Cate Blanchett Says, “MeToo Got Killed Very Quickly” And That “A Systemic Layer Of Abuse” Remains

“MeToo got killed very quickly,” Cate Blanchett reportedly said during one of the festival’s Rendez-vous conversations today in Cannes.

As a result, the Oscar-winner maintained, gender imbalance is still wildly present in the industry.

“I’m still on film sets and I do the headcount every day, and it is still…there’s 10 women and there’s 75 men, every morning. And I love men, but what happens is the jokes become the same. And what happens is you just have to brace yourself slightly. And I’m used to that, but it just gets boring. It gets boring for everybody when you walk into a homogeneous workplace. I think it has an effect on the work.”

She observed that while women with social currency were to voice the issue, not so for those out of the spotlight, and that points to a persistent problem.

“There are a lot of people with platforms who are able to speak up with relative safety and say, ‘This has happened to me,’ and the so-called average woman on the street is saying ‘MeToo.’ Why does that get shut down? What it revealed is a systemic layer of abuse, not only in this industry but in all industries, and if you don’t identify a problem, you can’t solve the problem. You shut that conversation down. You can’t move on.”

On the brighter side, said Blanchett, she is encouraged by the pledge made by the big festival heads. More needs to be done, however.

“I was so grateful to Thierry and Alberto and Cameron and all the people who are leading the major festivals around the world [when they] signed that they would make a pledge to increase representation, because it’s better for audiences when you [don’t] see the same old, same old. There are extraordinary films every year in each of these festivals, but when the voices are all the same, it does become a bit beige, and I do think it has effected the programming.”

According to reports from the event, Blanchett also said she is “about to work with Brady Corbet on a film.” Its also been reported by the InSneider that Selena Gomez is due to star in the Brutalist director’s next film.