy, which was voted the best book of the 20th century in several polls last year, is being filmed in New Zealand as a Star Wars-style trilogy. Each movie, in which Sir Ian McKellen, the Shakespearian actor, plays Gandalf, is expected to cost £100m, making it the most expensive film project after Titanic. The first film, directed by Peter Jackson and to be released next year, is the second attempt at putting Lord of the Rings on to the big screen. A cartoon version appeared in 1978 but was condemned by critics and Tolkien fans alike. The release of a trailer for the new film, however, has broken internet records. It was downloaded by 6.6m people in its first week. But its contents have alarmed members of the Tolkien Society, who are to discuss Tyler's role and that of Blanchett, who plays Galadriel, at their annual Oxonmoot, or meeting in Oxford, in September. Arwen is described by Tolkien as "such loveliness in living thing Frodo had never seen before nor imagined in his mind". Galadriel, though described as an aged queen of elves, is played by Blanchett, the 30-year-old Australian actress who performed the title role in Elizabeth, the award-winning film about the Tudor queen. Ian Collier, spokesman for the Tolkien Society, said: "We have heard that Arwen is leading an elf army at one point and replacing one of the hobbits in the fellowship. I do hope Liv Tyler is not going to turn it into a sword-and-sorcery type role." John Tolkien, the author's son, said nobody had approached the family about the changes and the Hollywood stars had no significance. EDITOR'S NOTE We wanted to let you know that we have been contacted directly by Ian Collier, spokesman for the Tolkien Society, in regards to the above article. Mr. Collier is quite displeased, if not distressed, with the slant and nature of the piece, and feels he has been misquoted and taken out of context. He is in the process of trying to work out a retraction with the Sunday Times UK. He assures us he holds Cate in the highest regard, and appears mortified that anyone would gather otherwise based upon this piece. Specifically he states, "And if Cate does get to read this, I thought your Elizabeth I was great" and asks, "will you be drawing on that experience for Galadriel at all?" We will try and keep you informed on the progression of this matter, and deeply appreciate Mr. Collier's kind feelings in stating his objections to the slant, as well as clarifying his respect for Cate's craft and casting in the part. And, no sooner did we laugh about the prospect of Cate/Galadriel action figures in our Cate News last week when our buddy Xoanon at theonering.net furnished the following images of the real McCoy, compliments of Toy Vault!!!: And finally, in a New Zealand Press-Herald story reported by Scott MacLeod: A one-month probe into claims of movie piracy on the set of the mega-trilogy Lord of the Rings has ended with the arrest of an Auckland crew member. The 36-year-old has been charged with making a VHS copy of film footage, money-laundering, fraudulently dealing with a film and theft as a servant of two video cassettes. The company producing the fantasy trilogy says it has boosted its security since the allegations surfaced. Police spokeswoman Kaye Calder said yesterday that an average of three Wellington police officers worked fulltime for a month before the man was arrested in Auckland on Saturday evening. She refused to say how much money was alleged to have been laundered, and papers filed in the Auckland District Court yesterday during the man's first appearance gave scant details. But a source close to the investigation told the Herald there were "obviously considerable sums" to be made from pirated copies of the film, which will have its first instalment released in December next year. The source said no footage was sent overseas before the man was arrested. Court papers alleged the man stole video cassettes from an employer called Newline Productions Ltd. But a spokesman for New Line Cinema, Steve Elzer, said from Los Angeles that the man was not a direct employee. He said New Line had been working closely with the New Zealand police and had taken steps to ensure no footage would be pirated in future. The best-known person spying on the production, who goes by the name Tehanu, said on a Website that there were growing rumours of props and other items being stolen from the sets in New Zealand. "It's not a complete surprise that someone working in the production has been arrested." The man was remanded without plea for two weeks when he appeared in court. He was given interim name suppression.	EMAIL US Back to ACBO Aussie Cate Blanchett Online [ACBO] © 1999,2000 Lin, Dean, Lance. Heading design and layout by Lin. 800x600 screen size recommended. A proud Australian Site.