Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett joined Pat Kenny to chat about her latest movie, the psychological thriller Nightmare Alley.
The film's the latest feature from the award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, known for films such as Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water.
Based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham (previously adapted as a film in 1947), Nightmare Alley focuses on Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) - a carnival worker who starts using a clairvoyant named Zeena (Toni Collettee) to grift the wealthy New York elite.
Cate plays psychologist Lilith Ritter, who teams up with Stan to use her knowledge of her clients' deepest secrets to trick them into giving up their money.
Things, unsurprisingly, do not end well.
Cate told Pat that del Toro was keen not to use the word 'remake', explaining: "He was adamant he wasn’t remaking that [1947] film because we live in a very different age.
“It was a story he was gripped by because at its heart it’s the story of a man who starts to believe his own lies.
"I think we’re absolutely living in a time where people are believing their own lies rather than investigating the truth… that is the kernel of the story we all connected with.”
Cate said del Toro is a filmmaker known for his incredible visual style but is also a director fascinated with characters’ backstories.
She observed: “He’s an unparalleled master of the visual - that’s why I so hope people can see this in the cinema. It’s a cinematic feast: the production design, the costumes, the creation of those worlds… it’s wonderful.
"But he’s as obsessed with psychology. He was very interested in the freak, the outsider, the person who has been driven mad by the world at large and also by themselves.”
She described the filmmaker as being like a "kid in a candy store" with this material - one who created the carnival set that dominates the first half of the film in virtual reality before even starting to shoot.
Cate said: “He totally created it in a virtual way… I felt like I was right there.
"Even though I didn’t visit the set, I feel like I experienced it.”
Pat suggested Cate and her co-star Bradley Cooper resemble Bogey and Bacall - a comparison Cate said she's flattered by.
She said: "Bacall was a tough nut... a beautiful tough nut and highly intelligent. That's certainly something that the characters she created share with Guillermo's version of Lilith.
"But there was something untouchable about Lilith that was there to entice Stan towards the fire - not like a traditional femme fatale... she kind of has bigger fish to fry, and there's a reason why she wants to lead him to a dangerous place.
"There's perhaps a greater darkness [here]. If you look at Bradley's extraordinary performance as Stan, he is a hollow, hollow man. I don't think you can accuse Bogey of being a hollow man."
Nightmare Alley is screening in Irish cinemas from today.
You can listen to the full interview here: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-the-pat-kenny-show/cate-blanchett-talks-about-her-new-movie-nightmare-alley
