Cate Blanchett drank her "fair share" of wine to prepare for 'Blue Jasmine'.
The Oscar-winning actress has revealed she indulged in several glasses of sumptuous rosé to get into character for Woody Allen's new drama about an elite New York City housewife who loses her wealth and powerful status when her businessman husband - played by Alec Baldwin - is found guilty of running a Ponzi scheme.
As well as enjoying fine wine, Blanchett says she got into the mind frame of her lady of leisure character by observing real life women in similar situations - particularly taking note of the Bernie Madoff scandal.
She said: "I did a lot of people watching. I drank my fair share of rosé. In the end, I had to play the anti-heroine that Woody's written, but of course I thought about the Madoff scandal, because that's the holocaust of the financial crisis. And there are many, many women like that. I followed them like everybody else did, but as an actress you go back and you're slightly more forensic about those relationships. So yeah, I hoovered up all those stories."
Although she's worked with some of the world's best directors including Martin Scorsese and Peter Jackson, the Australian beauty admits she almost gave hope of ever working with Allen - one of the most critically-acclaimed filmmakers in Hollywood - and was surprised when he called her up about the movie.
She explained to TheWrap.com: "I'd given up hope. So many people I'd known had worked with him and I thought, 'Well, not every filmmaker's interested in every actress.' So I kind of accepted it. I was very surprised when I got the call.
"It was a very short call - about two-and-a-half minutes. He said he was interested in sending me a script, and was I interested in reading it? And I said, 'Yes, of course, Mr. Allen.' He sent it and asked me to give him a call when I read it. I read it straight away, of course, and it was an incredible opportunity. So I called him back and we spoke for about 45 seconds. I said, 'I'd like to do it,' and he said, 'Great, I'll see you in San Francisco.' "
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