THE flashes go crazy, photographers scream. “A moment of silence,” he pleads Cate Blanchettwho is extremely accustomed to these scenes but wants to protect the neophyte – stunned by so much clamor – Coco Francini, her associate at the Dirty Films. Yes because what you really want to talk about here in Cannes, at the talk of Women in Motionis from her work as a producer. The New Boyjust presented at the Festival in the section A certain regardis just one of their three projects due out in 2023.
Bold style
«Coco and I met in 2019 on the set of Mrs America and we decided to take this step together with Andrew (husband Andrew Upton, ed). I’m very proud of the work we’re doing.” As The New Boyin fact, by the indigenous Australian director Warwick Thornton, in which she plays a nun who runs an orphanage in the middle of nowhere and one day welcomes a mysterious child who can’t speak… «My country is a boundless and magnetic place, but it’s hard to tell in a bold way like he did.”
“Get their hands dirty”
But how do you choose when to act or when to just stay behind the scenes? “I always try to escape acting. I’ve been trying to stop acting all my professional life» says the two-time Oscar-winning star surprisingly and, in support of the somewhat paradoxical statement, he adds: «I remember a director once saying to me: “You have to stop to accept small roles”. And I: “Why, if they are the most interesting?”». And why call it Dirty Films, “dirty” films? «It’s a name that Andrew and I came up with some time ago but it concerns a technical fact concerning the film in the editing process. We have decided to keep it even if it is cheeky: we have received some inappropriate emails » she laughs. «But it can also allude to the fact that we like to get our hands dirty in the creative process». «Just the angle that he convinced me, so I didn’t feel the need to change it» supports Coco Francini.
Eclectic tastes
Cate Blanchett and Coco Francini in Cannes (Getty Images)
What criteria do you follow in the evaluation? «I abstain from overly decisive statements because in truth we have eclectic tastes. We do not exclude anything from our conversations. Thanks to Coco we got involved – with Terrence Malick – too in a very fascinating experiment of Virtual Reality presented at the Tribeca Film Festival: Evolve. I could never have imagined that.”
Women & cinema
Cate Blanchett with Lorenzo De Maio, Deborah Mailman, Aswan Reid, Wayne Blair, Coco Francini, husband Andrew Upton and director Warwick Thornton on the red carpet (Getty Images).
However, Blanchett does not hide that, without necessarily wanting to make a question of gender, Dirty Films has a particular focus on empowerment. «When it came to choosing the directors of Mrs Americawe were surprised how many professionals were perfectly suited. I can’t wait until we can stop talking about women & cinema, because it really isn’t a topic anymore. But unfortunately it is still necessary, there is still a too significant numerical disproportion ».
Cate Blanchett director?
Cate Blanchett in “The New Boy”.
Interested in the next step, becoming a director? «I wonder, but I’m so slow as an actress that I would be three times slower behind the camera. There is actually a project that would be very close to our hearts, but it takes time, and me I have four children to take care of. And a garden…».
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