‘There’s so much that is bewildering and heartbreaking and enraging,’ the actor said. Cate Blanchett has said it’s “distressing” the way the #MeToo movement never “took root” in Hollywood. The Oscar-winning actor, 55, was one of many Hollywood stars who reported she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein when allegations emerged against the now-disgraced producer in 2017. Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the viral #MeToo movement, which erupted when women began going public with accounts of his behaviour. He has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

The Tár star questioned whether the #MeToo movement, which also led to the conviction of singer R Kelly and actor Danny Masterson for sexual offences, led to the industry and societal change supporters hoped it could. “Everyone talks about the #MeToo movement as if it’s well and truly over, and I think well, it didn’t really ever take root, to be honest,” Blanchett said. “People were seeking to dismantle and discredit those voices that were only just beginning to come out from under the floorboards into the light. I find it quite distressing the way that it hasn’t taken root.”.

When Blanchett was asked in a 2018 interview with Variety whether Weinstein ever sexually harassed her or behaved inappropriately towards her, she replied: “With me, yes.”. The actor explained: “I think he really primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable. I mean I got a bad feeling from him.... He would often say to me, ‘We’re not friends’.”. Last April, an appeals court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, arguing the court had made “egregious errors” by allowing prosecutors to call witnesses whose allegations were not related to the charges at hand.

Weinstein, who suffers from chronic myeloid leukemia, diabetes and heart problems, is currently detained in Rikers Island, awaiting retrial, while also serving a 2022 conviction for raping an actress in 2013. Elsewhere in the interview, Blanchett said she has been inspired by younger actresses, including Marisa Abela and Emma Corrin, who she stars alongside in Thomas Ostermeier's new production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.“.

Their point of view on a scene will obviously be profoundly different to mine, or someone of my generation,” she said. “I’m just amazed by not only their aliveness of their point of view, but also their technical reserves in ways that I couldn’t have even imagined having or possessing when I was their age.”. The Seagull marks Blanchett’s return to the stage for the first time in six years. The Carol actor last starred in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre in 2019, shortly before the pandemic.

In her latest role, the Oscar-winner will play Arkadina in an adaptation of Russian writer Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull. She will star alongside Mad Max actor Tom Burke in the role of Trigorin. Chekhov’s 1985 play follows Arkadina, a dominating personality who must navigate a series of personal conflicts as she visits her family’s country estate. Her husband is pursued romantically by a younger actor, while her son attempts to break free of Arkadina’s influence.