Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

Cate Blanchett as: Lucinda Leplastrier

Directed by: Gillian Armstrong
Selected Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Geoffrey Rush, Richard Roxburgh
Written by: Laura Jones (Based on Peter Carey’s novel of the same name)
Release Year: 1997
Genre: Drama / Romance
MPAA Rating: R

IMDb | Photos | Videos

In mid-1800’s England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him through a sign to leave his father and his faith and join the Church of England. Lucinda is a teen-aged Australian heiress who has an almost desperate desire to liberate her sex from the confines of the male-dominated culture of the Australia of that time. She buys a glass factory and has a dream of building a church made almost entirely of glass, and then transporting it to the Australian Outback. Oscar and Lucinda meet on a ship going to Australia; once there, they are for different reasons ostracized from society, and as a result “join forces” together. Oscar and Lucinda are both passionate gamblers, and Lucinda bets Oscar her entire inheritance that he cannot transport the glass church to the Outback safely…

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Behind the scenes; PhotoshootRelated Videos

Director Gillian Armstrong talking about a then unknown Cate Blanchett in the film, here.

Quotes from Cate Blanchett

“I love making Oscar and Lucinda, [she likens that moment in her life to the time before a volcano or earthquake], when the earth sort of rises. All these things erupt out of that time. I was working with Ralph [Fiennes] and Gill [Armstrong] on an extraordinary script. I met my husband. I loved it.” (Harpers & Queen, March 2001)
On director Gillian Armstrong’s belief to have her cast as Lucinda: “It’s a testament to the power of Australian directors who will not compromise their artistic integrity. I am filled with admiration, and gratitude, that they didn’t compromise on that.” (Cinema Papers Australia, May 1997)
On Ralph Fiennes: “He’s a real giggler. I loved working with him, he’s great and great fun.” (Front Desk Talent Scout)
“I couldn’t think of anyone at that point I would have wanted to work with more than Ralph [Fiennes]. I learnt an enormous amount from him. He has an amazing ability to focus and to shut down and inhabit something completely.” (Vogue Australia, October 1997)

Quotes from Others

Ralph Fiennes:
— On Cate Blanchett: “She was also quietly perceptive, with a great sense of humor.”
— “And if you hear a certain actor is going to be playing a part, that’s often a temptation. Like, it was fantastic working with Cate Blanchett. I saw a test she did, and she blew me away.”
Gillian Armstrong:
— “I saw all the best actresses in England, but we brought Cate [Blanchett] in for the second screen test and she was just fantastic… she has this spirit and originality. Peter (Carey) wrote it about an Australian woman, and though some of the American and English actresses would have brought us more money, I thought that I should go for an Australian. Cate has the openness, directness, and humour that is very much a part of the character.”
— “Cate’s [Blanchett] very bright and sensitive, and a great observer of life, but she also has that ability to soak up a character without in any way being conscious or affected. After we’d finished Oscar and Lucinda, the casting director said, you know, I think Cate’s actually changed through playing the role. She seemed to take something of the character’s strength away with her and be a more confident person.”
— “I wanted somebody who was both beautiful and a bit off-centered. When I saw Cate [Blanchett], I knew she was Lucinda.”

Trivia & Facts

Filmed in England, UK & Australia.
Nominated at the Oscars for Best Costume Design by Janet Patterson, more accolades here.
Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the AFI – Australian Film Institute Awards (now AACTA Awards).
Cate Blanchett discovered she got the part of Lucinda while filming Paradise Road (1997).
Ralph Fiennes personally called the executives at Fox Studio to reassure them that Cate Blanchett is perfect for the part of Lucinda Leplastrier.
The author Peter Carey had known Cate Blanchett’s father, Robert Blanchett, when both worked in the advertising industry in Melbourne.
Cate Blanchett said that when she arrived for the screen test she has a bleached hair and eyebrows and no make-up, at the time she was playing an Italian albino on the series, Bordertown (1995).
Cate Blanchett beat out Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sharon Stone, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet and Meg Ryan for the role everyone wanted.
Four years later, Gillian Armstrong would direct Cate Blanchett in another film, Charlotte Gray (2001).
Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush have worked together in film and theatre — Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007); Oleanna (1993).
Cate Blanchett and Ciarán Hinds also worked together in Veronica Guerin (2003).
Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh have worked together in film and theatre — Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997), Oscar and Lucinda (1997) and The Turning (Segment: Reunion, 2013); Hamlet (1994-95), The Seagull (1997), Uncle Vanya (2010-12), and The Present (2015-17).
Cate Blanchett guest starred in the TV series, Rake (2014), as the lesbian version of Richard Roxburgh’s character.
Cate Blanchett and Gillian Jones worked together in theatre too: Hamlet (1994-95), The Tempest (1995), The Blind Giant is Dancing (1995) and The Seagull (1997).
Director Shekar Kapur said that he chose Cate Blanchett to play Elizabeth after seeing her on the promo reel for Oscar and Lucinda. He said that there were only five or six shots of Blanchett, he saw her face coming out of the water and thought there’s no doubt in mind that is Elizabeth.