Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett is going back to the roots of feminism in the new mini-series "Mrs. America" in a role that already earned her an Emmy Award nomination.
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The historical drama focuses on the second wave of feminist revolution during the early 1970s in the United States, as the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment encounters unexpected backlash led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who organized what was known as the "STOP ERA" campaign, arguing that the movement's effort would take away gender-specific privileges women have.
While promoting "Mrs. America" at the recent Television Critics Association panel, Blanchett explained how she tackled depicting a real life figure whose opinion she doesn't necessarily agree with and said, "You have to go where the character fits into the story because you are describing a particular movement in time, and I don't believe in demonizing anybody. And my agreement or disagreement or my personal political persuasions I couldn't be less interested in folding into a character. I think that that does lead to agitprop, and I'm much more interested in the way you create ambiguity and juxtaposition in a character is to simply butt up two very contradictory thoughts or actions, butt them together, and then present it to an audience. We are all full of contradictions and hypocrisies.
"No one is perfect, including Phyllis, although her hair was mostly always perfect. But it is a challenge, I think, when you are playing a figure who is so polarizing. And in the end, how polarizing she became was a very thing that prevented her from getting a place in Reagan's cabinet. So, it was definitely a challenge to find those nuances and not to play one note, but that comes from the script, and that comes from the other actors that you are working with because, in the end, you just have to play those situations in a human way. I mean, she's a human".
Blanchett, who is also a co-executive producer on the project, plays Schlafly while the series features other leading figures from the era, including feminist journalist Gloria Steinham, played by Rose Byrne, and politician Shirley Chisholm, who was first black woman elected to the US Congress and first ever black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States in 1972. "Orange is The New Black" alum Uzo Aduba plays Chisholm and has won the Emmy for the role.
Speaking on what attracted her to "Mrs. America" Blanchett said, "What I was really inspired by, and it's obviously going back to all of us, to listen to the women speak, there was a real strong culture of robust public debate, and I feel like that something, not just in America, but globally, we've lost. We've got haranguing matches and shouting, but we haven't got a sense of robust public discourse, and these women, as all pre, as we know, this sort of phenomenon, they actually talked and debated these things through, and they didn't always agree with one another, but the discussion was part of the process, and I feel that has been really lost".
"Mrs. America" marks Blanchett's second television project this past year after Australian mini series "Stateless" that aired internationally on Netflix and starring Yvonne Strahovsky ("The Handmaid's Tale"). For three decades, Blanchett has starred on stage and screen, most notably in such films as 1998's "Elizabeth" playing the 16th century Queen of England, 2015's romantic drama "Carol" and Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" and Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" for both she has won Academy Awards.
Blanchett has also become a fashion icon over the years with her designer ensembles highlighting every Hollywood red carpet she steps on. When talking about the visual aspect of the series and costume design she said, "I think parts of the challenge for all of us is that the iconography, the visual iconography of these women is so understood. It was really important to find a way where you weren't creating an impenetrable mask or just creating a silhouette. And I think that the hair and make-up team's work is so fine and so subtle. These characters felt alive and real. But with lots of polyester".
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