‘She scares me’: Warwick Thornton on working with Cate Blanchett
Garry Maddox, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
May 10, 2023
In a break during sound mixing, Thornton raved about working for the first time with Cate Blanchett, who plays a kindly nun who takes in an orphaned Indigenous boy at a remote monastery.
The two-time Oscar winner was not being intimidating on purpose. “She’s just super highly intelligent and totally driven by story,” Thornton said.
Straight after Cannes, The New Boy will be the opening-night attraction and screen in the $60,000 competition for “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” cinema at Sydney Film Festival.
Festival director Nashen Moodley, who announced the program at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday night, called Thornton’s film “an absolute masterpiece”.
“When I saw the film, there were many moments that I wanted to cheer,” he said. “It’s really a profound work.”
The 70th festival runs at the State Theatre and nine other venues from June 7 to 18.