Cate Blanchett has praised the Prince of Wales as an “extraordinary” climate leader. The 57-year-old Australian actress, who portrayed Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Elizabeth, worked with William on the Earthshot Prize Council, a panel he founded to seek technological solutions to the climate crisis.
Hands-On Leadership
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar UK, Blanchett said: “(He’s been) an extraordinary leader, very hands-on in a consistent and practically engaged way.” She added that he “inherited” his interest from the King, saying, “He has grown up with it.”
AI and Consent
Blanchett, co-founder of the not-for-profit technology company RSL Media, which runs a register for creatives to log whether they’re comfortable having their work scraped by AI companies for machine learning, commented on the technology's rise: “When this technology started to blow up, a lot of the people who were at the cutting edge were going to governments and saying, ‘We’ve done this; how are we going to use it? What the risks?’” She noted that “(Everything’s) so polarised no one feels they can get around the same table to discuss the challenges, and the central one is consent.”
Post-MeToo Reflections
Blanchett also discussed the post-MeToo political climate, saying we are at an “exciting point” but there is still progress to be made. “We’ve never reached equality of pay, and not only has MeToo been rolled back, and super-quickly discredited, but there’s a conversation in one of the biggest democracies in the world (the US) about women not having the right to vote because of household voting.”
Upcoming Roles
The actress, known for the Lord Of The Rings franchise, will appear in an upcoming National Theatre production of Electra/Persona, alternating the leading roles with co-star Nina Hoss each night. Blanchett received her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for Elizabeth, won best supporting actress in 2004 for The Aviator, and best actress in 2013 for Blue Jasmine.
The full interview is in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK, on sale from August 6.
