By Nicole Winfield
VENICE, Italy (AP) --Australian actress Cate Blanchett said Wednesday she is baffled that other countries didn't learn from Italy's pain to be better prepared to fight the coronavirus outbreak when it spread.
Blanchett, who is heading the jury at the virus-restricted Venice Film Festival, arrived on the Lido wearing a surgical mask and skipped the typical water taxi photo op that stars have long used.
Both were evidence of the safety and social distancing norms that have added a certain degree of sobriety to the usually glamorous festival, the first international in-person film showcase after COVID-19 shut down the film industry in March.
At an opening-day press conference, Blanchett was asked whether she feared coming to Italy, the first country in the West to be slammed by COVID-19. Hospitals, cemeteries and morgues were overflowing in nearby Lombardy, which became the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe.
Blanchett said she had many fears, but also said "we have to be courageous."
"Every time one starts a project, whether it's in a pandemic or not, it always feels like the first day of school," she said.
But Blanchett, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who has previously criticized the U.S. decision to pull out of the World Health Organization, also said she couldn't understand why the U.N. agency wasn't being allowed to have a greater leadership role in the ongoing crisis.
"I think we're a very strange species that we don't learn by the painful examples, for example, of the terrible stress that Italy was under," to have been better prepared when the virus spread elsewhere, she said. "We often behave in quite obtuse and fragmented and destructive ways, which is not particularly helpful."
Italy largely tamed the virus with a strict, 10-week lockdown, progressive reopening and continued social distancing norms and mask mandates. While infections have been rising again after Italians returned from vacation, Italy has been able to keep its cases low compared to Spain and France, which were both hard hit in the initial wave of COVID and have seen cases rise again.
Blanchett's native Australia in recent days saw its single biggest daily jump in fatalities and on Wednesday Australia's main hotspot, Victoria state, extended its state of emergency for another six months.
Blanchett said she was honored to be part of a festival that is helping the industry re-emerge from an economically and artistically devastating lockdown that shuttered movie theaters and production sets, forced the cancellation of the Cannes Film Festival and moved other festivals online.
"It seems miraculous actually," she said.
Blanchett is heading the jury that also includes U.S. actor Matt Dillon, Austrian director Veronika Franz, British director Joanna Hogg, Italian writer Nicola Lagioia, German director Christian Petzold and French actress Ludivine Sagnier.
They will award the coveted Golden Lion and other awards to winners of the 18 in-competition films when the festival wraps up Sept. 12.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More