Cate Blanchett greets fans at Sydney Indiana Jones premiere
May 21, 2008 - 7:14PM
Cate Blanchett appearing in Sydney for the premiere of the new Indiana Jones movie.
Photo: Helen Nezdropa
Cate Blanchett looked every bit Australia's golden girl of the screen as she walked the red carpet for the Sydney premiere of Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Blanchett, who was dressed in a shimmering gold cocktail dress, had jetted back from the Cannes Film Festival in France with her young family in tow, in time to greet fans at Sydney's George Street cinemas tonight.
The Oscar-winning actress said she was overwhelmed by the reception the film received at the world premiere in Cannes, and hoped Australian audiences would enjoy it just as much.
"I knew this film was popular ... but I didn't realise just how big the fan base was before the opening at Cannes," she said.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the first new film in the series in 19 years.
Starring Harrison Ford and set in the late 1950s during the Cold War, the movie sees its swashbuckling archaeologist hero racing against Soviet agents to recover a mysterious pre-Colombian skull in the wilds of Peru.
Blanchett plays fearless Russian villain Agent Spalko, complete with severely tailored uniform, a black, pudding bowl haircut, and a sword.
She said the hardest part of her role wasn't the action scenes or the Russian accent, but keeping her hair neat.
"It sounds shallow, but trying to keep every single hair in place while sword fighting in a military duck (amphibious vehicle) with Shia LaBeouf - that was pretty difficult," Blanchett said.
Blanchett was full of admiration for her Indiana Jones co-star Ford, who pulled off the action role aged 65.
"I feel 65 at the moment," she joked.
"If I could have half the career that Harrison Ford has had, and look as good and be as sharp as he is, I'll be doing well."
The 39-year-old, who has three sons with husband Andrew Upton, has kept up a busy schedule since giving birth to her youngest child five weeks ago.
But Blanchett downplayed her reputation as a supermum.
She thanked her "supportive, talented" husband for making it possible to do what she does, and revealed her svelte post-baby body was achieved with a bit of help.
"Oh, you should see my underwear, it's not pretty," she laughed.
Blanchett said she wouldn't be staying to watch the movie, but would be going back to playing mum.
"I'm probably going to go home and feed the baby tonight," she said.