Cate Blanchett’s 10 favourite films from childhood
Actor Cate Blanchett has been making headlines recently following her impressive performance in Todd Field’s latest film, Tár. Blanchett played a fictional classical music composer whose seemingly idyllic and affluent life comes crashing down around her when it comes to light that she has previously abused a former student.
Blanchett is, of course, no stranger to earning critical admiration, having won two Academy Awards in her career for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine. But what about the early part of Blanchett’s life? Well, she once noted her favourite films from her childhood during a feature with The Sydney Morning Herald, so let’s take a look at some of them now.
First up for Blanchett is Robert Redford’s directorial debut Ordinary People, released in 1980. It tells of the falling apart of an upper-middle-class family when one of their two sons dies in an accident and the other attempts suicide. Blanchett called the film a “wonderful, heartbreaking film” before adding: “It was unflinching in its look at a family quietly coming apart at the seams – Mary Tyler Moore’s portrayal of the mother was brilliant.”
On a lighter note, Blanchett admires the 1958 comedy Mon Oncle, directed by Jacques Tati, which was the first of Tati’s films to be released in colour. It told of a socially troubled but likeable man who struggles with the French post-war obsession with technological innovation and consumerism. “My mother showed me this film; in fact, all Jacques Tati films at a young age,” Blanchett said. “I’ve done the same with our sons.”
Comedy was clearly a deep love of Blanchett when she was younger, as she includes one of the greatest classic comedies of all time, Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder in 1959. It saw Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon hiding from the mafia in an all-girl orchestra featuring Marilyn Monroe. “I remember laughing like a drain during the scenes on the beach,” Blanchett admitted.
Blanchett also adored Michael Apted’s music biopic about country singer Loretta Lynn in her youth. It saw an Academy Award-winning performance from Sissy Spacek, while Tommy Lee Jones played her husband. Blanchett said of the film, “I’m a huge Sissy Spacek fan; her tender strength and her battle against her environment mesmerised me – I adore Tommy Lee Jones, and this was the first time I’d seen him.”
Check out the complete list of Cate Blanchett’s ten favourite films from her childhood below, including classics by the likes of Alan Parker, Frank Capra and Geoffrey Reggio. And take a look at our recent review of Cate Blanchett in Todd Field’s Tár here.
Cate Blanchett’s 10 favourite films from childhood:
- Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 1980)
- Huckleberry Finn (Robert Totten, 1975)
- Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
- Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
- The Scarlet Claw (Roy William Neill, 1944)
- Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
- Coal Miner’s Daughter (Michael Apted, 1980)
- Koyaanisqatsi (Geoffrey Reggio, 1982)
- Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker, 1976)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
