UNITED KINGODM: Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett discuss the roles that have got the critics buzzing and that earned them a Golden Globe nomination each

The film is yet to go on general release, but already its two female leads are creating a buzz and have been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Golden Globes, respectively, for their performances. But then, that's hardly a surprise, when the two actresses in question are the much-acclaimed Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. 'Notes on a Scandal' sees the two women unite for a tale of morals, scandals and relationships gone bad. Based on Zoe Heller's best-selling novel 'What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal', the film has been adapted for the big screen by Patrick Marber and is directed by Richard Eyre. It follows the lives of two teachers, Sheba Hart (Blanchett) and Barbara Covett (Dench). Sheba is an attractive, bohemian art teacher whose arrival at a London high school at the beginning of a new semester awakens everyone's curiosity - especially that of the teenage male students and the embittered history teacher, Barbara. Barbara befriends Sheba and becomes a somewhat disliked, but common fixture in the Hart household that includes Sheba's older husband (Bill Nighy), a teenage daughter and a son, who suffers from Down syndrome. The lonely, introverted Barbara finds herself drawn to Sheba's company and takes their relationship very seriously. However, the new-found friendship is soon put under test when Barbara discovers Sheba is having an affair with 15-year-old student Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson). The film, told through various candid diary entries by Barbara, follows the difficult relationship and shifts of power between the two women, one at a loss of direction in her life, embarking on a relationship with an underage boy and the other, utterly lonely and frustrated with life. "At the core of the film is this very unhealthy friendship, if you can call it that, between the two women. And the relationship that Sheba has with her student, underage...with a minor, is the sub-plot. And a lot of the situations that the characters find themselves in are utterly absurd. So there is a buoyancy to it, I think that belies the kind of heavy nature of that kind of betrayal of trust," Blanchett explained. As for the controversial scenes that see Blanchett's character carry out a sexual relationship with a minor, the actress said she felt more embarrassed and uneasy compared to then 16-year old Irish newcomer, Simpson, in filming the scenes. Asked whether she was expecting similar responses as Nicole Kidman received for her role in the film 'Birth' in which she believes her dead husband's soul has taken the form of a young boy, Blanchett said the topic was not to be taken lightly; yet at the same time she was not too concerned about portraying the fictional relationship on the big screen. "They are very different films. And in the end, it's a work of fiction, it's a drama. I mean, there was no actual penetration. But it was important to me as an actor that the actor I was performing with was above the age of consent. And I talked to Andrew Simpson's father and to Andrew and made sure he was fine with everything. In the end these things are shot in the dark which I was quite pleased about because I blushed my way through the entire thing," Blanchett said. "He blessed himself," Dench added laughing. "I think he did. He was a good Catholic boy. But no, I found it quite, I was probably more uncomfortable about it than he was," said Blanchett. In addition to Dench and Blanchett, the film also stars British actress Bill Nighy and unites Dench with director Richard Eyre, whom she worked with on Oscar-winning film 'Iris'. The screenplay is written by playwright Patrick Marber, who wrote the international hit play 'Closer'. Both Dench and Blanchett said that despite a challenging script, it was really the chance to work with the talented team behind 'Notes on a Scandal' that appealed to them. "I never really go by the script, I only go really by the people I'm going to work with and that's what swayed me. And I'd read the book beforehand, which was just a stroke of luck," said Dench. "Because I never read, never read anything. Just go by the people," she added laughing. "I mean, in the end, the characters, for me, they are probably the last point of entry. I'd heard that Patrick (Marber) was writing the screenplay and that Judi might possibly do it and Richard (Eyre) was doing it, and Bill, the lovely Bill Nighy," Blanchett said. Dench and Blanchett have already been nominated for a Golden Globe each for their portrayals of Barbara and Sheba. The actresses, who amongst numerous awards and nominations, have both won Academy Awards - Dench for 'Shakespeare in Love' and Blanchett for 'Aviator' -- said the nominations were still important to them, but it was the months of speculation leading up to the awards ceremony that took off some of the initial excitement of the recognition. "I think it is terrific to be nominated, I think it is wonderful to be nominated. And you think, good gracious, I mean it does take you aback a bit like that. But then it starts, then people speculate, and that's very..." said Dench. "You have to talk about it and it's all speculative. Just either announce it and say 'yes, these are the nominations' but it's the speculation that comes up to it which is tiring I think and not really my scene," she added. 'Notes on a Scandal' will be released in the United States on January 27 and in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2007. The Golden Globe Awards will be held in Los Angeles on January 15, 2007.

ITN Source | December 28, 2006

Tags:. .News Archive. .embittered. .richard eyre. .lonely. .patrick marber