I’ve been parceling out the September issue covers, but suffice to say, the trend for this year’s September covers was to honor amazing black women, from Beyonce to Rihanna to Lupita and more. Harper’s Bazaar Australia didn’t get the memo – Cate Blanchett in their September cover girl. I’m really not feeling this cover though. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Cate, still, despite her Woody Allen and Roman Polanski vague apologia. I’ve always thought Cate was strikingly beautiful and ageless. But this cover makes her look… worked on. Like she’s had some bad eye work or she overdid some Botox. I don’t know. Anyway, here are some highlights from the interview:

On turning 50 next year: “I think about [turning 50] on an existential level, sure, but on a career level, I refuse. It’s important to keep karate-chopping those doors down and creating new opportunities not just for yourself, but also for those who are coming up behind you. I’m not panicking on a work level. It’s more that there are so many lives I want to live.”

On actors and their limits: “When it suits the media, you’re an actress of international standing with relative intelligence. But veer outside your perceived remit and you’re a ‘celebrity.’ I don’t ever see that happen to men in the banking sector who take on philanthropic causes.”

On sharing her political views with her family: She said there are a lot of ‘oh no, not again’ reactions from her children when she tries to discuss social issues at home. “There’s a lot of eye-rolling. We took our nine-year-old to Jordan, but we make a point of not lecturing them. It’s actually interesting to hear them talk when they think you’re out of earshot…”

What she would discuss with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, if given the chance: “I’d talk about off-shore processing [of refugees] and the absolute importance of upholding the human rights convention.”

[From The Daily Mail]

I didn’t realize she was turning 50 in the next year. She’s right to not even concentrate on that at a career level – she’s gotten some of her best roles in her 40s, and she won a second Oscar in her 40s, and she’s got more work offers than she can keep up with. It helps that she’s so devoted to the theater too – if Hollywood stops calling, she would be able to do any play she wanted on Broadway, or in London or Australia. She’s just one of those actresses who will always get work. Now, I totally feel her on the “I think about ageing on an existential level.” How could you not? I have a birthday coming up and it’s f–king painful.

Cover courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar Australia, additional photos courtesy of WENN.