BTG
Melbourne

Cate Blanchett finds deciding on movie parts terrifying because she always relies on her gut, but that will never change.
Cate Blanchett uses the same "visceral" approach to choosing film roles as she did when deciding to marry her husband. The Oscar-winning actress wed Andrew Upton in December 1997 and they have four children together. Pretty much as soon as they met Cate knew she wanted to build a life with her now spouse, and she counts on this same feeling when she's deciding whether to be involved with a film project.
"It's something very visceral with me," she told Britain's Hello! magazine. "When I play a character, I need to make it mine. The process terrifies me but it's the only way I know. It was the same when I met my husband. We'd known each other three weeks when he asked me to marry him. I said yes because I knew it was the right thing. And 18 years later we're still together."
Family life also plays a part in Cate's career, as a role has to be worth spending so much time away from her loved ones. Nothing compares to spending moments with her kids, but every now and then she's presented with an opportunity which gets her creative juices flowing so much she has to be involved.
"It's a matter of deciding which film you feel you absolutely need to do," she explained. "You also want to spend as much time as you can enjoying life with your family and watching your kids grow up. My children always surprise me. They say incredible things that make me see how fast they're learning."
Cate and Andrew's eldest son Dashiell was born in 2001 and their youngest is baby daughter Edith whose adoption was confirmed in March. They've worked hard to ensure their kids understand how privileged they are to have their lifestyle, and they believe they've done a pretty good job of that.
"Our kids have developed a pretty good sense of what's important in life," she explained. "Dashiell often carries a backpack filled with heavy school books. We decided to give him an ebook reader so he can read textbooks in digital format - but he didn't want it. He said he prefers to have the physical book because he loves the smell of the paper."