Cate Blanchett charmed the Venice Film Festival on Thursday night when Alfonso Cuarón’s new erotic Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer” received a five-minute standing ovation.
The two-time Oscar winner was the star attraction at the Lido, with the audience in the Sala Grande erupting in applause as she made her entrance before the screening. Blanchett was dressed in a sleek black pantsuit with an open back draped in pearls, while co-star Sacha Baron Cohen went 007 style with a white tuxedo jacket.
To add some Gen-Z praise to the occasion, singer Olivia Rodrigo was on hand to support her boyfriend Louis Partridge, who also stars in the series. However, she didn’t walk across the carpet and sat a few chairs away from the actor. After the screening, she ignored the attempts of several audience members to get her attention as she shouted “Olivia!” shouted.
Earlier in the day, Blanchett was asked during the ‘Disclaimer’ press conference about the dress she wore to the premiere of ‘The Apprentice’ at the Cannes Film Festival in May – the colors of which many interpreted as a pro-Palestinian statement – and whether something similar could be expected in Venice. However, she ignored the question and joked that she would “go naked.” That ultimately turned out not to be the case.
In ‘Disclaimer,’ a seven-episode psychological thriller series based on Renée Knight’s 2015 book of the same name, Blanchett plays a famed documentary journalist who discovers she is the central character in a novel that threatens to reveal her deepest, darkest secret . The series also stars Baron Cohen, Partridge, Kevin Kline, Kodi Smit-McPhee, HoYeon Jung, Lesley Manville and Leila George.
All seven episodes of “Disclaimer” will screen out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The Oscar-winning actress is no stranger to Venice. She won the Volpi Cup Award for Best Actress in 2007 for her portrayal of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There” and again in 2022 for her performance in Todd Field’s “Teer.”
Award-winning director Cuarón also has quite a history with the festival, opening the 2010 edition of the festival with ‘Gravity’, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. He would win the Oscar for Best Director for the film. In 2015, Cuarón chaired the jury at the Venice Film Festival, and his film “Roma” won the Golden Lion in 2018 before earning Cuarón his second best director award at the Oscars. Prior to “Disclaimer,” his last foray into television was the 2014 fantasy drama series “Believe.”
“Disclaimer” premieres on Apple TV+ on October 11.