Murtada here to celebrate Cate Blanchett's birthday and the Cannes Film Festival simultaneously!
Cannes is all about tradition and protocol. Who walks the red carpet and how they do it, is a big part of its tradition. Only the film cast and crew walk together as their photos are taken. Turn left, turn right, hand in hand until they reach the steps. There they are allowed to walk up separately and that's when the magic happened last year at the Carol premiere with Cate Blanchett proving what a great movie star she is.
Multiple Cannes moments with Cate after the jump...
While Todd Haynes and Rooney Mara ran up the steps, Cate stopped at almost every step as she climbed up. She looked back, smiled, and posed. Just for a couple of seconds. She was giving the photographers what they wanted. And by extension, us. Her audience.
She knew exactly what she was doing. She had the dramatic dress, which we bet was picked specifically for how it looked from the back. Those steps were begging for drama. So she gave us drama. Cate understands the spectacle, the theater of it all. She gave us the picture that everyone shared and made a memorable moment of a few strays seconds of posing. It’s what a great actress does. Always.
Julia Roberts might have walked up those steps barefoot but no movie star has yet given us a complete theatrical moment like that, this year. So in honor of that moment, let’s celebrate both Cate’s 47th birthday and Cannes by revisiting some of her other Cannes moments:
Baby Best Actresses
Cate’s first time on the croisette was for 1999’s An Ideal Husband which closed that year’s festival. And until earlier this year, it was the one picture on record that had her with Julianne Moore. Believe me I did the research.
Reminding the world she has 2 Oscars
Responding to inane press questions with both humour and disdain
Here she is reacting to a question about whether it was harder for her to look beautiful in Carol because she’s older than Mara. Yep that was a question that was asked by a journalist.
Welcoming the next generation of actresses
Marion Cotillard is the better actress?
You are both amazing, Cate. There's no need to pick, we get to see you both on screen. Now please find a project to work on together. And while you are it, get Kate Winslet involved too. After all you three have the same agent. Surely she can work some magic.
And of course the fashion!
Diane Kruger looked fantastic every time she walked out at Cannes when she was on the jury. Fan Bingbing always turns it out at the Cannes and so far this year Kirsten Dunst has been giving us gorgeous after gorgeous fashion moment. But no other actress has consistently and continuously weakened our knees with her beauty as much as Cate. Here are just a few of her Cannes red carpet moments over the years.
Three month after Alexander McQueen's death, Cate paid tribute to him by wearing this eagle dress to the Robin Hood premiere at the 2010 opening gala. No one remembers the film, but the fashion moment lives on.
For Babel (2006) Cate mixed color, theme and tradition while paying homage to where her movie is partially set:
And as always her friend Giorgio Armani served her well, from 2008 to 2014.
Happy Birthday Cate! May you always be as happy as you were accepting applause last year at Cannes for Carol.
What is the Cate moment that brings a big smile to your face?