Cate Blanchett reflected on the #MeToo movement in Hollywood during an interview event at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, noting that it didn’t last as long as was hoped.
“It got killed very quickly, which I think is interesting,” Blanchett said. “There are a lot of people with platforms who are able to speak up with relative safety and say this has happened to me. And the so-called average woman on the street, person on the street, is saying me too. Why does that get shut down? What it revealed is a systemic layer of abuse, not only in this industry, but in all industries, and if you don’t identify a problem, you can’t solve the problem. If you shut that conversation down, you can’t move on.”
She said the imbalance of power continues to exist on film sets when she’s working. “I’m still on film sets and I do the headcount every day, and it is still, you know—there’s 10 women and there’s 75 men every morning,” she said. “I love men, but what happens is the jokes become the same. You just have to brace yourself slightly, and I’m used to that, but it just gets boring for everybody when you walk into a homogeneous workplace. I think it has an effect on the work.”
During the broad-ranging conversation, Blanchett also spoke about the importance of Hollywood as a place for political discussions, including the ongoing conflict between Israeli and Palestine.
“It’s a sad state of affairs when film festivals suddenly become the only places where one can talk about wars, conflicts, genocides as if they’re going to be solved here,” Blanchett said. “It’s very important to keep those things on the public radar. I just wish that the question times in various parliaments around the world were much more honest and working towards solutions, because it’s appalling and enraging what’s going on in the world.”
Blanchett shared her thoughts on AI as well, noting that her main concern is one of “consent.” “Human consent has to be placed front and centre, so that innovation can sit side by side with the human hand,” she explained. “There is now an inevitability with AI, and it’s a very powerful tool. Like any powerful tool, it needs to be handled with respect and with caution.”
She added, “I find the notion of homogeneity incredibly dull and very uninspiring. I mean, that’s an interesting toy to play with, and it might be useful in some arenas. I think it’s when it becomes more chromatic, and you realize perhaps what is really behind that is the fact that they think it’s cheaper.”
