FILM FESTIVAL-LONDON/CAROL Cate Blanchett's 'Carol' holds UK premiere at London Film Festival

Record ID: 135732

  • Title: FILM FESTIVAL-LONDON/CAROL Cate Blanchett's 'Carol' holds UK premiere at London Film Festival
  • Date: 14th October 2015
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MARA TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, ROONEY MARA, SAYING (ON THEIR CHEMISTRY): "Yeah, I mean it's just something that it either happens or it doesn't and luckily we had Todd guiding us and we had great writing and you know we spent a lot of the film, ou
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADQ7C4MIJBKJWCXYED9Y0J4P9A
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett, and Oscar nominee Rooney Mara, walked the red carpet at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on Wednesday (October 14) for the UK premiere of 'Carol'. The movie is screening as part of the London Film Festival, which closes on Sunday (18th), and at which Blanchett will receive the BFI Fellowship. The movie is directed by Oscar-nominated director Todd Haynes ('Far from Heaven', 'I'm Not There').
    'Carol' tells the story of a young department store clerk, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), who falls in love with an older woman, Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett). It is set in 1950s New York at a time when homosexual relations were criminalized. It is based on Patricia Highsmith's 1952 lesbian romance novel 'The Price of Salt' which was then adapted by the screenwriter Phyllis Nagy.
    'Carol' first screened at this summer's Cannes Film Festival. It received a standing ovation, and led Mara to receive the Best Actress prize (shared with Emmanuelle Bercot). Asked whether the pressure was off in London, given the movie's existing critical acclaim, Blanchett said: "It creates a sense of expectation… the more outings it has the more you know expectations people come with it, and so you just want people to receive the film for what it is. I'm very proud of it. It's a labour of love for everyone involved and I think it's a very, very beautiful, hopefully touching film."
    The movie rides on the intense chemistry between Therese and Carol, something which came naturally to Mara and Blanchett." I mean it's just something that either happens or it doesn't," Mara said. "Our characters spent a lot of the film sort of apart thinking about the other person so Cate always describes it as sort of this relief once we finally got to do scenes together. You know my job was pretty easy. I just had to sort of watch and listen and react to her and you can't have a better person to do that with."
    Asked whether the sex scenes between Blanchett and Mara were at all uncomfortable, Blanchett remarked: "You know they're scenes. They're really important. You always have to scrutinize and ask hard questions of those things, how necessary are they. But the consummation of their relationship was really important… And you know, there's a great sense of trust between Rooney and I."
    'Carol' was in development for over 11 years. It has had various directors and actors involved with it, and Mara very nearly did not play the part of Therese. "Yeah, yeah, they had offered it to me - I'm not sure - maybe a year or more before Todd was attached to it. I'd just finished 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and I was really tired and didn't feel like I would be good in it so yeah it wasn't because I didn't love it, I just didn't think I would be any good in it, so I passed on it." A couple of years on, she joined the cast.
    The movie's subject matter focuses, in part, on the suppression of public homosexuality. When asked whether she believed that suppression was still rife in Hollywood among A-list leading men and women Blanchett said: "Well I can't speak from personal experience but I mean the very fact that the question is being asked," agreed Blanchett. "I think that anything that any actor does in their personal life is so open for scrutiny and easily scrutinized given how public everyone is. And any chance that an actor can get to not be type cast, to maintain a sense of mystery, so that an audience can just discover the work that they do rather than knowing too much about their personal life. I think often that stuff can get in the way so yes I think unfortunately I think it is stupidly still an impediment for people."
    Studiocanal will release 'Carol' in cinemas in the UK on November 27.
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