Aussie Hollywood A-lister Cate Blanchett has once again shown you can take the woman out of Australia, but you can’t take the Australia out of the woman.
A two-time Oscar winner, who is chasing her third after her nomination for Best Actress for her role in Tar, Blanchett is already known as one of the greatest actresses of her generation.
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Having been born in Melbourne and cut her chops on Australian stages, Blanchett shows she’s as Aussie as it comes.
This is despite being one of the biggest names in Hollywood, moving from Oscar attracting movies such as Tar, The Aviator or Blue Jasmine to starring in blockbusters like Thor: Ragnarok, The Lord of the Rings or Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and living in England.
But the 53-year-old has shunned the soccer and gridiron brands of football, calling AFL “real football” on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.
Kimmel asked Blanchett if she watched the Super Bowl.
“To be honest, it’s a gladiatorial sport, where I came from we have a football that’s Aussie rules, footy,” Blanchett began.
“They have a similar kind of ball except they don’t have the protection.”
Kimmel asked: “They don’t even have sleeves right?”
Blanchett: “They wear shorts and tank tops. And my uncle used to play professionally for Essendon. And my cousin played in Tasmania where it’s so hardcore they played on gravel.”
Kimmel: “Is that true?”
Blanchett: “Yeah. I mean the Super Bowl, they take a few hits, but you go to Tasmania and they play real football.”
Kimmel: “On gravel, that’s not kidding around.”
Blanchett: “They lose a lot of players but … it’s why the population’s really small.”
Kimmel said he believes Americans see Australian’s like the rest of the world sees Americans “that they’ve got a screw loose and are really flirting with danger at all times”.
“They’re out there, they’ve got no helmet’s on, they’re killing each other in the same way, they’re kicking a ball, they’re totally exposed,” Kimmel said.
Blanchett: “And the hole in the Ozone layer is right over Australia so it’s really, it a very very difficult game. So that was nothing last night Patrick.”
Aussies were loving the chat.
ABC’s Beth Newman tweeted: “Cate Blanchett and Tassie footy. A combo I never knew I needed in my life.”
ABC Broome’s Jessica Hayes wrote: “In the Kimberley, some people play and train on gravel ovals with bare feet (without even wincing) in remote communities. It’s kind of amazing.”
Pedestrian’s Cam Tyeson commented: “And she was right to do it. Hard as nails, that Blanchett. I’ve been saying it for years.”
The conversation quickly moved on to her eighth Oscar nomination but it comes as Blanchett admitted she would have to take a step away from acting after feeling drained and homesick for Australia.
In an interview with Vanity Fair she had been grappling with quitting acting all together.
“It’s not occasional — it’s continual,” Blanchett said in the magazine.
“On a daily or weekly basis, for sure. It’s a love affair, isn’t it? So you do fall in and out of love with it, and you have to be seduced back into it.”
With her free time, at least she’ll be able to catch some more “real football”.