Hello everyone!

The Evening Standard interviewed Cate Blanchett about her love for London. Enjoy!

Home is…

A work in progress. At the moment it’s somewhere between New York, where I’m doing an Ocean’s film, Sydney, where my husband is currently directing a play, and just outside London in the country.

Last play you saw?

We took our boys to see The Play That Goes Wrong in the West End and absolutely loved it. They peed their pants. Before that it was One Man, Two Guvnors, which was more elevated emotionally and psychologically for them.

Most romantic thing someone’s done for you?

Taken me out for lunch and then taken me out for dinner. On the same day.

Favourite shops?

Labour and Wait in Shoreditch. I love that it stocks utilitarian objects for everything from the garden to camping trips. I also love Daunt Books and Mint interiors in Kensington. Lina, the owner, has the most extraordinary eye and does interesting collaborations with artists and designers.

Best thing a London cabbie has said to you?

A cabbie once asked me what fragrance I was wearing, because it was his girlfriend’s birthday. And I was so touched that I gave him the bottle. It was actually a very exclusive Armani Privé scent, and I didn’t have another one, but I had to give it to him because I thought he would never find it.

If you could buy any building in London, which would it be?

Wilton’s Music Hall. You can just feel that many a jolly evening has been had in there. The shape of it is so unusual that I think it’s really inspiring for theatre makers because they start to reinvent their relationship with the audience. It’s magical.

Best piece of advice you’ve been given?

David Hare once passed on a piece of advice to me that Judi Dench once gave him: ‘F*** ‘em, f*** ‘em, f*** ‘em.’ It has been very useful, in life and in the arts.

What are you up to at the moment?

I’m building a pigpen, reading How Did We Get Into This Mess by George Monbiot and working with the BFI on the launch of the IWC Filmmakers Bursary award, which gives young directors their first foot on the funding ladder.

Most memorable meal? 

I’m a great fan of the sausage and sauerkraut at Fischer’s in Marylebone (below).

What building would you like to be locked in overnight?

The National Portrait Gallery.

Who is your hero? 

Angela Merkel. She has been extraordinary in holding things together and offering patient, long-term solutions to very complicated problems.

Last album you downloaded? 

I much prefer buying albums to downloading them — I like to hold them like books — but I did download Nick Cave’s last beautiful album Skeleton Tree. I think he’s an extraordinary person, and it was so full of the stuff of life and death and the pain of being alive.