This week, Louis is joined by guest co-host Joel Kim Booster to discuss the most viral Olympic moments, from Simone Biles bowing to Rebecca Andrade to French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati getting beat by his own bulge. Then Louis interviews the one and only Cate Blanchett about her new film Borderlands, prompting a discussion on Cate’s unforgettable turns in Notes on a Scandal, Tar, Carol, and more.

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TRANSCRIPT

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel And we’re back with a new edition of Keep It. I’m Louis Virtel, and as you know, that’s unusual for me to say because Ira Madison would normally be here. He is on assignment. I imagine him working. He’s not on assignment at all, but I am here. I am still Emmy nominee Louis Virtel, and usually I’m thrilled to bring that up. Except this week, our guest host has more Emmy nominations than me. So it’s actually not fun anymore. Please welcome my guest host frequent Keep It guest, Joel Kim Booster back to keep it.

 

Joel Kim Booster Hello. I mean, wouldn’t it be a gag if one of us had actually won an Emmy? I mean, I guess you’re still coming up, right? You could be an Emmy winner.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. I keep telling people that. I think this is the most fun part. Before you win or not knowing if you’ve lost yet. Because, by the way, if even if you win, maybe people think you’re still a crock.

 

Joel Kim Booster No. Yeah, exactly. You know.

 

Louis Virtel I can think of plenty of Emmy wins where I’m like, well, they didn’t deserve it, you know? So in this balance, it’s sort of nice.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. No. Exactly. You don’t want to be Julie Bowen. You want to be Sofia Vergara.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. You know, the most Republican thing about me is that I love Julie Bowen. No, no.

 

Joel Kim Booster In fact, I said that. And even as I was saying it, listen, for those listening at home who aren’t familiar with me in my media diet, my boyfriend and I have been watching, Modern Family start to finish and listen. Is it groundbreaking by any means? No. But do I laugh when they fall? Yes, every single time. It is so funny. And Julie Bowen deserves. Honestly, she really does.

 

Louis Virtel It’s just one of those things where everybody in the cast was nominated constantly. But then only three of them ever won the Emmy, and then they won multiple times, so the distribution feels a little off. I was in Fire Island with you and you put on an episode, and before long we had watched 11 episodes. It just like slips on by.

 

Joel Kim Booster It goes down real easy. The only thing I will say is that of all the ones people who were nominated from that cast, the one not winning for me that’s so crazy is Sofia Vergara.

 

Louis Virtel Because the line readings are brutally funny.

 

Joel Kim Booster It is so funny and like, you know, I don’t I don’t want to get into the optics or the politics of, of whether or not that character is offensive or not. But Sofia Vergara is performance specifically. I mean, it’s giving like it is Lucille Ball esque sometimes, like the physical comedy and the goofiness like it is. She’s so good and so funny in it. And, yeah, if I had my druthers, all of them would win, at least once. I mean, it is crazy and it makes sense. They were all in supporting every time that they were nominated because I’m sure like the politics of, like, who’s the lead of that show came into play, but also it’s because none of them wanted to compete against Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

 

Louis Virtel Right? I assume, by the way, there should be like a murder mystery about an ensemble cast of a TV show where one of them suddenly goes lead, and then that person is killed, and I’ll absolutely. We’ll figure out which one got jealous.

 

Joel Kim Booster There has to be a Columbo episode at some point. Like.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, that show goes down easily, but also other news that connects us besides Modern Family. We are both Chicagoans, and in fact, we will both be in Chicago this week for, a satanic ritual called Market Days.

 

Joel Kim Booster Exactly. We are both Midwest princesses.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Which, by the way, I have to tell you, that phrase is very new to me. Like, I saw it in context with a Tim Walz joke the other day. But anyway, it’s now all over the internet.

 

Joel Kim Booster What a big week to be a midwest princess, right? Between us and Tim Walz. I mean, do you think he’ll be at market days? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Well, you know what? After I saw Doug Emhoff on shore at Fire Island the other day, anything is possible. What was he doing there?

 

Joel Kim Booster I mean, he’s doing he was doing a fundraiser, and like, he he is apparently, like, king of the gays. Like nothing but but gay friends. In fact, it was funny. It was a fundraiser co-hosted by him and Jason. And it’s so funny to imagine, like, Doug being a bigger hit at the party. And then Jason.

 

Louis Virtel Actual gay man chasin booty. Josh, the way you suggested people could have, I thought was like your nickname for Jessica Chastain. That’s not we’re talking about people. That’s his husband. She’s not allowed on Fire Island for reasons definitely not. But, something that just happened in Chicago is that chapel Ron just scored the largest ever audience for a Lollapalooza crowd.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Can you scientifically offer expertise as to how this is possible? She has gained this kind of following this fast.

 

Joel Kim Booster I really don’t know. I mean, listen, the music is good. I’ll give her that. Like, I love, you know, I love Chapel Ron as much as the next person. I’ve been listening to Pink Pony Club since it was a single, like 5 or 6 years ago. Not too sure not to brag, but like, I, I don’t quite get it. I think there’s an ease to her that people find really appealing. Like it’s never it doesn’t feel sweaty with chaperon in the way that it can feel sweaty with some of our bigger pop stars. I won’t name names because I. I care about my life and my privacy. Too much to be doxed by a Taylor Swift fan today. But yeah, I just think there’s like, an ease to. Her that people really gravitate towards. Maybe. I think it’s like a combination of like the the music obviously being fun and good and then obvious and then pure as an entity. Just feels really, I don’t know, accessible and that.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like also, her appearance on Fallon really picked up, like, people really connected to her very funny, self-effacing personality. And of course, she’s sitting there dressed as Mothra or Raggedy Ann or whatever. Get up. She’s picked for the day, too. I think people connect with that. But there is something about her that reminds me of the minute we got Lady Gaga, which is.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yes, I was just about to say.

 

Louis Virtel You would get a fun interview from her. And then also she would have she would look like a Power Rangers villain all the time, and it would kind of remain unexplained. And that was the best part of it, you know?

 

Joel Kim Booster Well, I mean, like that explains some of it. I mean, it certainly explains why there’s like a lot of gay people in the crowd, but it doesn’t necessarily explain, like the crossover appeal that she’s had. I mean, I don’t know, I’m I’m happy for her. I mean, I feel the same way about, chapel Rock and having the biggest, la la crowd in history, as I do about, Tim Walz being the VP candidate, where it’s like, yeah, I know it’s good, but like to watch someone that you’re like, yes, clearly this is a talent and a fun, pop star presence. But then to be validated by, like, the rest of the world also seeing it, that never happens, you know?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, no, I think constantly about when I was at World Pride and I felt support supported. I said, this is actually the wrong volume of understanding of what it is to be me. Similarly, it’s like we still, you know, when explaining, Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen, it still feels like we need, like, the Rosetta Stone to show people to be like, do you understand that if you listen to it this way, it’s a lot of fun, and yet still it’s. How many units is that sold? Like 36. Yeah. And only two people in West Hollywood. Whereas this, like, Chapel Row now has like a top ten hit. And I would would have guessed that she would have been too weird for that kind of mass understanding. But the fact of the matter is, she’s connecting in a bigger way than so many people who have remained mid tier for, years and years.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, I think it’s like the difference between Chapel and Cali is that I think Cali like there’s a lot of blank spaces in the, mythology that we have projected. The gay men have projected on to Carly Rae Jepsen. Like there’s like a simplicity and sort of a blank page ness there. And chapel, I think, is like a full entity that like, is coming to us fully packaged as a pop star in a way that like Carly Rae, like we’ve mythologized Carly Rae in a way that, like, you know, she’s just a girl, she’s a girl in a mall.

 

Louis Virtel And you and I have talked about this theory before with, Rachel McAdams. Some people are simply too Canadian to be superstars. You know, a little like what happened to Alanis Morissette. Was God, making a mistake like that is too much energy to be perfect. Directed onto a woman who just wants to be around little statues of Buddha all the time. You know what I’m saying?

 

Joel Kim Booster Totally.

 

Louis Virtel Anyway, we can talk more about Chicago as the episode goes on, but we actually have a phenomenal episode. Not just because Joe Kim Booster is here. We’ll also get a little bit into the Olympics, which I have mingled with. The gymnastics has inspired me, I think, somewhat poetically about these people. And I am sad for the Olympics to go, even though I don’t crave a, athletic competition almost anywhere else in my life. We’ll ask Joe what he thinks about that, too. And then also, guys, imagine me getting this email. Our guest this week is Cate Blanchett.

 

Joel Kim Booster Unreal.

 

Louis Virtel I didn’t say some other Cate. I didn’t say like Cate, I don’t know. I love Kate Mulgrew. I didn’t say that. Yeah, it’s Cate Blanchett who’s here this week, but because Cate Blanchett is here, we will also talk about our favorite Cate Blanchett performances. And by the way, that could, of course, be its own episode. So we’ll try to contain our.

 

Joel Kim Booster Bonus content on the Patreon for sure.

 

Louis Virtel We will be right back with more Jill Kim booster seat. While the Olympics are coming to a close soon. Just after my 38th birthday, by the way, which I just did tell everybody, it was sensational and it felt Olympian and stature. You had to be there. But, I am sad to let so much of this go, namely gymnastics, because I feel like the all of the personalities from the gymnastics competition, on the US side anyway, have completely popped off, more so than ever. We, we thought we knew Simone Biles, and her legend only grows. Joe, what did you take in from the Olympics? Was it a meaningful experience for you?

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. I mean, mostly just that big, like dick on that pole vaulter. For.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s talk about this. Go ahead. Okay.

 

Joel Kim Booster This man talk about losing is the new winning. In a big way, because it’s like, honey, I lost that gold at pole vaulting because of my giant dick. Like it just. You can’t ask for a better narrative. I think leaving the Olympics than that. Listen, I’m like, I’m not an Olympics person by nature. Like, I’m not interested in running, as a sport. Like, that’s just not something that I’m into. And I also have a lot of, like, political reasons for not loving the Olympics that I won’t get into. I can hear your eyes rolling from across the country. But, like, it is really hard, I think in this day and age of, like, if you’re online even a little bit, if you’re on Twitter or social media, it’s really hard not to get sucked in. Like, yeah, I have never once cared about, some like I’ve never heard of any of these people. I’ve never I haven’t been following their career. I’m not invested in, like, any of these, any of these athletes or sports, and they all disappear as soon as the Olympics are over, you know? But like, it is so hard not to get sucked in and invested in someone you have known about for five minutes. Again, very similar to Tim Waltz.

 

Louis Virtel The man of the hour. Yeah. Yes, there’s something about Olympic sports also, where almost all of them, unless it’s maybe basketball, are considered niche in some way in the rest of life. And if you’re somebody who’s ever had your interest called niche, which is anytime you go into a meeting or anytime I go into a meeting, you know, I can only relate to these people who are, you know, it’s it’s like if you put all of your brainpower into, like, underwater basket weaving, you know, it’s like there’s a very small audience that will actually understand the mastery of what you’re doing that can give anything beyond sort of a basic, cursory praise for what you do. And yet you’re performing for people like that.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, yeah. I’m also like, I’m always like in the back of my head. And I guess this is just like how I grew up and how I develop, like, I’m always like. Okay, like you’ve got all this attention and everyone cares about you, but like, how are you paying the bills? As a shot putter, you know, like how like, how does that work? Like, do you have a day job? Like, you’re an Olympic athlete who then has to go back to work at like, fucking Groupon or wherever? I don’t know, like, it’s just like, so, I, I’m always like, deeply concerned, watching the Olympics at the same time because I cannot think about the logistics of their lives when the whole world isn’t watching them on NBC at 3 a.m.. You know.

 

Louis Virtel But no, I feel the same way because I don’t think we have, like, binoculars into that life. Like, I don’t know what it’s like to be a world class athlete. And then your life is otherwise normal. You know, it’s either you get millions of dollars in advertising, jackpots, or that’s the only type of athlete I’ve ever heard of. You know, like, I only know how Caitlin Clark lives. I don’t know how the other WNBA players live.

 

Joel Kim Booster Who do you think are the big winners coming out of the Olympics in terms of who’s really captured the American like consciousness around them? Exiting the Paris Games?

 

Louis Virtel To me, the lasting image of this Olympics is Rebecca and Draghi winning a gold medal. And then she is flanked on the side. This is she’s a Brazilian gymnast. She’s flanked on the silver and bronze podiums by Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles who are bowing down to her. Yeah. I feel like the one thing that has always been hard for me to embrace about the Olympics is the is truly the idea that America is the best. Like that’s ultimately what we’re celebrating, that like we belong on a different platform literally than other countries, and we want people to admire us for that. Whereas I feel like this camaraderie, namely on the medal podium, cuts right through that. And it’s about, you know, these are colleagues in a sport where they’re working their ass off all the time. And there’s there are times when it’s a horrible sport, you know, like you’re terribly injured. You, I’m sure incredibly isolated. Yeah. And to see them cutting across, that is just, I mean, it adds to all three of their legends, but namely Simone Biles, who is so normal considering everything we have ever put her through.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. I got to say to you, like from me, I guess this is like, I’m not like, especially patriotic or, or anything, or love America, but I guess, like for me, I am always way more interested in watching someone, from a country that is not pulling in all of the medals excel. And when, you know, like when that random like when you get the clip package from somebody from Yugoslavia instead of whatever American is running that event. I’m always way more invested in that person than, you know, one of the, you know, was like a million Americans who are, you know, crushing at the, you know, at swimming or what have you, like. It’s always much more, I don’t know, I’m like, that’s the movie I want to watch. Not necessarily. You know, the Simone Biles story as, obviously would sit down for this one.

 

Louis Virtel Biles, you’re you’re saying you’re not buying a ticket. Okay, we’ll focus on that. Yeah.

 

Joel Kim Booster But yeah, no, I, I and I love especially like the really old like I love an old gymnast. Oh. You know, like the way they talk about a 32 year old at the gym at the Olympics in, like, a gymnastics category, as though they are on the brink of death. And it’s so inspiring to see them there. It’s literally it’s how I feel, walking into high tops. And we have honestly, it’s like the reaction, this.

 

Louis Virtel Is our main gay bar and we. Yeah. Which once upon a time we were the exact median age for that bar. And now we’re like, no couple of ticks above.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, yeah. And then and then people, when they see you, they’re like like Gen Z guys are always like, it’s so inspiring to see you back. You know, we never thought.

 

Louis Virtel They’re wearing their like mountainous cargo pads. Like standing near us though. You you wear those pants well so you I, you look like a colleague to them.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. It’s trickery.

 

Louis Virtel Well, another gymnast in that realm that I’m obsessed with is the Uzbek gymnast Oksana. Choose a Latina who competed in vault like, something like 11 Olympics in a row. And she medaled as recently as, I believe, 2008. But like. I cannot imagine going back to that level of stress time and again. Well past the expiration date for a normal gymnast, which I believe is like 15 or something. Yeah, and well into your 30s, 40s, etc.. She is amazing. I also wanted to say, regarding your last point, I was obviously rooting for the runner Sha’carri Richardson, who was, you know, blackballed after the last Olympics because of this marijuana situation. She comes back here, she’s better than ever. She gets a silver in the 100 meter dash, and she and, you know, so you see that and you’re like, oh, that sucks. She didn’t win. The person who won is, this, athlete named Julian Alfred, who was the first person ever to win a medal from Saint Lucia. Oh, yeah. Root for that.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, exactly. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Like, way more exciting to me. As much as I love Sha’carri, like, I don’t know, like, I again, like, show me that movie. I want to see it.

 

Louis Virtel Right. I also, I will say there is something about running where I would almost guess I wouldn’t be interested in watching it for because, for example, I don’t find swimming that compelling, even though Katie Ledecky, I guess there’s just something physically wrong with her where she has to beat people by laps. I don’t understand what’s wrong with her, but running though, like, I think it’s like the way you get to look into the runner’s eyes before they take off. Like you can see the not just the fire in them, but the doubt. Like something could go terribly wrong in the nine seconds they have on the on the field. So to watch them, you know, ignite, go into action and go. I do find something actually kind of compelling about that, no matter who it is. Like, you don’t have to tell me then like, I know Sha’carri Richardson is back story, but watching any one of these people, it’s easy to root for all of them and to also root for no one, you know, breaking a leg. That’s that’s sort of the energy I bring into an Olympics games.

 

Joel Kim Booster No, absolutely. And it is like it is funny. I was watching, some of the dashes the other day at a, at a friend’s house, and it’s again, one of those things where you’re like, there is not a single day of the year that you could ask me to watch someone run around a track and be interested in that. And yet, because it is the Olympics, I was so invested, so quick in watching these people run 3.5 minute long miles. I was just like, that is superhuman. Like on my best day, I could run an 11 minute mile maybe, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No, that’s not my game at all. Oh, speaking of, track and field, by the way, did you know that this, like, superstar Mondo Duplantis once again beat his own world record in the pole vault? Now, let me say something about this. How is it possible to still get a world record in the pole vault? The pole remains the same size. It’s like the pole has been lying to us. And it turns out we can keep making it longer or something. Yeah, I don’t know what a baffling event like. Who pitched this in the first place.

 

Joel Kim Booster It is crazy for me. I guess the other thing about the Olympics that’s makes it really hard for me is that like. I guess I’m just like, not interested in and seeing people do things for the sake of human achievement. I just like, I’m like, why the why did you devote your life to this? I don’t. It is like. I mean, it’s like that. It’s sort of like the Naiad problem that I have, which is like, cool, you did this thing, but why? Like, for the sake of humanity? Like, I like, like, I don’t know, I, I guess my other thing with the difference being in pole vaulting and Nyad is like, I believe the pole vaulter, you know? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Not yet. I mean, like I will say about that movie for being basically a straight a sports movie, like a traditional sports movie. They at least shed some light on the idea that a person could be invested in this narrative for dubious reasons and, like, be terrible to the people around them in order to achieve it, and also really not ultimately explain why they are doing this monumental feat. But man, that performances. I think it will stand out in Oscar history among Best Actress nominees, because Annette Bening in that movie is so I she always looks like she was recently electrocuted. That is her vibe on that movie. You know, like down to the hair, the ping pong match with Jodie Foster where it’s so fraught. It’s like, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Level fraught for some reason, as she’s just explaining she wants to swim.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. Two lesbians playing ping pong. You gotta love it.

 

Louis Virtel If there was a Christopher Duran play about this would be called Two Lesbians Playing Ping Pong. And of course, the other image that this Olympics leaves in my head is that pole vaulter who hit the bar with his dick. I mean, there’s no other way to put it. He definitely did that. And my question to him is, there’s no way this hasn’t happened to him before.

 

Joel Kim Booster I know at this point you think he’d be wearing full talking panties to pull out, like.

 

Louis Virtel Right? It should be wrapped up under him and over his shoulder. Yes.

 

Joel Kim Booster You don’t think, like a little bit. He wanted this to happen.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No, I mean, he’s I mean, I consider him a mensch now, and I believe he should be given, like, a Congressional Medal of Honor.

 

Joel Kim Booster Exactly. He’s going back to the Olympics village, like a winner. And in so many like he he has to. Also, fun fact, before we move on, did you know you cannot use the Grindr Explorer function in the Olympic Village? You can not put yourself in the Olympic Village to then see who’s in the Olympic Village. They’ve turned that function off, which I guess is like, good for good. I’m glad. Let those man fucking views.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. And also, I guess that’s supposed to be like a safety thing, right? Because there’s plenty of people there who live in countries where it’s illegal or something.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But at the same time, I mean, let me pick a little bit Jesus Christ, I mean, like, we’re all a live one time.

 

Joel Kim Booster That’s the thing that I can’t I can’t help but think about you with regards to that pole vaulter is like, I remember being really horny as a kid watching the Olympics. Like, obviously Summer Olympics. You’re watching the swimmers, you’re watching the divers, you know, things like that. But like, can you imagine being a little gay boy just, like, sat down in front of the TV trying to watch some pole vaulting? And then that happens to you.

 

Louis Virtel You disappear to your room for eight days.

 

Joel Kim Booster Exactly. And it’s like the number of times they’ve replayed it on NBC and on the internet, like, it’s just like it’s just porn.

 

Louis Virtel And again, it’s like, I congratulate that generation for getting an image like that. Like we’ve are certainly not when I’m watching whatever, Dan Jansen speed skating or something. We didn’t get any images like that. But at the same time, when they do the slo mo replay of this guy’s dick hitting the bar, it is like Hanna-Barbera. Like sound effects appear, are like, ring out. It’s so shocking. It’s such a visceral thing to watch. I can’t think of any other image in sports like it, other than the occasional like singlet pole. During a wrestling match that I play, you guessed it, high tops in West Hollywood.

 

Joel Kim Booster Exactly. Yeah. Oh, you know that pole vaulter. That clip is going to be showing up at every gay bars. Every gay sports bar is like clip package that they’re playing, during jock strap night will include that pole vaulters, dick hitting the bar.

 

Louis Virtel And to that man, I say I salute you. Welcome to the family. All right. That’s our, extensive and incredibly intimidating Olympics coverage. I hope you enjoyed it. When we’re back, I’m going to bring in my guest, Cate Blanchett.

 

Louis Virtel Our guest today is my favorite. There’s nothing else to say about this person other than she has two Oscars, a bunch of nominations. She’s in everything from Tara to The aviator Elizabeth. A wacky part in the shipping news I still think about, but a number of other movies we can get into today. And she’s now in the movie Borderlands, which comes out August 9th. Guys, I can’t believe it. It’s Cate Blanchett. Welcome to Keep It.

 

Cate Blanchett Wow, that’s a nice introge to my obituary.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve been planning on it, sweetie. Congratulations. I’m wearing power magenta. Mauve? What color would that be?

 

Cate Blanchett It’s an old garbage bag that I had, and I like to recycle.

 

Louis Virtel You’re so helpful. Okay, talking first about this movie, Borderlands. This has to be one of the most, impressive getups I’ve seen you have in a movie, and it looks like it must have taken forever. Not just to get the look right, but to be able to make it so that you can be agile as this video game character. Was it, arduous getting into this getup?

 

Cate Blanchett Thank God for stretchy denim. That’s all I can say now. It’s a hard thing. I think when you look, I mean, the chance to to play a video game character and to work with Jamie Lee Curtis, you don’t those opportunities don’t get presented to you every day. You know, there’s a bit of Covid madness, but it’s a it’s a thing, you know, when you are playing a character from a much beloved video game who’s seen in a very particular way, doing crazy things that humans should never and could never do, and then you have to do it in a live action and make it work. So yeah, you need to have a little bit of stretch denim and be able to move. And also there was just the one costume. So and it was during Covid. So it was really hard to get things in and out. So we had to work with stuff that we literally found. But fortunately the esthetic of Borderlands is, is trash and recycled trash. So we kind of worked from there also.

 

Louis Virtel But somebody must have been attending to your hair every second, because not only does it seem to be defying gravity as these scenes go on, it is literally kind of ignoring gravity and pointing other directions, but looking flawless the entire time. Did that require specific and constant attention?

 

Cate Blanchett Now, many drag queen friends of mine put me on to the right hair lacquer. We lacquered it once and it never moved inside. It was a thing. It was a real thing. And I think people were. It’s like, don’t go near her. She might her hair might poke your eye out. And people were a bit sort of like, are you sure? But it just felt like it was some kind of weird, ironic nod to the way the characters in the video game, their hair never moves, which I found quite funny. But, yeah, who knows whether other people will get the joke.

 

Louis Virtel Now in this movie, as you said, Jamie Lee Curtis is in it, and I seem to remember a story about you guys being at the Palm Springs Film Festival together and maybe even riding back to LA together. So you have a bit of a past. What is your camaraderie with Jamie Lee Curtis like?

 

Cate Blanchett Well, no, that was actually after after the film, after Borderlands.

 

Louis Virtel But really.

 

Cate Blanchett I hadn’t worked together before Borderlands, and I believe I met Jamie many years ago, but she refuses to remember meeting me at all. And so she said, we met on the set, but we just became fast friends incredibly quickly, as a lot of people do with Jamie. She’s an extraordinary human being. It’s like she can see right into your very soul, and she works from that place in the friendship. But, yeah, no, it was a it was a really great opportunity. And then, I think in the first days of, of working together, she started showing me all of these very strange, borderline, sort of, sausage erotica photos of she and Michelle Yeoh with, with, with sausage fingers. I went, what is that movie? And at the same time, I was preparing for tr conducting and I was we were in Budapest, so I was in Marla’s town, you know, and so it was very strange, you know, that this, this film has, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s a been a material thing. And then here we are releasing it now, but it was it. Yeah. It was all of that stuff hadn’t happened yet. It’s like we’ve gone through a very particular cinematic wormhole, you know, and that we’ve we’ve been spat out here. Now.

 

Louis Virtel It’s interesting you bring up tar because thinking about preparing for this movie where you got acquainted with the video game and even got to play it for a little while. And then I think also about tar, which I think of maybe any movie in the past ten years seems to have had the steepest learning curve for the starring actor to pick up. And I was wondering, just in general, do you like a steep learning curve when it comes to entering a movie and having to pick up an entirely new vocabulary or skill set in order to play a part?

 

Cate Blanchett Yeah. Look, it’s it’s I’m very slow. But sometimes if you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, the biggest budget in the world, it’s not. The most creative place to work from and sometimes a little bit of adrenaline. Is useful, and I’ve learned that really profoundly and viscerally. That sense of having a deadline and opening night from working for years and years in the theater, and it’s it’s great that little bit of fear that you, that you make morph into excitement is really good. But I was very grateful, to have the extra time, because I was committed was, to, to to doing Borderlands. And Todd Field wanted to go with tar, but obviously this kept Borderlands kept shifting because it was complicated trying to put an action movie together in under Covid conditions. And so I then had an extra set of nine months up my sleeve to prepare. And I happened to be in Budapest shooting Borderlands, and then met the most extraordinary concert pianist who had time on her hands to teach me, you know, or to bone up on my, my girlhood level piano, playing and and then I had was having conducting zoom lessons, you know, in on weekends and every night. When I got back from set of Borderlands, I was really grateful for the time. But, yeah, it was a steep learning curve. But there’s there’s nothing that can prepare you for actually standing up and doing it. You know, like any conductor, I guess it’s like you prepare at home, like any actor, you prepare at home, but then you have to throw it all away and stand with the other actors on the set and see what happens. You can’t no one’s interested in seeing anyone’s homework.

 

Louis Virtel So I mean, to obviously I’m not versed in classical music, etc. but watching the movie, it seemed so convincing. And then I watched a YouTube video of people criticizing the veracity of certain classical music scenes in movies, and somebody who was like a classically trained musicians watched you, and he goes, and I think I could follow her now. Were you committed to that level of mastery when you signed on to it? Like, did you? I mean, I just can’t imagine thinking to myself, well, I’m capable of making it look that real. Like, did you know that was possible?

 

Cate Blanchett Even I sort of thought about it as a piece of dance. I was really inspired. There was a, there’s a French choreographer called, the a friend of mine, and in Berlin, me on two called Xavier Laboy. And he had watched Simon Rattle conduct Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and he had interpreted all of the facial gestures and the body movements, and the directions that he gave to the orchestra into a piece of dance. And that gave me a lot. And you can see it on YouTube. It’s astonishing. Piece of choreography. And then when you watch the the film version of Simon Rattle conducting it, it’s it’s amazing. But you realize, and then you watch Bernstein later in his career conducting, Mahler’s Fifth, which is what I was a, you know, attempting to do in pieces. Of course, I was rehearsing it, not in performance, but, the character was, you realize that there’s there’s cues that people give that’s all about breath. And I was fortunate to speak to a few conductors. And invariably they said it’s about breathing and in in a way, that’s what acting is about. The minute you stop breathing, you stop feeling, you stop flowing. And I think that’s what people can and an orchestra can sense. And the, the Dresden Philharmonic, who we, we shot with, they had to act. And I said to them on the first day in my school, girl German, I said, you are not actors, I am not a conductor. And somewhere in the, in the, in the trench in between us both, we will find our way. And they laughed. And then I gave the downbeat because they had not been together for 18 months because of, you know, Covid. They didn’t take my cue. And that was the biggest gift I was given, because they all laughed and they felt slightly embarrassed. And I said, okay, we’ll start from the beginning. And so I gradually they began to see that this was this, you know, it was a serious undertaking and that, yeah. So we found our way together. But I think, like any good thing, you you’d never do anything on your own. And I think that the kind of the cult of the maestro, behind that is an extraordinary orchestra, all of whom are individual solo players trying to find their way as a group. So, and I felt, you know, maybe from using the theater that that’s also something that I understood about ensemble.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, you spoke about learning that kind of choreography as a dance, but watching Borderlands, I was thinking that by now you’ve actually been in a number of action movies or thrillers, etc., that require some athleticism, and I was wondering if you had a favorite moment of onscreen athleticism that was maybe even harder than it looked to the naked eye, or that you barely survived or something?

 

Speaker 3 Oh gosh.

 

Cate Blanchett I had a flame thrower in my hands. But for this one. And that was that was the that was a big moment for me. But I had to sort of, you know. As a mother of four. Just kind of go. Please, God, do hope. I don’t think anyone’s here. But that was kind of cool. And there were a couple of moments that I loved. Jimmy Odie, who was our stunt coordinator. I said I just want something really cool to do. There are a whole lot of boxes on set. And he said, come up like a jack in a box. I’ll pull up the thing and you spin the guns and, you know. And so that was kind of cool. And so it’s really great when, you know, on these particular movies, you know, you want to you want to please the audience, of course, and you want to make sure the director is happy. But on this particular instance, I want Jimmy to be happy.

 

Louis Virtel Going back to another fabulous movie in your ov one that always comes up. And it came up with my co-host today. We’re talking about notes on a scandal and how singular it is, and that it is a thriller with no actual violence in it. There’s no, you know, there’s no war breaking out. There’s no, serial killer or anything like that. In fact, if you saw that movie The Teachers Lounge last year, it reminds me of it. Reminds me a little of that, where there’s a sustained level of drama just between a couple of characters. And I was wondering what you think it is about that movie that, stands the test of time, why we all keep coming back to it.

 

Cate Blanchett Oh, look, in two words, Judi Dench.

 

Speaker 3 I think she.

 

Louis Virtel Is hair raising.

 

Cate Blanchett She’s hair raising. There was a moment, though, where I had to. She had a, she looked like bit a little bit like a Ninja turtle, that they’d put this back pad up on her, and I had to my character had to sort of throw her against a bookshelf. And I did think, you know, I’m about to break a national treasure, but she was so up for it. She was so up for it. I, I just think, I think with all of those great psychological thrillers, there has to be a twinkle in the actor’s eyes. You know, a sense of this is delicious. You know, you will going to love this horrible, horrendous place that we’re all careering into, this car crash, psychological car crash, and it’s going to be delicious. But I do think it’s a delicious movie. And Patrick Marber, what a wonderful screenplay from the Zoe Heller novel. And and sometimes, you know, when a, when you’ve relished a novel, it’s often rare that the that the film can translate. But I think Patrick did a fantastic job. That was a big, big part of it.

 

Louis Virtel I was thinking about how depressed I am recently that I can’t think of more double actress pairings that come up in multiple movies that, you know, I can always kind of bank on certain actors working together again and again. Yes. But yeah, you and Sarah Paulson, we’ve gotten a couple of times now with Carol, with Mrs. America.

 

Cate Blanchett Not enough, I would say.

 

Louis Virtel That’s I was about to ask you the same thing. What is it about her? I mean, watching interviews with you guys is like, I’m screaming, slapping the table like there’s something electric and and, frankly, a little messed up between you two.

 

Cate Blanchett Look. Yeah, you have to wear an adult diaper when you do, when you work with, with Sarah, and certainly when you do interviews with her. But she’s like that with everybody, you know, she’s she’s incredible. She just she really does bring the best out in people. I, I’d like to think, you know, and she’s fantastic to have on set and she’s interested in the whole endeavor, not just her part. You know, she’s a real team player and she’s really invested in everybody doing well. And, you know, there’s some days where you’ve worked long hours and everyone’s into overtime. And she’s she’s able to keep this buoyancy on set. And I think that that’s you know, it’s an invaluable quality to her. She takes the work very seriously, but she doesn’t take herself seriously.

 

Louis Virtel And speaking of her, of course, to bring up Carol. Carol is one of the few movies I can think of where there are even props. I’m aghast at when I’m watching the movie. Like, I can’t. Oh my God, it’s so stunning. That object. I’m looking at that piece of costume. Right. And I was wondering if there was what was the first thing on the set of Carol that maybe took your breath away, that made you think, oh, this is an even more special movie than I thought.

 

Cate Blanchett You know, it was a really spare, production design. And we were filming in Cincinnati, which is a city I hadn’t been to before. And there’s all these stately homes. And then, of course, the railway didn’t go through there, and the bottom fell out of Cincinnati. And so a lot of these homes are empty. And so they they’re in aspic. And it was obviously set in the 50s when, when, you know, when the book was written and you realize just how much stuff there is in our lives, how many objects and items and, and back then the world was much plainer. And there were a lot of films that Todd, Haynes put us onto, and Lovers and Lollipops was one of them. And you look at the houses and the, the people were, living in and their wardrobes, and they didn’t have a lot of stuff. It wasn’t that sense that you bought a new coat every year. And what I loved, you know, about working on it and talking about objects was Sandy Powell was doing, the costumes and we had about $2.50 and we had two, two fur coats that she’d found, in a, secondhand store for Carol. And, and she said this one or this one. I mean, it’s that one. And she goes, I knew you’d say that one. And so Sandy herself, the great Sandy Powell, was there stitching it up every single day because it was always falling apart. But that’s the thing is, people only had one coat and so there weren’t a lot of objects. And in them Carol’s lighter was really important. And and so therefore I think you do pay attention to the objects when they’re touched or interacted with and becomes very, erotic somehow, I think, because. There’s not that much stuff in the frame.

 

Louis Virtel I was also thinking about just why you are such a singular presence on the silver screen, and why I think people are likely to compare you to actresses of the Golden Age, like Betty Davis or Katharine Hepburn or something. And I think part of it is, one thing you are so good at is confrontation scenes. I know that, like if two characters are about to go at it on a screen, you know, it’s like I’m suddenly watching a great play or something and you’re leading the way. And I was wondering if you had any favorite confrontational moments with another actor on screen in a sort of argument? You mean.

 

Speaker 3 You mean.

 

Louis Virtel Scripted? Yes. That we’ve seen.

 

Speaker 3 Well, gosh.

 

Cate Blanchett I, I mean, there was a long one I had to do recently with Sacha Baron Cohen, on this, set of disclaimer, which Alfonso Cuaron did. And that was really, really complicated. But yeah, there are a lot of confrontation scenes. But I. Oh gosh, I’m trying to think I’m. What films have I made?

 

Speaker 3 I can’t remember.

 

Louis Virtel Notes on a scandal of course, has an amazing one.

 

Cate Blanchett That’s an amazing one. And there’s also really delicate ones, you know, because people often ask, you know, once you work out what your character wants, you’ll understand, who they are. But I don’t know if it is that I think you have to work out what your character fears. And I think a lot of us anticipate that fear of confrontation. And so the way your character goes through a confrontation, how they react to those things, reveals how they are often things that they don’t think they’re going to say. I mean, I think the hardest thing to act is surprise. And that often comes out of, confrontation.

 

Louis Virtel Which reminds me, I remember watching an interview with you talking about notes on a scandal, where obviously it’s hard to die of.

 

Speaker 3 Stress if.

 

Louis Virtel I had my favorites.

 

Cate Blanchett Was an amazing customers. Bill Nighy that was the first time I’d met Bill. I mean, it was a really it was a very, very special film.

 

Louis Virtel I love Bill Nighy, but and in general, like on that movie, you talked about how it’s hard to dial into that character. She obviously does something heinous. Do you have any memorable characters you’ve played where there’s just something about them you totally didn’t understand? For instance, like this woman who has this, affair, for lack of a better word, with a 15 year old. Like, what did you do in order to understand that?

 

Cate Blanchett Yes. That was very, very difficult, for me to understand, I think you just have to know that sometimes people are compelled to destroy things, against their better nature. And sometimes we make decisions. It’s like I remember, as in the production of Streetcar Named Desire, which Liv Ullmann the great Liv Ullmann directed. And, I was talking about alcoholism and and my husband was saying, just make sure every time you drink, you do it. You approach the alcohol in a different way. You know that sometimes you can. It’s like you don’t have to be an alcoholic to do this, to, to to enter into this exchange with, with things or situations. But you, you, you allow yourself to not see that you’re doing something. And sometimes you do it anyway, and sometimes you can blame someone else that you’re doing it. Sometimes you you facilitate someone else doing it just so you can partake. You know, your relationship to those things. You know, it changes a lot. And I and so I, I think what I say is that the all the time is that it’s you try and surprise yourself. And because the decisions you make on set and think about your character’s actions and the things that they do, you can’t understand them necessarily. And when you say, this is why they do it, sometimes when you pin that down, it can become it can just become that thing. And I think the more you allow yourself to not understand something completely intellectually, you allow space for an audience to to connect with that character’s actions and what that character is doing and somehow see themselves in that potentially doesn’t always work.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like among theatrical roles, Blanche Dubois, the one where people say, oh, it like sticks with you for years or like, you know, you think about Vivien Leigh and how that character has hung on her for like years afterwards or whatever. Did you feel that there was a hangover from playing that character?

 

Cate Blanchett Definitely. Definitely. I mean, we we we produced it at the Sydney Theater Company when my husband and I were running the theater company and we toured, to to Washington and to to Brooklyn to bam. And then they wanted to transfer it to Broadway, but, I, I lost an incredible. I had three kids, you know, having them tutor at school and there in the dressing room and had a theater company to run, and my hair was falling out like it was really it somehow takes a toll. But there was an incredible, wonderful, profound detritus. I think that you’re left with creatively, those those big roles like head, a global head, a goblet, kind of and say it, and, Elektra and tickety, you know, they really you’re Rosalind, you know, you’re expanded by them and so into that expansion becomes the space to make something new. And so I was really grateful in a way, that Blue Jasmine came along a year later because I felt like all I understand the terrain of this character, I’ve lived with this character for for a really long time now. It wasn’t exactly, Streetcar Named Desire. Of course, there are a lot of differences, but there were a lot of echoes from that character that I felt was still hanging around, spoke to, like in my consciousness that I could bring to bear on that character.

 

Louis Virtel It feels very rare that like roles would dovetail like that. Has anything like that ever happened to you before or since where you got to play a role?

 

Cate Blanchett Taller Tar and Lilith in Borderlands? I mean, they’re kind of, you know, strange, Siamese twins. Don’t you think I could?

 

Louis Virtel Picture Tara opening up one of those cabinets and there is a flamethrower inside though, next to the metronome.

 

Cate Blanchett No, I know. I mean, Todd Field was saying, you know, there is an irony. The last image of Ptah is her, performing, you know, to a click track at a sort of a gaming conference. And, and here I am playing a character from a video game. But it’s I think what it is is there’s a, syncopated relationship between roles, and it’s not conscious. It’s just you kind of you’re trying to eradicate one thing and move on in back into your life, and then something that is sort of antithetical or seems, you know, incongruous to what you’ve just done appears. And certainly Tara in Borderlands was that for me? And that was what I loved. You know, speaking to two completely different audiences and I, you know, and, and you reach out and you try and understand what those audiences are into, what they like and, why they are drawn to the game. For instance, you know, it’s not a world that apart from a couple of my kids who do enjoy playing the game and that in other games and, but it wasn’t an experience that I had. So you have to humble yourself to the task, and then you’re suddenly in dialog with a whole different group of people, which is really I relish that.

 

Louis Virtel One of the few movies I can think of that is, I believe, fabulous in every single frame, and I have been to parties themed around this movie is The Talented Mr. Ripley. That’s this movie I feel like is only gaining in momentum over the years, and I feel like now people look at it as kind of one of the last movies where it was like stars being stars in a glamorous, an environment with this like Hitchcockian quality of, oh, these beautiful people have something very dark behind the eyes, you know, something that we would have given to, like Montgomery Clift, one of Once Upon a time. What are your, lasting feelings of that movie? Wow.

 

Cate Blanchett I mean, look, I just come off playing, Elizabeth the first. And so to be cast in that was like a and to work with the great Anthony Minghella. I mean, that’s the thing is movie makers like him and opportunities to make films like that, they’re they do feel like, I don’t know, that’s possible anymore that say, no, no, no, no, this is a ten part series. It’s too much story to tell. And there has been an extraordinary, wonderful iteration of Ripley done again. You know, that’s those stories do stand the test of time. But that particular take on it does feel, golden in some way. But I mean, hello, Gwyneth and Jude Law and Matt. You know, I was sort of, haunting the, the pizzerias with, the wonderful, late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman. You know, that’s where we met and became, you know, close. So I my memories of that is hanging out, hanging out with him.

 

Louis Virtel Well, that’s got to be like the best memories on the planet. Who can say that? And then, like, the best pizza on the planet, it sounds like.

 

Cate Blanchett There was a place where we were staying. Cold fashioned pizza. And he had this friend. And he was he it was in August. So all of the sales were on and of course, so it had soldi, soldi all over the shop windows. And this friend of Phil’s came and said, who’s this Saudi guy? He must be a million millionaire. It’s like, no, dude, that means sale in a town, you know, it was it was a fun time. It was really great.

 

Louis Virtel I remember once upon a time you talked about Diane West as an inspiration, and I feel like this is a name that needs to come up more. Her combination of, like, sweetness. And then also she could turn on a dime and be so wicked and, like, nail you with a one liner. I was wondering what you found particular inspiration and.

 

Cate Blanchett I would love to work with her. I’ve been so inspired by her work over the years. I mean, which for me in so many ways culminated in Bullets Over Broadway. I mean, what an iconic role that is so idiosyncratic and funny and heartbreaking. I think that’s that’s the thing that she has. It’s, such an incredible, facility and radical openness, you know, to, to have performances that are always. And she’s so, so unique looking, but yet she somehow energetically transforms and blends with the characters and makes everyone else around her shine. That I’ve. I haven’t met her, but I imagine she’s profoundly generous, because you can see that in her performances that just. I mean, talk about delicious. She’s really delicious.

 

Louis Virtel My last question for you is that I to compare you again to Betty Davis. I feel like when people write funny dialog, what what they are up against is that you are already hilarious. Like when you give an interview, you’re generally just a hilarious person. So I, I feel bad for screenwriters having to make you funnier than you are.

 

Speaker 3 But being funny at all.

 

Louis Virtel But the thing about Betty Davis about me is we never got much in the way of writing from her, and it bothers me when you’re somebody. Is that funny? Well, we ever get a piece of Cate Blanchett writing, like either a memoir or. I don’t know if if you have a play secretly running around in your head.

 

Cate Blanchett What? For me, I am definitely not a writer. I love being written for though maybe we should campaign. More funny lines for Blanchett.

 

Louis Virtel I don’t hate it. I’m ready.

 

Cate Blanchett Yeah, okay, we’ll get the t shirts printed.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, great.

 

Cate Blanchett He rings the rings. The kids. Everyone uses a K ring, right?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah. Now that. Then we’ll be reminding everybody with our key rings. Yeah, we can throw them in a ball, have a little key party, you know.

 

Cate Blanchett Oh, yes. We’ll bring the key party back. No we were.

 

Louis Virtel You saw the ice storm, right? We shouldn’t do it.

 

Cate Blanchett I know I was, I was just talking about the ice storm the other day. Talk about, you know, you’re talking about Mr. Ripley. That is a great film, man. That’s a good film.

 

Louis Virtel Only I guess it just does anything. He’s interested in every single topic and makes it amazing.

 

Cate Blanchett He I know he’s I mean, he’s a real shapeshifter. And I think it’s because he trained to be an actor. He wanted to be an actor. So in the end, no matter how much he plays, and it has such an incredible technical facility and is interested in the the evolving technology of behind filmmaking, it’s always the actors first. I mean, he’s a he’s an absolute maestro.

 

Louis Virtel Well, Cate Blanchett, thank you so much for being here. As usual, you are an extraordinary interview. And can you believe that I learned something just from Borderlands all the way on Back to Notes on a scandal and even other movies.

 

Cate Blanchett You mentioning it again.

 

Louis Virtel Bill Nye? I’m on his payroll or something. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Well, as you know, our guest today is Cate Blanchett. She has two Oscars. A number of nominations. I would argue she’s one of the better actresses. If I had to rank them. Actually, I mean, if I’m being frank, she might be one of the greatest movie stars who ever lived.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, she’s sort of pulling from from all quadrants, really? Like, she’s a fun interview. She’s a fun personality, and an incredible actress. And, like, the fashions are always on point. It’s great.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. You’re right. I can’t think of any way in which she is deficient. And she’s, of course, also in every type of movie, too, which makes this question provocative. What would you say is your favorite Cate Blanchett performance and or movie?

 

Joel Kim Booster I mean, that’s really tough, obviously, because there’s so many good ones. I guess I’m going to say, like, if I’m pulling up a Cate Blanchett movie in Palm Springs and like, this is such a like you as my friend will be bored by this answer. I don’t know how the rest of the world feels about this, but it is notes on a scandal. Like, I think like it is like sort of exactly what I want from a Cate Blanchett movie and a Blanchett performance. Is that because this is a thing like. We don’t get to see Cate Blanchett do contemporary a lot. Like there’s not a ton of Cate Blanchett like, set in present day, like she is a woman living in a city, like, just like you or me, you know, like it is. We’re getting a lot of, like, either fantasy or period with Cate. And so it is, like, fun to see her just be like a normal person that you might meet out into the world, even though obviously she’s not. And then, you know, the camp factor and, all of that like it is. It’s such it’s such a fun performance and a fun movie and I, you know, it is the thing that I will be pulling up, at the, at the Palm Springs, a weekend house.

 

Louis Virtel I just rewatched that movie recently, and I think that movie is the ideal movie, just period in a number of ways. One is that this movie is definitely a thriller, and yet there is not a single violent image in it. There’s not. It’s not about like a war. It’s not about, a serial killer. And yet it’s completely fraught the entire time. There’s a sustained level of drama, namely because of the situation there end, which, if you know it, Cate Blanchett, as a teacher who ends up having, this it’s not safe to use the word affair with a 15 year old, but she hooks up with a 15 year old. And then this other teacher who, an older teacher named, played by Judi Dench, who is kind of obsessed with this woman. She finds out about it and then lords that knowledge over her and uses it to forge like a friendship with her. And so you’re seeing this blackmail cajoling going on, and you’re wondering how this will all explode. But anyway, it’s a really short movie. Cate Blanchett’s husband is Bill Nye in it, who’s also fantastic. But there’s a number of things in this movie that are specific to the Cate Blanchett greatness wheelhouse, which is, first of all, it’s a movie about confrontations. And she, like so many of our classic movie actresses, I think one of the best things she does is confrontation scenes. You know, if you watch an old Betty Davis movie and you don’t get the scene where she, like, reads Amanda, like, did you watch a Betty Davis movie at all? You know, and Cate Blanchett in this movie has this tete a tete with Judi Dench. And of course, it’s also thrilling because Judi Dench in this movie is playing a role you’ve not seen her do, which is a pathetic and weaselly person. You know, there’s often an imperiousness to Judi Dench where she gets these brilliant one liners. She has these brilliant deliveries that make her seem almost impervious to the drama in the story, whereas in this she is both the villain and the victim of the story. So there’s like levels of, of of of her, of her scariness, of her vulnerability in this movie.

 

Joel Kim Booster It is interesting too, because she’s always playing high status characters. Judi Dench. Yeah. And then to see her play low status but still like it is sort of a hat trick for her because it’s like you have to play low status, but you have all the power in the situation to. And so it’s, it’s an interesting, interesting role for her to play. I guess the other thing, too, about Cate Blanchett, and I’m, you know, this is maybe the third or fourth and hopefully last time I’ll say this, but there is this thing that Cate Blanchett, because, like, she is giving you tar, she’s giving you Carol, she’s giving you Blue Jasmine. But on the same token, she’s also giving you Ocean’s eight and Thor Ragnarok and Borderlands. And there is this, like, crossover, like she’s giving it to, like she she has something for everybody. She’s appealing to, like, you know, Oscar gaze like you. And she’s also appealing to, like, gay videogame players in Borderlands. And in that way she is very similar to Tim Waltz. You know, she is.

 

Louis Virtel You keep writing this Salon.com essay about everything is like Tim Waltz.

 

Joel Kim Booster She’s just she appeals to everybody. And I think, like, we we don’t have a lot of movie stars like that.

 

Louis Virtel No. Nicole Kidman, I think, has made that transition more in recent years, where I mean, obviously she was always in Batman movies and stuff, but she went so hard into morose drama and then sort of eventually came back into Aquaman territory and more mainstream stuff. But I think there’s something about Cate Blanchett because she so seems like an original recipe movie star, like somebody who would have been opposite Clark Gable once upon a time. Yeah, that it’s surprising we get her and movies like that, you know what I mean?

 

Joel Kim Booster Well, and it also like the thing about the difference between Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett, too, is like, there is always a sense with Nicole that she’s doing movies like Aquaman and Paddington because she’s doing it for her kids. She’s like, oh, I want my kids to be able to watch me in one of these movies. Whereas with Cate Blanchett, she’s like, yeah, sure, I’ll fucking be in this video game movie because it seems like fun, right?

 

Louis Virtel No, I, I yeah, I imagine it’s also draining to do, just serious dramas all the time. And also, by the way, those are probably really there’s are shorter shoots too, I would assume, too. So you just fly through them? No. Something I always think about, you know, Gwyneth Paltrow has all but left acting. And I kind of think when you do that many. Serious parts young. Maybe you just get over that kind of acting somewhat quickly, you know what I mean? Like you’re just like, all right, I did the I played the poet in that one. I played the, you know, Shakespeare in Love part. I was a winning love interest. Whatever. And then she did, like, a musical and stuff, you know, eventually you just run out of the need to keep repeating yourself. Yeah. And I will say that’s another thing about Cate Blanchett as much as she does, I guess what I would call Oscar prestige a lot of the time, not much of it to me really feels repetitive. Ultimately. You know, like a lot of her thrillers really have anything in common. In fact, I saw her do an interview about Borderlands where she said, oh, I’ve never done something like this before. And I realized it’s kind of like Madonna picking a new phase to be in. It’s really about, well, what haven’t I done? Because I have truly hit every visual Pinterest idea you could have for me at this point, you know?

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, I’m like trying to think in her filmography, like where the overlaps are for Cate, and it is sort of like, I guess, like there’s like a maybe some connection between Carroll and Blue Jasmine, a little bit like that period and that kind of character. But like, you’re right, there is not a ton of overlap for her.

 

Louis Virtel No. Right. I will say, I think because she has such a natural elegance that maybe the the repetitiveness as people perceive it might be, you know, society figures. You know, who we’re a bit, enamored with the with the glamor they bring in a given situation regardless if the situation is glamorous. But for instance, like, I mean, the lasting image from Nightmare Alley for me as her just cutting and being like a femme fatale in this crazy, wretched carnival environment and still coming out looking like, you know, Lana Turner or something.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah, it’s funny too, because like, you know, thinking about old Hollywood, like old movie stars. Like, there she is giving sort of like Katharine Hepburn a little bit in terms of, like some of the masculinity and the, the, the intelligence that she brings to a lot of these roles. But like, she also has that elegance that like, and there is like a, you know, a femininity just to some of what you break, I don’t know, there is no one like quite like her. There is not a there’s not a great cap for Cate Blanchett in any era. I don’t think.

 

Louis Virtel No, I think also something that’s important about her is like, it always feels like she very casually has the math about how the camera is hitting her. Like every it’s not like she’s pretentious or like contrived, but. And yet every time the camera’s on her, it’s like it found the exact right angle all the times. It’s like she’s mathematically, algorithmically perfect as a movie presence. In a way, it almost surprises me that she loves the theater so much, since she seems so ready to be in a movie at any get a. I can’t imagine her seeming discombobulated on screen, you know? I mean, there’s the word for what she does is masterful. She is masterful as a screen presence. You know, I should bring up another movie that I love, the first. Now, I will say, I think, Tara obviously is a movie we talked about a lot, but I think something that will last for me about that movie is it’s one of the few Oscar movies of the past few years that was actually ambiguous, that you had to talk about with people afterwards because there were so many dimensions to it, so many questions you would have about given scenes. Why was that scene here? And yet nothing it didn’t feel, unreachable. It wasn’t an inaccessible movie. Ultimately, even though there’s a lot of strange things going on in it, I cannot think of another Oscar level movie that got Oscar attention, that actually stirred conversation in that way, where it was what actually happened here? What is this movie saying? Do I like this character? Like everything was always thrown in the balance with every conversation you had about this.

 

Joel Kim Booster And seriously, all love and adoration to Michelle. Yeah, like I’m so glad that she won. And I’m so glad, that that movie had the moment that it did. But like you do almost kind of wish that Tara was in a different year.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Joel Kim Booster Because like, there was no discussion for me ultimately between Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett, obviously. But like, you do kind of wish that she were in a different year because, like, you can almost sense too with Cate Blanchett in that year. Like she wasn’t going to campaign that hard for it.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Like that. Like optically, that wouldn’t have been a good choice for her.

 

Joel Kim Booster No one wanted to lose more than Cate Blanchett. I feel that year, especially by the end. But like you do, kind of wish, like it were in a in a different composite. You, I don’t know, like you’re right because I do think that in terms of like, well, no, I’m not going to say anything else. I loved her and I loved. Yeah. And I think like we will be quoting tar and returning to tar for many years to come.

 

Louis Virtel I will say, comparing those two movies, everything everywhere, all at once and tar. One thing tar does not do to the viewer, ultimately, is comfort them. Like where the movie ends up is weird and sinister and everything everywhere, all at once has a lot of dimensions going on. It’s an unconventional movie in many ways, like the sheer. Obstacle course of things Michelle Yeoh gets to do, for example. But ultimately, there is a coziness to that movie. And I think when you’re voting, that feels better, like, oh, like, let’s pick the movie that actually left us with like some momentum going forward in life, as opposed to Tara, which said like, wow, the human condition is grisly and strange and, well, your guiding principles in life about your artistry, can leave you blind to all these other things in your life and lead you astray and lead you to the video game concert that she ends up at at the end of the movie.

 

Joel Kim Booster Totally. And it does feel like. Everything everywhere was like sort of a surprise for a lot of reasons and like a surprising kind of movie to be there, a surprising kind of performance to be nominated and celebrated in that way. And like a surprising thing for Michelle Yeoh to do in a lot of ways, and tar just like. I think. Like what? You forget and you only realize sort of looking back, is that like Tara, in a lot of ways felt like an Oscar movie to a lot of people, I think. But like, and it sort of and that, that sort of when you’re talking about like, you know, the Oscars and the race and everything like that, you, you do sort of obscure, like what a great movie it actually is, aside from being a more traditional Oscar movie in some ways and performance, but like, yeah, I, I’m going to watch it hard today, I think.

 

Louis Virtel No, I had a, a professor in college who, a former writer for rolling Stone, Don McLean, if you’re listening. Hi. He talked about how when he picked made his Grammy predictions, he would try his best not to listen to the songs and just judge them based on the idea of the songs, because he thinks that’s what most people are judging by. And when you look at TR that way and you see the poster and she’s being a composer and it looks like, you know, it looks like the movie maestro, you know, which is sort of like, obviously there are things that are good about that movie, but it is sort of the pretentious Oscar movie of like, look at me, aren’t I grand? Aren’t I bigger than life? Vote for me. And that’s not what Tara is about. You know, TR is like a about the seat of CD ness. And like the permissions people give themselves to act one way and say other things about themselves. It’s a much more complicated movie than the traditional Oscar movie. And I’m not somebody who believes in terms like Oscar bait. I think good movies are just good movies, and people choose to have reasons not to be into them or whatever, but, no. Tara’s obvious. And before we go, I must say something about Carol. And that thing is watch Carol. By the way, guys, like no sign of scandal. It is a short movie. You can throw it on every performance. I would compare this movie maybe to, The Last Picture Show in the 70s, where not only is it to put you in a time and place and, the characters fill the dimensions that time and place brilliantly, but everybody gets like a little moment where you just inspect that psyche where you hear, like, just Rooney Mara talking, or you hear just Sarah Paulson talking or Kyle Chandler. And so every character is suddenly bigger than just being a supporting character in Carol’s story. And obviously she is tremendous. The scene where she is, negotiating with Kyle Chandler, their divorce, and we she says we’re not ugly people. Harsh the delivery on that line. Oh, it’s so good. It’s so good. And, and weirdly, like she is so otherworldly, glamorous in that movie, but because of the nature of how she is delivering this emotional dialog, you believe her in that space too, which is a hard ask. She does not look like she belongs to like a normal pedestrian world in that movie.

 

Joel Kim Booster Well, and it is like a formative friendship memory that I have of you, Louis, is that I think our very first Palm Springs trip that we ever took when we were friends, we couldn’t figure out how to get the outdoor speakers to work, and the only we figured out that they were connected. The only thing we could figure out to connect them to was the DVD player for some reason, and the TV, and at one point we just started to do this to like, try and figure it out and test it. But on the outdoor speakers, the only thing playing was Carol, and it was just the audio of Carol. And we like did it for a second to just like try and figure out how to get the speakers to work. But then we all just sat outside and listened to Carol. We weren’t even watching Carol. We were simply outdoors by the pool, not listening to fucking Carly Rae Jepsen, but to Carol.

 

Louis Virtel International pop sensation Carol Aird. Yeah, that just the.

 

Joel Kim Booster The radio play. That was Carol. It was and I was like, okay, these people, I found them, and. Yeah, great.

 

Louis Virtel Great memory that is, very fab and sounds like us play. I will say, by the way, underrated. If you’re ever in like, a car and you’re like, if you, like, put like a movie on YouTube and, like, listen to the dialog sometimes that’s really exciting. Yeah. The movie version of The Importance of Being Earnest, obviously, that’s a play. So it’s going to be more dialog based, really pleasing to listen to in a car. It’s like the best version of an audiobook to me. I can’t recommend it enough.

 

Joel Kim Booster I’ll tell.

 

Louis Virtel We’ll be right back with our favorite segment of the episode, keep it up. And we’re back with our favorite segment of the episode. To be honest, that’s the only named segment of the episode, so if it’s not your favorite, something went wrong. But it’s keep it. Joel, what do you have to say? Keep it to this week?

 

Joel Kim Booster I have to say keep it to you. This is not necessarily something in pop culture, but it is something that’s plaguing me, especially living in LA. But I’m going to say keep it to Fancy ice cream flavors. Sure. And I’m talking about places like salt and straw. I think salt and straw, actually, here in LA is maybe the biggest, offender to this. But keep your fucking candle ass ice cream flavors to yourself. I swear to God, if I step foot into another ice cream store in LA and I see something on the menu that is akin to, like, rain on the asphalt, I will lose my goddamn mind. Like, I do not want a floral ice cream. And I know that makes me again like a midwest princess. But like, keep it to the fruits, honey. Keep it to candy, keep it to chocolate. In those families, I do not want your rosewater bullshit.

 

Louis Virtel Who loves this shit? I don’t understand, like I don’t get it. It’s like. It’s like you’re eating perfume. You know which, first of all, I am allergic to. And then secondly, it’s not scrumptious. I don’t know, it doesn’t go with cream, for example. No, like like I the amount of things that lavender is. And it’s like I’m not trying to eat the Monet painting. I want to be eating ice cream.

 

Joel Kim Booster I’m at an ice cream store, I’m not at a bath and body works. Okay. I and I think there is like this idea again, it’s like I’m literally just pulling out bullshit from my ass. But it is like I want to go to an ice cream store, but I also want to feel like an adult, you know? And it’s like, no, no, no, no, no, you’re at an ice cream shop, babe. You’re a child again. Okay? Like it is like that thing of like, I don’t need these superhero movies to have a point, okay? Don’t try and, like, make it seem like, you know, you’re elevating this thing that is for children. No, I embrace it. You are a child while you’re sitting in the Borderlands theater. Okay? Like, dude, I don’t I don’t need some, like, political point to come out of this. No, like you are a child. Now for the next 15 minutes, two hours, whatever long the movie is, or however long your ice cream shop visit is, you are a child again. Like, stop trying to hide from that and just embrace it and like, eat the fucking ice cream sherbet. I don’t know, like the the strawberry, whatever. You know, the strawberry shortcake ice cream. Stop trying to make yourself seem. Stop trying to make ice cream seem prestige, I guess, is what I’m saying.

 

Louis Virtel No, stop. Stop expecting to get to put on the the master’s jacket because you want miniature golf. You know what I’m saying? That it doesn’t belong to you. And also, specifically, we have sandblasted so many scrumptious things into ice cream, as is. Like, don’t tell me you ran out of loving like cake and ice cream or cookie dough or whatever. Like there are. There are fun options that will be that belong in the ice cream that, by the way, don’t make the rest of the ice cream parlor smell like flowers. So that’s another thing about these kinds of flowers. They bleed into my experience even if I don’t want them.

 

Joel Kim Booster Keep your freshly cut grass ass ice cream. I don’t want it.

 

Louis Virtel This actually is one of the definitive keepers of all time. Good for you. I think people will remember you said something today.

 

Joel Kim Booster It’s it’s truly. One of my biggest pet peeves of all time is when I walk into that store and I just can’t. And then the worst part, especially with salt and straw, is you go in and you’re like, there are no normal flavors, practically.

 

Louis Virtel Right. You you have to eat like Thanksgiving flavored ice cream or. Yeah.

 

Joel Kim Booster It’s like, okay, have one flavor for the freaks, okay. But that’s all you get. Like the rest of it, cold stone style. That’s what I like. Oh, fuck. Salt and straw. Give me cold stone all day.

 

Louis Virtel Did you work at a Cold Stone ever?

 

Joel Kim Booster I did, yeah, cold Stone Creamery in the Chicago suburbs where we grew up is the Underground Railroad for gay teens. In the Chicago suburbs.

 

Louis Virtel And. Right. And the way you reach out to the universe is you are constantly singing happy birthday to them. Exactly. Is that what happens there? You have to sing Happy Birthday.

 

Joel Kim Booster Like everybody know, they tip you, and then you have to sing an ice cream parody song. You know, from the window to the wall.

 

Louis Virtel I sure fucking do.

 

Joel Kim Booster We definitely had an ice cream parody, to that song at some point in 2005 or 2004, whenever I worked there.

 

Louis Virtel When I think of you, I think, Lil Jon, I can’t explain it. That’s just where I go. Anyway, thank you for that. My keep it this week is, and now a recurring keep it because I’ve brought up this song before and I keep it goes to gay man. But really the universe at large for not accepting cash as joy ride at the level of banger she brought us this summer. This song Joel is not on the hot 100. Really. I feel like I hear this all the time. I was at, this party I love in LA the other day called glory, which takes place mercifully in West Hollywood and not in some warehouse like miles and miles away, where I’m parking my car and praying to God no one finds that, it’s right in the middle of West Hollywood. And they played the song. I’m telling you, everybody turns the hell up. It’s like a song to be the Tasmanian devil to. It’s revved up. It’s got this crazy accordion intro and accordion sort of. A cadence going through the song. And then the drumbeat going into the chorus sounds exactly like there’s no other way to put it. Baby shark and don’t pretend that’s not a banger. Do not pretend that’s not a banger. The song I just feel like it’s the exact energy we love from Kesha. Not that we didn’t love her praying era and, her her her vulnerability is also very impressive. But this the rowdiness and the humor that again, we kind of, I think, maybe wrongly attributed to the writing of Doctor Luke once upon a time. Oh no, she brings it so hard in this song. It’s such a pleasure to hear. It’s always a laugh, too. I think every time I listen to this song, I feel like I’m laughing again at the lyrics.

 

Joel Kim Booster And. And it’s so strange too, because it, like, not only is a good song, but like the narrative surrounding it too is also so compelling of that. Like this is her like triumphant return post. Doctor Luke like this is what she was praying for in the song pray.

 

Louis Virtel The titular praying. Yes.

 

Joel Kim Booster It’s like. And now we finally got it. We got Kesha back, you know, unshackled. And we should end like that alone, I think, like, makes it a bit like any anything she would have released, we all would have been celebrating to some degree because of the, the power of that moment. But then like to have it also be a good ass song to on top of that. Like how is this not a hit?

 

Louis Virtel No. And again, it’s like, I like Chapel Road, but it’s like you’re telling me those songs are hitting 500 times harder than this one song from this artist we’re already familiar with? It’s just so strange to me. I want to relate to my brethren, and I just don’t, you know what I’m saying?

 

Joel Kim Booster I wonder, is it because we’re old? It because Kesha’s too old? No, I’m genuinely asking, like, what is this song giving? That brat is giving, you know, like, I don’t understand.

 

Louis Virtel No, see, when you bring brat into the equation, it’s like, well, she’s sort of our age, you know what I mean? So it’s like within reach in a way. But I do think a huge thing with chaperon is it does feel like she belongs to a particular generation, like people relate to her. Yeah. Just the energy she brings, the the irreverence she brings. And you’re right, maybe after a while when you’re age. And I think she’s probably 37 or so. 36. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it’s just, you know, you become less eligible to be that that bitch.

 

Joel Kim Booster You know, I guess I do. I guess I do think that, like, certainly Gen Z has a little bit less nostalgia for Kesha than we do. And so that might be part of it, I guess. Like they weren’t around, they weren’t listening to TikTok and Your Love Is My Drug and all of those songs, like, as they were coming out, they don’t have the emotional association with those songs. So I guess I wonder if that’s part of it, like they’re just not celebrating the return as much as we are, but, an injustice, to be sure.

 

Louis Virtel And it’s also interesting to me because I would say what Sabrina Carpenter is bringing right now, for instance, would make her this generation’s Katy Perry in terms of like, you know, the, the, the kind of the frosty make up, the, kind of old school throwback like the I’m posing on a bomber jet sort of pinup act, you know, and that’s hitting for people and that’s harkening back to our generation in a way. So it’s just on my mind. I don’t know what’s going on there, but, anyway, I’m still spinning it.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. Everybody go out and stream joyride immediately.

 

Louis Virtel And then watch the movie joyride, the one with Leelee Sobieski. So. Good.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Thank you again to the immortal Cate Blanchett. I mean, as life goes on, certain pleasures are not guaranteed. But one of them is we will always get a new Cate Blanchett movie and the mystique and fabulousness that comes with it. Jo Kim Booster, thank you, as always, for being here and also just for being my friend.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. No, absolutely. I’ll see you in Chicago. Both of us being absolute, terrors, in the Midwest, I cannot wait.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God. If you thought you’ve seen people get sunburned before. Wait till what I brag. Wait till you see what I do.

 

Joel Kim Booster Yeah. And, by the way, if you see me in Chicago, Louis alluded to this up top, but I did get a perm that, is so bad. So you’ll either see me in Chicago with a shaved head or a giant loaf of hair on a top of my head that will not move. No matter what. And don’t say anything. Don’t say anything about my hair. Don’t address it at all.

 

Louis Virtel I believe this makes you like Cate Blanchett, though. You know, it’s like, what is she going to bring from day to day? What is her look, this coming movie? Well, I like it is a bizarre whatever. So it’s all in keeping with the theme of this episode.

 

Joel Kim Booster I love it.

 

Louis Virtel And we will see you next week with more keep it.

 

Ira Madison II Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

 

Louis Virtel You can also subscribe to Keep It on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. And if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review.

 

Ira Madison II Keep it is a Crooked Media production. Our producers are Chris Lord and Kennedy Hill. Our executive producers are Ira Madison, the third, Louis Virtel and Kendra James.

 

Louis Virtel Our digital team is Megan Patsel, Claudia Shang and Rachel Gaieski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to Matt DeGroot, David Toles, Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landes for production support every week.