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What do we expect her to do though? Give it all back?
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It’s a bit rich isn’t it?
A cashed-up Hollywood star telling all us average Joes to back a tax that could potentially make life harder to endure than Gone With The Wind in French?
Especially when the only kind of financial hit they’re ever likely to face is converting their Aussie dollars into American.
Just like acting, advertising is all about believability. So somewhat shrewdly supporters of Julia Gillard’s carbon tax went straight to the top when casting the starring role in its latest release: the thespian’s thespian with the Kevin Rudd character reference, Cate Blanchett.
Our Cate is a true acting chameleon, whose roles have gloriously criss-crossed from a sassy Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, a sexually frustrated Queen of England in Elizabeth, to a rambling and incoherent Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.
Time will tell if she’s been woefully miscast in Carbon Tax: The Unexplained Story.
The cynics (that is, The Coalition) are accusing Gillard and co. of sprinkling the Hollywood fairydust to sell the Australian public something they’ll end up paying for anyway. And Blanchett of hypocrisy.
On recent form, it’s a fair point.
The sanctimony levels often get turned all the way up to 11 when movie stars lecture everyday citizens (as Liz Hurley calls us) about living within our means and doing something for the greater good – which admittedly Liz did by giving away the acting game.
But when stars align themselves with government (unless it’s the razzle dazzle Obama campaign of 2008) it’s a risky move for all concerned.
In showbusiness terms, the Federal government is so mild right now, but they’ve been unusually canny with their Odd Couple selection of the poised and polished Blanchett, teamed up with the uber dag factor of the “she’ll be right mate”, ar*e-hangin’-out-the-back-of-me-strides charm of Michael Caton.
Both should be commended for bravery, if nothing else.
Often, an actor’s greatest weapon isn’t ability, but popularity, so they’ve rolled the dice in a game where historically Australian actors hold onto their chips.
Both have enormous currency. Cate is obviously Cate, while Caton is riding high on the back of his Darryl Kerrigan character for the new millenium, Ted Taylor.
So their collaboration with the Federal government is obviously not a case of ultra self-promotion, whatever the cost. No, it’s simply some high-profile thespianage simply believing in the cause.
It’s perhaps a bolder move by Cate. She has much more to lose.
Despite perceptions of being upper-class, undoubtedly well spoken and married to Sydney theatre aristocracy, she’s been held close to Australian society’s less than pretentious bosom. Equally, she’s not a number-one ticket-holder at an AFL club, and she spells her name with a highfaluting C, rather than the typical, blue-collar K. But we love her regardless.
It’s still a wiser move than recruiting Nicole Kidman however.
While Cate will never feel the pain of a price on carbon, at least the world would know if she did. Unlike our Nic, who has a face more crease-free than a Hilton Hotel bedsheet. She’s no longer the poodle-haired BMX Bandit we once knew.
You can understand why the public have screamed back at their soon-to-be-running-on-a-higher-price-of-electricity television sets, whenever the ads have run.
Cate is hardly a Les Twentyman for the hard up, banking something like $53 million over her relatively short career.
But what do we expect her to do? Give it all back? She’s merely an actress with a conscience, not Mother Teresa – although I’m sure she’d do a brilliant job – nor is she Gina Rinehart on the back of a ute.
But does having a big bank balance forego her opportunity to speak about an issue that will hit blue collar Australians the most?
It’s not as if she’s ever shortchanged the public with her work.
Which reminds me, you’ll never see Lady Ga Ga front an appeal for something important like better health care in the US. A-list celebrity endorsements usually revolve around perfume, or their eating habits son Twitter.
In a world where we revere those who pretend, isn’t it refreshing people like Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton are putting their well-known voices to something real? Or have they foregone that right because of big-screen success?
Popularity is the ultimate currency in the acting game. Only a patsy would risk it for something they don’t believe in.
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