Cate Blanchett is one of W Magazine’s many Best Performances covers, and Cate’s cover is the worst one. She’s a beautiful woman and an OG shape-shifter! Why would you put her in this awful ensemble and put yellow eye makeup on her? Ugh. I get that Cate’s cover might have been some kind of theme – she’s promoting Nightmare Alley, where she plays a mysterious psychiatrist. The idea was probably “let’s make her look like she’s a circus person.” It didn’t work. The W Mag interview is interesting though, some highlights:
On Nightmare Alley: “I love the project. I saw Tod Browning’s Freaks at an impressionable age, and it was so full of humanity. I’ve always been fascinated by the circus or carnival world. I saw the original [1947] Nightmare Alley with Tyrone Power, and I loved that in the film, everything was a game. [In this version], I play the traditional femme fatale—I draw men to their doom. But I saw my character, Lilith, as a beacon of truth in a perverted way. Someone who was able to excavate the truth from a person who did not want the truth revealed.
She met a fortune-teller once: “Years ago, I played a psychic in a Sam Raimi film called The Gift. I’d never even had a reading, so I thought I should. She said some very strange things that didn’t make sense at the time, including that I would have four children. Much of what she said came to pass—and here I am with four children! Part of me wanted to rush back and see her again, and part of me never wanted to see her again. [Laughs]
What she did during the Covid shutdown: “I gardened for England! Couldn’t stop planting! We had a derelict greenhouse on our property that we brought back to life. I practiced the piano. And I also watched every episode of The Sopranos, which I had never seen. I can’t look at a screen now—I have PTSD about watching anything at home. I want to be out: in a cinema, a concert hall, a theater, experiencing something with strangers. I miss that communal bond.
Nightmare Alley’s larger message: “The more one tries to conceal one’s true nature, the more those tendencies will have an impact on your life. It’s one thing to lie—it’s another thing to believe your lies. (And my character reveals the truth.)
Man, I didn’t know that there was a 1947 version of Nightmare Alley. I love Tyrone Power too, a very underrated star of the era. I assume Bradley Cooper is playing the Tyrone Power role?? If so… um, wow, that’s a piece of casting. That’s cool that she met a fortune teller in preparation for The Gift, which is also a pretty underrated film. I wonder what else the fortune teller told her? Man, this is making me want to see a fortune teller. I’ve never been to one!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, cover courtesy of W Magazine.
that’s such a bad cover. they did her dirty.
How have they managed to make cate blanchett look like a deranged ventriloquist dummy?!!!
I had a reading done waaaaayyy back when I was 18 years old and what she said did come to fruition. It kind of freaked me out and it took me another 3 decades before I went to another one who wasn’t accurate but gave good advice.
“I can’t look at a screen now—I have PTSD about watching anything at home. I want to be out: in a cinema, a concert hall, a theater, experiencing something with strangers. I miss that communal bond.”
I totally here her on this and I can relate but I cannot jump into communal stranger bonding life right now. I DID go to a movie with my sister on my birthday where we did have some distance between other patrons and folks were wearing their masks.
I do not like the yellow eye shadow on the goddes Blanchett at all.
I haven’t gotten any great/accurate anything from a psychic so far. I want the number of Cate’s.
Last year (early April) I actually paid up to go to a 20+ year professional psychic/author, who said the guy I like wasn’t going to pan out (sadly true) but another one was going to come along within a year, with specific details. Sadly, that one has NOT come along so far. There’s technically a few weeks to go before this guy’s deadline is up, mind you, but it’s not looking good :/ She even said it’s someone in my neighborhood, but I seriously have not come across this person, dammit.
It hurts me no one knew about the 47 version of Nightmare Alley.
Tyrone Power was excellent in it and I really wasn’t feeling Coop in the role because he did not have Power’s ‘It’.
the original is so much better and mainly due to the casting. Tyrone > Bradley
Friends paid for my reading with a psychic right after my divorce. The psychic told me about a man – not a romantic interest – who would be a big part of my future. She described his appearance, his lifestyle, even his neighborhood. I changed jobs about a year after that, and one of my new bosses was that man.
I have a friend that does readings and is super accurate with me. About a year after my daughter was born she said she felt a male spirit hanging out to join our family in a few years and I realized I felt that energy too, just didn’t know how to say it. A few years later here I am pregnant again. I didn’t officially find out the sec but I’m leaning toward a boy as the energy feels more male. I’ll know for sure in a few months.
A coworker had her palm read and was told she would meet her future husband very soon. Left the shop, walked down the stairs, stumbled, and was caught by the guy she has been married to for almost 40 years.
That cover is terrible! Wow.
I remember seeing The Gift, wasn’t it by Billy Bob Thorton about his mother? There was someone in my old town who did readings, I saw her a few times, and pretty much everything she said came to be, except me having 3 boys. No kids for me!
The Gift was a great Cate Blanchett movie. So many good actors in it. A rare Keanu Reeves as a bad guy. Hillary Swank, Greg Kinnear, Giovanni Ribisi and JK Simmons. Tense, thriller from 2000 or so. I highly recommend.
I’d be a bit more shocked if Cate had had like, 4 surprise pregnancies or twins or something. When you’re actively seeking to make your family that size there isn’t much shock factor there.
Tyrone was better than Cooper. In fact I liked the original better. Tyrone could pull off a T-shirt and a tux; Bradley was uncomfortable in the tux. Tyrone could be rough or smooth as silk. Well after all, he was Tyrone. And if it hadn’t been for him pushing Zanuck, del Toro probably wouldn’t be aware of the story. I tried years ago to get the book; after the dvd release of the film, it became available.
As someone with actual ptsd I really don’t like it when people use ptsd in daily language like that… no Cate, you probably don’t have ptsd from watching too many soprano episodes in your large mansion for a year.