Thursday, April 19, 2007

Cate "Braveheart" Blanchett

As most Oscar watchers have known for some time Cate Blanchett will be reprising the role that made her a star, Queen Elizabeth in a sequel to Elizabeth (1998) called Elizabeth, The Golden Age. In this trailer Blanchett UNLEASHES HELL™ like she's channeling crazy Mel or Gerard "Leonidas" Butler. Spain beware!



You'll also catch one tiny glimpse of Abbie Cornish (who we presume has a much larger supporting role than the trailer lets on but trailers are for "names") and several shots of brilliant Samantha Morton as Elizabeth's rival, Mary Queen of Scots (I must have been on crack when I dumped her from my Oscar predictions at the last second). The ever edible Clive Owen gets a major introduction as Sir Walter Raleigh. His entrance prompts the queen to utter a rather anachronistically modern "well...well" Cate all but licks her lips and jumps Clive's bones right there on the spot.

Can you blame her?

Watch this video while you can. These things have a way of disappearing.

32 comments:

Glenn Dunks said...

umm... okay. Wow. That looks amazing.

Cate. Freakin. Blanchett. She just continues to amaze. I'm sure even you Nat must be hankering to see Cate on the big screen again if she's acting like that.

Beau said...

BAH on Cornish. She went after Phillipe of all men, (the term ASSHOLE is imprinted right on his forehead) and didn't overwhelm me in 'Candy'.

But as for the rest of the film? Clive Owen looks as yummy as ever.
I can't wait for Samantha Morton.
And Mrs. Blanchett,
is simply,
larger than life.

yay! for good films.

SusanP said...

"Well...well" indeed....

Anonymous said...

OMG. I can't wait. Go Cate, go Cate, go Cate!!!!! How can I possibly wait???? Delicious!

Anonymous said...

That looked so cheesy. Just awful.

skankyoldwhore said...

Alot of cinematic style and seems like an operatic performance (she might be the Forest of next year) but she will have to be MORE to beat the great Helen Mirren's small screen but extraordinary performance as Elizabeth I.

Unknown said...

I.Can't.Wait.

Michael Parsons said...

Hmmm it all seems so Helen Mirren to me.
It does scream 'Oscar Bait' and I am hoping Samantha not only steals her scenes, but runs away with the whole film.
I can't help but wonder just how excellent the movie will be, or if it will be an 'ok' film held together by amazing performances.
My Stuff n Crap

J.D. said...

Um, am I the only one who thought for a few split-seconds that she was Tilda Swinton in Narnia?

Anyway, looks incredible, but the trailer is good, but not freakin' great like Atonement. Out of ten, probably a 7, enough to get me in the seat. Cate! Cate! Cate!

NATHANIEL R said...

isn't the "well well" just crazy? I hope this is a delicious oversized performance instead of just a tasteful one.

adam k. said...

Hm, yeah, am I the only one who thinks it's all a little bit TOO MUCH...?

Very oscar-bait indeed. The whole thing kind of screams "give Blanchett the oscar NOW! (and while you're at it, nominate Owen and Morton and the film, please, too)". Do you really think they'll vote for this Mirren/Whitaker hybrid warrior-queen perf the very next year?

Of course it's entirely possible that they will. But it all just seems a little too on-the-nose to me. Like they're hamming it up and begging. But I hope it's great.

Kamila said...

"The video is no longer available".

Oh, I really wanted to see the trailer.

But will the Academy give an Oscar for a second year in a row to someone playing a queen? I think Blanchett can get a nomination, but I don't know about winning.

Anonymous said...

I MISSED IT! No longer available.

can someone swing over to Cinephilia and give me the play by play. THANKS!

Beau said...

Blanchett won't win for it. She'll get the nom, because she is Cate after all, but what with Mirren winning it for a character with the same bloodline (in a much more subtle perf), this'll be commended upon and raved about, but it won't win her the Oscar.

Samantha Morton, however... should honey baby manage to sweep the film and the audience off their feet, she has a very serious chance of winning not only the nomination, but the statue itself. I think both actresses have the nom already in their hands pretty much, but who knows? A lot can change in nine months, as we've all been witness to on several occasions.

Beau said...

Oh, and the trailer to 'Evening' is up and running.

SamuraiFrog said...

I got to see it before they took it down--wonderful stuff. But they've taken it down because, you know, giving their movie free advertising somehow infringes on Universal's copyright.

SamuraiFrog said...

Ah, but it's still up at Daily Motion...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ra4a_golden-age-trailer

NATHANIEL R said...

thanks.

i switched the code so y'all can see it hear again.

i gotta remember to use daily motion. SO much more reliable.

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

Cate in Armor. Damn, steamroll.

Anonymous said...

Happy to have you back Nat - I agree - Elizabeth - who starts England on the track to rule the world - should be freaking over the top - it is grand opera -

Looks visually interesting too - I too am hopeing Clive gets his nom - as well as Morton -

Anonymous said...

CATEEEEEEEEEE!

"I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain BARE!"

Damn.

Loved it. Get that Oscar nod La Blanchett.

Anonymous said...

I am embarrassingly overexcited about this. With the return of Geoffrey AND the addition of the fantastic Tom Hollander...I need to go lie down.

Kamila said...

Thanks, Nat, for linking the trailer to "Golden Age" again for us.

LOVED it. I think Cate Blanchett should've won the Oscar back in 1999 when she was nominated for her performance in "Elizabeth" and I can see her being nominated again for the same role next year.

Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL cannot wait to see it. Samantha Morton is going to kick ass. What do you think about the Mary Queen of Scots biopic that's floating around? Doesn't seem to be able to get any financing etc. Scarlett Johansson was attached for awhile. I maybe smell a post about it in the near future? Maybe?

Yaseen Ali said...

:/ Erm...

Let me preface this by saying that a) I loved the first one, b) Blanchett should have won for that perf (although she was equally great in the Marty flick) and c) I've been waiting for this sequel for a while...

...but that trailer was pitched to the rafters. And Blanchett's diva theatrics seemed out of place with everyone else (Morton didn't get to say a word, but she was commanding just standing there full-frame.) I don't know, I'm not feeling it.

Anonymous said...

It's possible audiences might be feeling queen fatigue this fall...and the Liz-goes-Braveheart monologue-on-horseback looks a bit silly. I dunno.

Anonymous said...

the liz goes Braveheart monlogue on horseback is - something that really happened - and the speech she gives - are Elizabeth's words on that day - one of the things I found interesting about the first Liz - was how much of Blanchett's dialogue was actual quotes - would seem that will continue with this film -

Anonymous said...

Sure it looks over the top and cinematic - but isn't that part of why we go to the cinema? I love a naturalistic film as much as the next person, but I also love films that are willing to exploit all the media's possibilities - MR, Amalie, Hero. I'm thinking of Nat quoting Gloria Swanson from Sunset Boulevard for his Moulin Rouge essay "It's the pictures that got small". This one looks like it wants to be big and god bless 'em for that. We don't get enough "big" pictures anymore. (It's one of the reasons why Cold Mountain fails - the battle sequences are stunning but the rest of the film is a letdown comparatively. It wanted to be an epic but didn't have the heart or the stomach to truly be one.)

And Cate over the top? Sure, bring it on. Naturalism is fine in it's place but again, sometimes I want something more, a sense of sturm und drang that only the movies (or opera) can provide. And yes, that image of quietly authoritative Samantha Morton sticks to the memory and just adds to my excitement.

TGA might fall into the catagory of "true epic", or it might end up being operatic crap, but the trailer is DYNAMITE. It makes me want to see this film and that is exactly what a trailer is supposed to do - but they almost never do anymore. In most instances trailers tell me way too much about a film, in such a way that I feel "Ok, I can avoid that one - thanks for saving me $10 and two hours that would have been wasted otherwise." But this trailer, rather than making me feel I've seen the whole film, has me intrigued. (We know the story anyway, right? Although I would have left off Samantha Morton setting her head on the chopping block - but maybe that's actually someone's dream sequence.)

-RSD

Anonymous said...

Oh and Rob, about "queen fatigue" - I confess I don't actually know a single person who saw The Queen (myself included). And not everyone has cable and was able to see Mirren's portrait of QE2 (and again, I include myself in that catagory.) So don't count Cate out of the running yet. I suspect her chances may depend largely on how good the rest of the film is - but then again, a lot of critics said The Queen was nothing special, just a glorified made-for-TV movie; it was Mirren's work that garnered all the praise. (Did The Queen get any other wins - or even noms - aside from Mirren? If she was that good then she had a team helping her to be that good, makeup, wardrobe, screenwriter, director, diction coach, cinematographer, etc etc etc. But that somehow manages to get overlooked.)

Anonymous said...

A) The Queen was actually a quiet hit last year, grossing some 60 million dollars, putting it above all best picture nominees except The Departed. While Elizabeth 1 (the HBO miniseries) really didn't make much of a dent, despite it's emmy haul.

B) I doubt "Queen-fatigue" is something actually real. This is an organization that nominated 3(!) World War II dramas in 1998, nominated. They nominated all three LOTR films for best picture. They don't mind repeating themselves if it's comfortable.

C) I do agree with those, though, who says it looks too "on the nose." It's got the biopic factor, the costume drama (because stories set in the past are more important because their history), the war story, the oscar feted cast (just in case you forgot, the trailer announces it for you). It's got a central performance that looks "grand" etc.

D) That said, have you guys seen "Elizabeth" - that film was incredibly melodramatic and unstodgy. A murder sequence ripped off from The Godfather? Baroque camera work for the hell of it? If this wasn't grand (as someone stated earlier, it's an operatic story of Britain's conquest of the world. Elizabeth is the reason the sun never set on the British Empre), I'd be disappointed.

D) As for Blanchett winning, she needs a combination of brilliance (like Nathaniel said, we no longer have the surprise attack of the first) with a weak year. A little "She lost to Gwenyth Paltrow" wouldn't hurt (Paltrow's post-Oscar career has been an epic disappointment).

Anonymous said...

About fricking time!!! Can't wait till this one hits the screens!
2007 is looking like a very exciting time to go to the movies! :o)

(and it would be good for people to remember the Oscar was stolen from her for the previous Elisabeth... about time to give it back!)

J.D. said...

Nat, in case anyone comes by in the future and since the trailer isn't available, here's a still-working YouTube vid of it. :)