“Yeah, baby!”
From The Lord of the Rings trilogy to The Aviator to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to Blue Valentine, Cate Blanchett is one of the most famous and successful actresses in the world. Overall, she has earned a total of seven Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for The Aviator and Best Actress in 2014 for Blue Jasmine.
As of 2023, Blanchett is once again a frontrunner to win an Oscar for her stellar performance in Tár. In the film, she plays Lydia Tár, a widely successful composer and conductor who happens to be a lesbian. Blanchett is also remembered for playing a lesbian in 2015’s Carol, making this another LGBTQ+ performance under her belt.
During a recent interview with Attitude, Blanchett was asked to comment on certain LGBTQ+ publications now calling her a “lesbian icon.” The actress responded, “Yeah, baby! [Laughs] That’s so nice! I don’t know what it means, but it’s nice. Yeah. Cool. I’ll take it!”
The critical response to Tár has been nothing short of incredible thus far. Blanchett’s acting performance in the film has already won her the 2023 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama and has gotten her a nomination for the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. This makes Blanchett an absolute frontrunner for the Best Actress category at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Aside from Blanchett’s accolades, Tár is also a contender in Oscar categories like Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, among others.
Some people in the LGBTQ+ community stand by the principle that queer actors should be given the opportunity to play LGBTQ+ characters on TV and in film. With that said, there’s also a big discourse around the fact that Blanchett was uniquely positioned to play a character as particular as Lydia Tár and was probably the only choice for the film even in its earliest inception.
One way or another, Tár is a fantastic film, and LGBTQ+ storylines have been heavily spotlighted during this year’s awards season.
