Here are some assorted photos of Cate Blanchett from the Giorgio Armani 40th Anniversary party in Milan on April 30 (the white Armani suit), plus some photos of Cate opening the new Australian pavilion in Venice on May 5th (the green dress). We haven’t talked about Cate since I went HAM on her a month ago when she pissed me off about the #AskHerMore crap. Is all forgiven and forgotten? Not really. But I am looking forward to seeing her at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Cate will be promoting Carol, a film by Todd Haynes. It’s about a lesbian relationship (between Cate and Rooney Mara) in the 1950s. It’s actually in competition this year, which means Cate could conceivably win a Best Actress award. So, Cate was an obvious choice for the cover of Variety this week, which serves as a preview of Cannes (starting today). Some highlights from Cate’s profile:

Women have to help women: “We have to push forward. What industry has parity pay for women? None. Why would we expect this industry to be any different?”

The dominance of men’s stories: “It’s not serving the audience. People want to see good films. We should have equal access to the multiplexes.”

The difficulty in making Carol: “It was so hard. Midrange films with women at the center are tricky to finance. There are a lot of people laboring under the misapprehension that people don’t want to see them, which isn’t true.”

Cate’s lesbian relationships: “On film — or in real life?” she asks coyly. Pressed for details about whether she’s had past relationships with women, she responds: “Yes. Many times,” but doesn’t elaborate. Like Carol, who never “comes out” as a lesbian, Blanchett doesn’t necessarily rely on labels for sexual orientation.

She’ll never join Twitter: “I think I’d end up in rehab. That stuff is addictive.”

People need to know too much: “We need to get into people’s private lives now. If they are hiding something, they are dishonest.”

Carol’s sex scenes: “It’s not ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color.’ That’s not the ambition of the film.”

Her craziest visit to Cannes, with Harrison Ford in 2008: “I’d never seen so many people. It was like Harrison was the pope.”

[From Variety]

Most of the Variety story focuses on how Carol was made and financed and the struggle to get it financed, cast, made and released. It took well over a decade and many, many directors came and left the project. Which is weird, because it seems like Todd Hayes would have been the obvious choice from the start, right? Rooney Mara said no to her part at first, and she only came on board after Mia Wasikowska signed on and then dropped out of the role. Anyway… I’m looking forward to the Cannes photos of Cate… and even Rooney.

Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Variety.